Former South Australian senator Rex Patrick's fight over lengthy freedom of information delays has started in the Federal Court.
Mr Patrick wants the Federal Court to review how long it takes the Australian Information Commissioner to make decisions and outline what is an "unreasonable delay".
There is currently no legal obligation for the commissioner to reach a decision within a specific period of time.
The former independent senator's barrister Tiphanie Acreman said Mr Patrick had more than 20 FOI applications under review, some that had been "in the queue for as long as three years".
"A system that tolerates these lengthy delays undermines the object of the FOI Act," Ms Acreman told the hearing, in Melbourne, on Monday.
Speaking outside court before the hearing, Mr Patrick described the FOI system as broken.
"There's something like 1500 FOI requests that have not been reviewed over the last four or five years - this is a failure in terms of democracy. We have to do something to fix it," Mr Patrick told reporters.
"Delay is the enemy of FOI, and the Information Commissioner is aiding and abetting that enemy."
The matter before Justice Michael Wheelahan is expected to continue on Monday afternoon and Tuesday.
