Pen and paper FOI applications make jaws drop

From the (Toronto) Globe and Mail

"Toby Mendel, president of the Centre for Law and Democracy, recently returned from Rabat where he spoke with officials devising an access law for Morocco. They asked him what the Canadian government had proposed in the area of access reform as part of the global Open Government Partnership initiative. Mendel told them Canada had suggested allowing access requesters to apply electronically, dispensing with the current cumbersome practice of a paper form and a $5 cheque. “Literally, I could see their jaws dropping,” Mendel said in an interview. “Because it was incomprehensible to them that a country like Canada would not already have electronic requesting possibility.”

Well at least Canada is a member of the OGP along with around 60 other countries. Australia continues to sit on the outside- Indonesia, the Philippines and Korea are the only torch-bearers from this region.

Of course if the issue of comparisons with Canada was raised, our government could point out that these days Federal agencies all seem to accept an email application.

But many state governments are still back in the stone age as we found from a quick look around last year.

South Australian Police still take the gold boulder- asking that you personally front up to a police station with your application. Narrowly ahead of those such as NSW Roads and Maritime providing the option of dropping your application into an office or dropping it in the mail. To be fair some NSW agencies such as Finance and Services  appear to have moved into the 1990s in the last year. But there are plenty of other agencies in NSW, SA and Western Australia still opening the stamped  envelopes each morning. And trusting you followed the guidance to pay the application fee-strictly cash, cheque or money order, thank you. (Memo: Once upon a time, long before there were Apps.......)