Freedom From Information

While some in Government - notably Senator John Faulkner and the Parliamentary Librarian Roxanne Missingham - strive to achieve incremental improvements in your freedom to access government information, the secret services employ brute force, rather than argument, whenever it suits their convenience to shut certain individuals up.

This is never a good idea.  It encourages conspiracy theories and discourages confidence.

It might be described as the rule of law, but many a rogue state can fit that description, just as many dictatorships have done.

Richard Ackland reminds us of the state of play...

http://www.nationaltimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/secrecy-is-a-denial-of-our-rights-20100225-p5ur.html