Senate Order for the production of indexed lists of departmental and agency files
On the 14 November 1994, the Senate agreed to a motion by Senator Harradine requiring all Australian Government departments and agencies to produce an indexed list of files every six months for tabling before parliament. The production of the list is intended to make the operations of government more transparent to the Australian public.
As part of the Governments ongoing commitment to give Australians greater access to relevant government information quickly and easily, the original Senate Order was amended in 1998 and now requires departments to also list these files on their Internet websites.
The lists are tabled twice a year, once in the Autumn sittings and once in the Spring sittings.
- Autumn sittings – files created in the preceding July to December.
- Spring sittings – files created in the preceding January to June