Michael McKinnonCongratulations to the Walkley Award winners, particularly Gary Hughes of The Australian, who took the Gold for his very personal and highly professional reports of the Black Saturday bushfires. Special mention of Michael McKinnon, FOI Editor of Seven Network, who received the award for Journalism Leadership for his 20 year involvement in Freedom of Information, and was one of the Seven News team who won the All Media Investigative Journalism award for reports on police corruption.Nice on air tributes from John Hartigan, Matthew Moore and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh (did they ask Treasury boss Ken Henry?), and Rick Snell was one of those included in McKinnon's "thank you" list. Commonwealth Ombudsman Professor John McMillan said McKinnon has played a “pivotal role in the transformation of Australian FOI law and practice” by drawing public attention to the cause:
“He has shone a light on many government actions that would otherwise be buried from public scrutiny, on matters such as asbestos contamination, tax administration, Treasury forecasts, weapons safety, grant schemes, bulk billing and Reserve Bank decision making,” said McMillan.
Congratulations to all!
ReplyDeleteI know I'm an FOI geek when seeing Michael get the Walkley I applauded and cheered. Rest of the family didn't understand at all.
ReplyDeleteColleagues did, and the second Walkley explains why he was quiet on this Dept's FOI register....
Anon
Public Servant in Canberra
It is indeed a great achievement! Freedom of information is
ReplyDeletea powerful tool but it has been eroded to some extent and those who have trouble
gaining access to all relevant records may need to find a lawyer to assist them with their
legal problems. Unfortunately, legal costs are often not worth it but if the
matter is important then legal assistance should be obtained.