FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

In reply to the Hon. R.D. LAWSON (16 November 2006).

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning): The Minister for Finance has provided the following information:

1. I am advised Agencies subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1991 (FOI Act) claimed parliamentary privilege as a ground for refusing access to documents in the financial year 2005-06 on seven occasions.

2. The Freedom of Information Management System (FOIMS), which is the electronic database used to derive the FOI annual statistics, reports on how many times agencies claim an exemption clause in Schedule 1 of the FOI Act. Specific subclauses, such as 17(c), are not separately reported. Amending the FOIMS database would require specific funding. Considering agencies only claimed the parliamentary privilege exemption seven times during the last reporting year, I do not believe it is necessary to amend the database to collect such a small statistic.