22.
64 The Senate Standing Committee had recommended amending what had been proposed in the original form of the Bill as a wholesale exemption of courts and industrial bodies from the FOI Act so as to limit the exemption in respect of courts "to documents of a non-administrative character"[1] and in respect of industrial bodies to "their non-administrative functions only"[2]. Explaining the reasons for its recommendation to limit the exemption in respect of courts, the Senate Standing Committee said[3]:
"There is obviously very good reason for governments not imposing requirements which would interfere with the independence of the judiciary and the proper administration of justice. It would not be appropriate for freedom of information legislation to be the vehicle for obtaining access, where this was otherwise unavailable, to court documents filed by parties to litigation. Nor would it be appropriate for this legislation to operate in any way as a substitute or supplement for discovery procedures presently administered by the courts."
The Senate Standing Committee continued[4]:
"However, there are other documents of a more clearly administrative character associated with the functioning of registries and collection of statistics on a host of matters associated with judicial administration which, equally clearly, should be opened up to public gaze. These would include such matters as the number of sitting days, the number of cases determined, the number of cases withdrawn, the cases which were
- ↑ Australia, Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives Bill 1978, (1979) at 158 [12.30].
- ↑ Australia, Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives Bill 1978, (1979) at 160 [12.34].
- ↑ Australia, Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives Bill 1978, (1979) at 158 [12.29].
- ↑ Australia, Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives Bill 1978, (1979) at 158 [12.29].
