PROJECT PM DIARY WATCH

Project Objectives

The Prime Minister works for you. Everything he does, he does for public purpose and on the public purse.

It’s appropriate that members of the public can look at the PM’s diary to see what he is (or isn’t) doing, who he is (or isn’t) meeting with, how much time he are spending on the job and how much time they spend at their office versus out in the field versus overseas.

In a 2015 AAT matter argued by the now Attorney General, Mark Drefus KC, former Federal Court Justice and now High Court Justice said:

“I consider that there is a significant public interest in knowing the outline of the daily activities of elected representatives“.

The Prime Minister’s Office has resisted FOI requests for his diary from both the media and the Transparency Warrior, saying that disclosing  it would divert the Office away from its usual and important tasks. But that’s rubbish! The Premier of Queensland, the Chief Minister of the ACT, and the President of the United States proactively publish their diaries/visitor logs on the internet.

Project PM Diary Watch seeks to use the weight of many Australian to signal the significant interest in the PM’s being open and transparent about what he’s doing for us.

Below is an example of the sort of information that we are after (from the Treasurer’s diary).

 

How You Can Help

If you’re genuinely interested in seeing what it is that the PM has been doing from day to day, register your interest in the project and Transparency Warrior will assist you in making an FOI request for access to a week (or two or three) of the PM’s Diary. The Prime Minister’s Office cannot refuse to process small and reasonable request.

Register

* Do not register just because you want to help me – that would result in an abuse of process. Only register if you are interested in the PM being transparent about his diary.

Is the Project Harmful?

The short answer – No!

It’s really hard to argue that the disclosure of information in the PM’s diary could cause harm, and certainly not any level of harm that would override the public interest associated with disclosure.Provided the request is for past diary pages, it’s very difficult for any security concerns to arise from disclosure. Many repeated meetings (e.g. Cabinet Meeting) and movements (e.g. arriving at Parliament House) will be general in nature and a common expectation.

A post facto diary entry saying “Meeting with ASIO” or “Meeting with Chief of Defence Force” would have to be considered normal and reveals nothing that could cause damage to security or defence of Australia. The PM would be expected to have meetings with security forces.

The naming of business executives, a union official, or an individual who attended a meeting with the PM cannot reasonably be expected to prejudice an organisation or an individual, nor disclose commercially sensitive or private information. Of course, it is conceded, a diary entry may give rise to further questions, but that’s just accountability at work in a democracy.

Of course, private time (and political party meetings) can be redacted as irrelevant because those particular entries don’t relate to the PM’s public duties.

Here’s a link to the Chief Minister of the ACT’s diary.

Here’s a link to the Queensland Premier’s diary.

Here’s a link to the President of the United States’ Visitor Log