The Federal Government’s excuse that AI bots necessitate changes to FOI laws has been rejected in Senate Estimates. Photo: File.
Federal Government officials have admitted they can’t identify Freedom of Information requests from artificial intelligence bots, or even if they are any, despite that being a reason given for changing FoI laws.
Last month, the government introduced legislation it said aimed to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act 1982 to ensure it worked more efficiently “in the interests of all Australians”.
Those changes included slapping fees on FoI applications and strengthening the government’s ability to withhold information, particularly over advice it receives from the public service during policy decision-making processes.
“Genuine requests” will be prioritised while saving taxpayers money on “frivolous and automated requests”.
In defending the changes, Health Minister Mark Butler said one reason a fee would now apply on application is to counter the growing number of anonymous requests, as well as those made by AI.
“We’re frankly being inundated by anonymous requests as a government for Freedom of Information, and we don’t know where those requests come from,” he said.
“Many of them, we’re sure, are AI or bot-generated requests. They may be linked to foreign actors, foreign powers.
“We’ve taken the view, as state governments have, that a modest charging environment is consistent with usual cost-recovery principles.”
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, who introduced the legislation, also suggested “modern technologies” had seen an influx in “vexatious requests”.
But her department has not been able to show that FoI applications are being submitted by AI bots.
During a Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday (7 October), the Coalition and the Greens pursued a line of questioning for Attorney-General’s Department officials seeking to learn how many bots use the FoI system and how many applications are from overseas.
Attorney-General department officials have been unable to identify any concrete examples of receiving AI bot-generated Freedom of Information requests.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge wanted to know how the department knew an FoI application came from a bot, but First Assistant Secretary for Identity and Information Division Celeste Moran said the department didn’t know.
“It is difficult for an agency to be certain that an application has come from a bot,” she said.
The department’s chief operating officer, Cameron Gifford, outlined the number of FoI requests the agency was dealing with, which was 64 applications as of 23 September.
None of the department’s officials was able to provide any details about whether any FoI applications originated from foreign actors, as the government has suggested.
Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser has described the proposed FoI fee as a “transparency tax” to help Labor avoid scrutiny.
Shadow employment minister Tim Wilson said there was no “hard evidence” that the FoI system is broken or being abused.
“The claim they put out there is that there are bots out there doing things, now that may be happening, but this is dealt with by software platforms every day,” Mr Wilson said when the legislation was introduced.
“If there’s other information that’s being accessed by nefarious actors, provide evidence where this is a problem, but again, provide an alternative solution.
“Instead, they’re just imposing a veil of secrecy over the entire government.
“It seems sort of like what you get when you have a government with a 94-seat majority and doesn’t want scrutiny.”
Senator Shoebridge said the legislation is all about making it more difficult to obtain access to information.
“We say to the government that using some argument about Russian bots is not going to cut it if you want this legislation through the Senate,” the Greens Senator said.
“We need more transparency, not less.”
According to figures presented by the Federal Government, public servants spent more than a million hours processing FOI requests last year.
People seeking their personal information accounted for 72 per cent of overall FOI requests in 2023-24.
Such personal information type applications will continue to be exempt from fees.
The rest are expected to attract application fees of around $50.
Anonymous FoI requests will be banned entirely.
