Crowdsource effort funds FOI after Government silence on broadband policy
More than one hundred people have donated funds to a crowdsourced attempt to pay for a freedom of information request about Australia’s broadband policy.
The cost of the FOI was raised within six hours
The fate of the National Broadband Network has been in doubt since the recent election, with public concern being voiced that the network would be scrapped as a threat to Rupert Murdoch’s Foxtel.
The Delimiter online news site raised $2,072 from over 100 donors in six hours to fund his request for the briefing provided to the new Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
Editor Renai LeMay was told that there were 545 pages of documents that it would need to sift to fulfil the request, at a cost of $2,071.
A Government spokesman said access to the briefing would only be through the department's FOI process.
"We will increase transparency of the NBN by undertaking a strategic review ... to give a clear eyed analysis of the costs of the project and what can be saved in time and dollars by making variations," the spokesman said.
LeMay said he would release in full whatever response he received.