Freedom of Information and Parliamentary Departments

This article examines whether freedom of information (FOI) legislation should apply to thoseagencies working to support parliaments. In the past, FOI legislation was characterizedas a mechanism to allow greater scrutiny of the executive branch by parliament and thecommunity. On this analysis, there was no reason to extend the legislation to the agenciesof the legislative branch. But the role of FOI legislation has developed so that it now formspart of a wider integrity framework of government. The need to ensure integrity is a concernfor all three branches of government and this article asks whether there are any convincingreasons in principle or practice to exclude the parliamentary departments from the FOIregime.