Federal minister for energy and emissions reduction Angus Taylor has denied a freedom of information request to access documents relating to a letter sent to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, which wrongly exaggerated Moore’s travel expenses.
The refusal was issued by Taylor’s office on Friday – the day before the federal election – in response to a 2019 freedom of information request lodged by then shadow climate and energy minister Mark Butler.
Butler had requested the release of documents detailing how Taylor had determined the wrong travel figures and any talking points or media briefings prepared following revelations Taylor had used information from an apparently doctored document.
In the now-infamous letter, Taylor wrote to Moore alleging that she and other members of the City of Sydney council had amassed $15.9 million in travel expenses in a single year.
Taylor had used the figure as evidence of an excessive amount of travel that undermined Moore’s credentials on climate policy.
But official annual reports published by the council showed that travel expenditure by the councillors totalled just $5,934.
It was later revealed that Taylor’s office had distributed a modified version of the City of Sydney’s annual report to media that appeared to have been edited to include the massively exaggerated figures.
Taylor has denied responsibility for the incorrect figures, or any suggestions he was involved in altering the report, including during a subsequent police investigation, but Taylor subsequently apologised to Moore for the error.
Butler sought access to documents relating to the letter through a freedom of information request to the prime minister’s office (PMO) in October 2019.
The PMO had initially refused to process the FOI request altogether, arguing that processing the FOI request “would substantially and unreasonably interfere with the performance of the Prime Minister’s functions.”
But in April this year, following an appeal to the Information Commissioner, it was found the request was reasonable, and the PMO was ordered to process the request.
In a response seen by RenewEconomy, Angus Taylor’s senior adviser John Harris says the minister’s office will again refuse to release any documents sought by the FOI request, as the documents requested are “not official documents of a minister” as defined by FOI legislation.
“Accordingly, there is no right of access under the FOI Act to the requested documents,” the letter says.
“Your purported request relates to documents that, if they existed, would not fall within the meaning of ‘an official document of a minister’, as they would not relate to the affairs of an agency or of a Department of State”.
“On this basis, I am satisfied that your request falls outside the scope of the FOI Act”, the adviser writes.
The response from Taylor’s advisor was sent to shadow health minister Mark Butler, who had served as the shadow minister for energy and climate at the time Taylor sent the letter to Clover Moore.
Under FOI legislation, it is possible to request the release of any “official document of a minister”. The Morrison government has relied on an exemption that applies to documents that do not relate to a minister’s duties to deny the release of documents requested under FOI laws.
Earlier this week, the Morrison government refused to disclose text messages received from deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce in relation to his previous role as ‘drought envoy’. Joyce incurred $675,000 in expenses as the drought envoy but never produced a report of his findings – merely inferring he had kept the prime minister updated via text message.
If the government changes following Saturday’s election and new ministers are sworn into respective portfolios, rights to access documents held by Morrison government ministers under Freedom of Information laws will likely lapse.
This includes documents currently being sought by RenewEconomy relating to the proceedings of energy ministers’ meetings under the ‘National Cabinet’ system, the findings of a government-funded feasibility study into a new Queensland coal fired power station, and BAEconomics modelling of the Morrison government’s net zero plan – access to all of which have been refused.
