A public servant may “chill”, i.e. water down or hold back, their advice to a minister because it might be disclosed in a freedom of information request. Or so the argument goes, with FOI decision-makers regularly rolling out this so-called “chilling” excuse to justify withholding information from the public.
We saw this in Rick Morton’s recent exclusive for Crikey regarding the $8 million “Meals on Wheels” scandal, with Anika Wells — then aged care minister — redacting advice from her staff and public servants in a response to a FOI request.
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