The information commissioner, Angelene Falk, has described allegations the watchdog’s leadership “gaslighted” the former FoI commissioner and presented a “false narrative” about FoI funding constraints as “disturbing” while dismissing other claims as untrue or misleading.
The information watchdog responded to the extraordinary accusations made to a Senate inquiry by the former FoI commissioner Leo Hardiman in August, which he claimed had led to his resignation from the role just one year into a five-year term.
Hardiman had made a series of claims about his short time in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, including that his efforts to resolve the growing backlog of FoI requests were frustrated by leadership and that Falk had “intimidated” and gaslit him into providing more details about his resignation.
Hardiman also claimed the agency’s cultural problems were “entirely a product” of Falk’s leadership.
In a 47-page submission responding to the claims, which was released on Thursday, Falk said she did not share Hardiman’s “recollection or characterisation of our working relationship, which I considered to be professional and respectful on my part”.
“Mr Hardiman did not raise with me in direct terms, or in any substantive way, the issues and allegations outlined in his statement,” she said.
