October 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of Clark Matters, Andrew’s monthly email newsletter to help keep you abreast of federal politics and what he’s been up to.
Dodgy laws inbound?
The Federal Government is hoping to legislate two controversial reforms before the end of the year: changes to freedom of information laws and virtually a complete rewrite of Australia’s environmental legal framework. At first glance both reforms are warranted, but as always the devil is in the detail.
Federal freedom of information provisions were designed in the 1980s and are clearly not fit-for-purpose nowadays, especially with the arrival of artificial intelligence. But the Government’s proposal is flawed because it expands the scope of material exempt from disclosure, and introduces an application fee. Andrew will not support the proposal in its current form.
The current environmental legal framework is also in desperate need of modernising. But what’s been proposed by the Government does not provide for a genuinely independent federal environment protection agency, would devolve decision-making to unreliable state and territory governments and would allow, alarmingly for Tasmania, continued destruction of native forests. Again Andrew will not give the Government’s bills his support unless they are significantly amended.
Cleaning up Robodebt
The Federal Government is in the process of making a number of welcome changes to social security law. But still missing is a solid commitment to address a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme: the re-introduction of a six-year limitation on debt recovery actions by Services Australia.
Andrew recently tried to remedy this with amendments to legislation but was not supported by the Government and the Opposition. His amendments simply mandated that if six or more years has passed, then you shouldn’t suddenly have Services Australia notifying you of debts and demanding immediate payment, or requesting evidence which most people would long ago have lost or discarded. Even the ATO only requires us to keep evidence for five years.
Of course a debt notice is a frightening thing at any time. But one from a government agency which relates to a payment you might have received 10 years ago, for which you might have no documentation and perhaps only the faintest memory of your circumstances, well that’s quite likely terrifying.
Spirits’ fiasco sails on
No one can be blamed for losing track of the cascading fiasco that is the project to replace the two Spirit of Tasmania ferries. The story so far…
The two vessels were costed at $850 million, and in 2017 the Tasmanian Premier said they’d be ready by 2021. That cost then ballooned by $81 million because the Finnish shipbuilder was going broke and had to be bailed out. Meanwhile someone forgot to build the new berth in Devonport, necessary for the ferries because they’re twice the size of the old ferries, and the cost of that infrastructure rocketed from $90 million to $493 million.
What Andrew would call “previously unforeseen sundry expenses” so far includes $7.7 million for temporary berthing in Scotland, and $2 million for changes to the berth in Geelong and $9 million to fix the hulls. And adding insult to injury, the Tasmanian Government has just announced a $75 million funding lifeline to the ferry operator, TT-Line, to head off its imminent insolvency. It’s an open secret that the eventual bailout will be more like $200 million.
The new ferries won’t be in service until next year, according to the Government, if you can believe anything they say. Good grief.
Yours sincerely
