BORAL DISCLOSURE LOG DOC REMOVED
In late June, our users were alerted to a document released under Freedom of Information (FOI). The document was released on 9 June and was published on the relevant Disclosure Log a couple of weeks later.
The day this was published, DATA V3 users were alerted within 24 hours. It was a document which contained hundreds of pages including allegations of Boral performing construction activities on an Aboriginal burial site, with no methods or protocols to detect and preserve the burial sites. We do not suggest these allegations are true, only that they were made.
Further allegations were made in the documentation released, which was ultimately seeking an emergency declaration to cease the operation on the site.
The document was searchable, downloadable, and accessible on the relevant government website.
Searching for that document today, it is no longer there. There is no trace of this document ever being published.
While there may be valid reasons in removing a document released and published under FOI, these reasons have not been made public. The FOI process is an important one in terms of accountability and transparency. In other words, it’s an important function of democracy.
This is the primary reason why DATAV3 exists in the first place. Government records often disappear or are quietly removed. For example, NSW Supreme Court hearings are only accessible for about three weeks. After that, you have to pay to apply to the court to search court activity of the party you are interested in. This payment to the court is just for the search, and does not include access to the documents like statements of claim. DATAV3 collects these hearings, and these are searchable in our database.
While this is an established practice with state courts, other government websites have records like this FOI documentation be quietly removed.
The good news? Even if you are only interested in one particular dataset, your 24-hour or monthly plan allows you to search millions of records that cover over 50 government sources.
If you’re not yet a user, sign up to DATA V3 and then contact us letting us know you are interested in the Boral matter.
