There is growing evidence that the Labor Federal Government is becoming increasingly secretive. Photo: Envato.
The Federal Government is reportedly actively encouraging lobbyists and industry bodies to be as secretive as possible in their communications, to the point of urging them to use encrypted messaging platforms and direct phone calls to minimise paper trails in policy discussions.
That’s according to media reports, which the government denies.
The Saturday Paper’s Jason Koutsoukis broke the story after speaking to several high-level lobbyists and peak body representatives, saying the advice was coming from some ministerial offices.
According to the report, lobbyists are being encouraged to submit policy reform ideas via the encrypted messaging platform Signal and even use disappearing messaging services, which would also keep them out of the reach of Freedom of Information requests.
Region has since spoken to several lobbyists, both independent lobbyists and those working in-house for corporations and industry groups, to mixed responses.
Most respondents denied receiving any such advice, but a small number confirmed there is a push for greater secrecy from the government.
One suggested the advice was more about a growing concern over cyberattacks; another said similar advice had been around “for years” from both sides of politics; while one confirmed having been given such “alarming” encouragement very recently.
While it is evident that no one will go on the record with these accounts for fear of reprisals, there is a common theme: the government is keen for as much policy discussion with third parties as possible to be conducted off the record.
Transparency and open government appear to be increasingly difficult concepts for the Albanese Labor Federal Government, as the 2025 political year draws to a close, exposing more evidence of secrecy and an alarming willingness to evade scrutiny.
The government appears to have been emboldened to be even more secretive than it already was following the mid-year release of the Centre for Public Integrity’s report, which showed it to be less transparent than the previous Morrison Coalition government.
As previously reported, the July data showed a concerted effort by Labor to avoid scrutiny, with the full granting of FoI requests dropping to just 25 per cent in 2023-24.
Outright refusals of FoI requests have doubled to 23 per cent, and wait times have more than doubled to reach an average of 15.5 months.
The Centre for Public Integrity report also showed Labor to be aggressively snubbing Senate orders, with compliance to document-release orders slumping to 32.8 per cent.
Since that report’s release, things have only gotten worse.
The government released its Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025, seeking to make it even harder for its actions and communications to be scrutinised by charging for FoI requests and placing greater restrictions on applications.
The Senate sent that to an inquiry, but the Labor-dominated committee recommended passing it – sparking outrage from non-government Senators on the committee who submitted separate dissenting reports.
Senators also had to go to extraordinary lengths in the last weeks of parliament to get Labor to table its Jobs for Mates report, which had been languishing behind closed doors in Cabinet for more than two years.
Once it was released, just last week, the government wouldn’t commit to accepting the independent review’s recommendations that would put a stop to the “shameless” practices of how far too many people are appointed to government boards.
Around the same time, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher rebuffed a Senate order to hand over correspondence about directing department heads to find efficiencies in their operating budgets.
Federal government agencies are being ordered to reduce costs by up to 5 per cent to rein in public-sector spending.
The minister refused to comply with the Senate order, saying the communications are part of Cabinet deliberations for the next federal budget.
Senate Estimates last week also revealed that some agency heads are delivering briefings to Ministers with sticky notes attached, expressing what they really want their political bosses to know, but which can also get “lost” and be untraceable.
As one lobbyist told Region: “Encrypted messages are the next-level Post-it notes, only worse.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
