George Brandis: Labor push for contempt hearing

Labor says Attorney-General George Brandis could be in contempt of a court ruling which ordered his office to process a freedom of information request.

Federal Labor is trying to push contempt of court proceedings against Attorney-General George Brandis, arguing he is not taking an order relating to his ministerial diary seriously.

Key points:

• Shadow AG lodged FOI request to access Brandis’s diary
• Request blocked by AG’s office, arguing it would take too long to process
• Federal Court upheld AAT’s ruling, ordering Brandis to process the claim

Senator Brandis and his counterpart, Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, have been locked in a stalemate for almost three years.

Mr Dreyfus lodged a freedom of information (FOI) request to access an electronic copy of the Attorney-General’s diary, to see who he met with before sweeping cuts hit his portfolio in the 2014 federal budget.

That request was initially blocked by Senator Brandis’s office, who argued it would take too long to process because he would have to personally approve the release of every item.

MORE: George Brandis not taking diary order seriously, Labor says, amid push for contempt hearing – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)