No Press Freedom Without Digital Freedom
World Press Freedom Day reminds us that democracy depends on people being able to speak, report, and scrutinise power without fear. Journalists expose corruption, inform the public, and hold institutions to account. In 2026, many of the most serious threats to press freedom are digital. Today, press freedom depends not only on whether journalists can […]
FOI Documents Reveal OAIC Echoes EFA’s Critique of the Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial
Newly released documents seen by EFA and obtained by Cam Wilson (a journalist for Crikey and friend of EFA) —read the full Crikey article here — under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that internal assessments by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) align substantially with the early warnings and independent observations made by […]
Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2026 Withdrawn
Written by John Pane, EFA Chair. Following some very spirited debate today in the Senate, EFA is quite happy to announce that the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill has been withdrawn. In respect of Senator Gallagher’s (LAB) comments in the Senate today that “….the intention of the bill was to modernise the FOI process, reduce […]
Albanese Government Poised to Restrict Australia’s Freedom of Information Regime
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) warns that the Albanese government is set to weaken our government’s transparency framework and its accountability by using its numbers to bulldoze the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 (FOIA Bill) through Parliament without amendment when it resumes this week, despite overwhelming and well-reasoned opposition to the Bill. […]
Why Australia Needs Its Whistleblowers
Why Australia needs its whistleblowers–especially in a murky digital landscape.