Nahan says FoI appeal expense justified
Treasurer Mike Nahan has defended the use of public money on a Supreme Court challenge to the Information Commissioner, saying it was important for ministers to be able to correspond confiden-tially before elections.
The West Australian sought correspondence to, from and within the office of Premier Colin Barnett relating to the MAX light rail and airport line in the lead-up to the last election.
It was denied access to 59 documents on the basis they were created in the caretaker period and related to party politics, rather than Government operations.
The newspaper appealed to Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel, who three weeks ago ordered the documents be released, prompting the Department of the Premier and Cabinet to appeal to the Supreme Court last week.
Dr Nahan said yesterday that the Government was taking the action to protect a principle during a period when ministers reverted to being political candidates.
“The test is, is there confidentiality in discussions between political candidates and their political party,” he said.
Dr Nahan denied the Government was being secretive and defended using public money for the action.
“The Government believes it’s a proper thing to contest,” he said. “This public purse has a large range of actions, which we delegate to the appropriate ministers. In this case, it’s the Premier.”
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said if the Government argued the documents were party-political, the Liberal Party should pay the legal costs.
“These were documents produced by the Government, yet now they are trying to hide them in the interests of the Liberal Party,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the DPC said counsel outside the State Solicitor’s Office had not been engaged and the cost was not yet known.
She said the Government appealed against Mr Bluemmel’s interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act because of potential implications for ministerial and MPs’ offices.
