House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1) 53 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Freedom of Information Freedom of Information Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Bragg Deputy Leader of the Opposition Freedom of Information Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:44): A supplementary to the Premier: given the Attorney's answer, and again confirmed yesterday, that the FOI officers need to 'stand up for themselves' against the ministerial interference as identified and that the Ombudsman's report tabled yesterday does not detail the names of those, will the Premier act in any way to ensure that they are protected and supported in those circumstances? The Hon. J.R. RAU House of Assembly Enfield Deputy Premier Attorney-General Minister for Justice Reform Minister for Planning Minister for Housing and Urban Development Minister for Industrial Relations Freedom of Information The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations) (14:44): I say again, the government does not condone anybody attempting to influence an independent FOI officer to conduct themselves in any way other than in accordance with the act, and we do not approve of that if such behaviour is occurring, or occurs. Can I just put this in context—I have had a chance to have a little bit of a look at this in the report, and the Ombudsman does not attribute this to anyone in particular. I do not know in what context this occurred, and this is not like evidence in a court where somebody has been able to, say, test the evidence by cross-examination or some of other form of interrogation. This is a bald, unattributed statement to an unknown individual in an unknown department at an unknown point in time in relation to some minister unknown and unnamed. It is a Donald Rumsfeld thing again. So, I don't know anything about this. All I can say is we do not approve of it and we have no particulars upon which we can take any action. If the mystery person who is referred to in that paragraph in the report from the Ombudsman continues to have a grievance, I would encourage them either to take whatever steps are required under the relevant public service legislation or they have another alternative to which I have already referred.