Thread by @DanConifer

We don’t usually call out highly-questionable freedom of information #FOI decisions.

But @abc730 made an exception for this one about vaccines, and an email exchange between Health Minister Greg Hunt and Brendan Murphy.

Short thread 🧵

After an almost year-long fight to find out why the Government didn’t buy more vaccines sooner, this is all the Health Department will release from an email chain in which mRNA vaccines are discussed.

(How do we know that? Because mRNA documents are what we asked for.)

You can see in red s47C, s47F, and s47G.

These are various *conditional* FOI exemptions.

They’re conditional because the Department of Health must weigh the *public interest* involved.

So yes, in multiple decisions and reviews, the Health Department has decided there’s more public interest in hiding much of this email, as opposed to helping Aussies learn more about the vaccine rollout.

🤷‍♂️

Some excuses have been:

1. (My favourite) “The exempt information is not publicly known”.

2. It “would undermine the relationship of mutual trust … between the department and the minister”.

3. It “would prejudice … advisory functions … on important health related issues”.

In a statement, the agency insisted it “takes its FOI responsibilities very seriously”.

“It ensures its decisions are made fairly, transparently and consistently, and in accordance with the regulatory timeframes under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.”