"Expecting the attorney-general to act as a champion of open government is asking the fox to act as the defender of hens."

Emeritus Professor Richard Mulgan in The Canberra Times The slow death of the Office of Australian Information Commissioner recites the history of the government's (to date) failed attempt to abolish the office suggesting the government's cut in funding the FOI functions when the will of parliament is to maintain the office "rests on a strict, and distinctly "tricky", interpretation of the law."

More significant is what happens to the information commissioner's function to report generally on government policies in relation to information, including the disclosure and accessibility of government information. This function casts the commissioner in the role of public champion of open government, a role which McMillan performed, for example, by monitoring agencies' administration of FOI and generally advocating a more proactive approach to disclosing information. The claim that the Attorney-General's Department can adequately cover for this function is disingenuous. Expecting the attorney-general to act as a champion of open government is asking the fox to act as the defender of hens.

Professor Mulgan wrote "How the FoI watchdog was starved to death in June last year.