Opposition members of the Australian Parliament are up in arms over a new rule that forces them to identify themselves whenever they seek information through the Parliamentary Library, The Australian reported August 18.
Members of Parliament have used the library anonymously for decades to gather information from government departments. The new rule, revealed by House Speaker Neil Andrew, gives ministers the power to require that requests for information be channeled directly through their offices, enabling them to identify the person making the request and control the timing of the response.
Labor back-bencher Anthony Albanese had complained several months ago to Andrew that the Minister of Community Services asked Parliamentary Library officers to reveal who was seeking information about their department. Other opposition members griped that information received directly from a minister’s office had been “totally unacceptable.”
Albanese was not mollified when Andrew assured him that the timely provision of information to members of Parliament would not be affected and that the library maintained “confidentiality as one of the basic underpinnings of its operations.”
Posted August 28, 2000.