Australia yesterday moved to overhaul strict privacy laws that allow information to be withheld from the media if it has the potential to embarrass the government.
Under the draft reform, requests for material from official agencies and departments could no longer be refused on the grounds they could embarrass the administration or lead to misinterpretation of its activities.
Exceptions would also be removed to the release of material which could create confusion or “unnecessary debate,” in the most sweeping changes to Australia’s press freedom laws in 27 years.
“These reforms will change the law, but they will also demonstrate the government’s commitment to culture change, a shift from the culture of secrecy we saw under the old government to one of transparency,” Special Minister of State John Faulkner said.
Reform of the laws — including the scrapping of application costs and reduction of the off-limits period for cabinet records from 30 years to 20 years — were part of center-left leader Kevin Rudd’s 2007 election bid. Australia’s major media organizations ran a two-year campaign against the Freedom of Information laws, arguing they were used by the conservative administration of former prime minister John Howard to achieve secrecy and censorship.
Faulkner said the Rudd government would establish an information publication scheme, requiring ministerial offices and departments to make information public.
“These draft bills form a cornerstone of the government’s commitment to enhancing accountability and transparency in government,” he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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