Like producers of a bad b-movie Parliament have renamed the Protection of Information Bill the "Protection of Information Bill 2". The sequel has most of the scares and screams of it's predecessor and has been given some cosmetic changes to make it appeal to a broader audience. 

The new version of the Secrecy Bill still fails the Right2Know Campaign's seven point Freedom Test:

1. It DOES NOT limit secrecy to core state bodies in the security sector such as the police, defense and intelligence agencies.

2. It DOES NOT limit secrecy to strictly defined national security matters and no more. Officials STILL DO NOT have to give reasons for making information secret. 

3. It DOES exclude commercial information from this Bill. THIS IS A VICTORY FOR THE RIGHT2KNOW!

 

4. It STILL DOES exempt the intelligence agencies from public scrutiny. 

 

5. It STILL DOES apply penalties for unauthorised disclosure to society at large, only those responsible for keeping secrets.

  

6.  It DOES NOT appoint an independent body appointed by Parliament, and not the Minister of Intelligence, to be the arbiter of decisions about what may be made secret. 

7.  It STILL DOES  criminalise the legitimate disclosure of secrets in the public interest.