When it comes to taking the trash out, journalists and parliamentarians are clued into the Friday afternoon report drop.
But The Australia Institute says it's uncovered a new way public servants and politicians might seek to soften the blow of some less-than-ideal PR - the Monday morning pre-estimates drop.
In an ironic twist, the department charged with administering the Freedom of Information Act delayed the broad release of documents obtained under the legislation, to do with a controversial effort to overhaul the FOI Act itself.
Let's unpack that.
Last year, the Albanese government introduced sweeping reforms to the FOI Act, saying the laws weren't designed for a modern society and were being exploited by "vexatious" applicants and AI bots.
"We're frankly being inundated by anonymous requests as a government, for Freedom of Information, and we don't know where those requests come from," Health Minister Mark Butler said last year.
"Many of them we're sure are AI bot generated requests."
At the time, the think tank sent its own FOI request to the Attorney-General's Department, looking to unearth more on the basis for the changes.
The documents it got back contained limited examples of AI bots being used to game the system, but it was the timing of the release that caught the institute's attention.
Agencies are required to publish records of their FOI decisions on disclosure logs within 10 working days of releasing documents to the applicant.
In this case, the think tank's FOI appeared on the log just moments before the department was due to appear at February's Senate estimates, eradicating any chance of curious senators or staffers familiarising themselves with the contents.
So the think tank decided to FOI the decision-making on the release of their original FOI (yes, on the subject of FOI).
That request revealed AGD delayed the broad release of the first tranche of documents.
An email sent by the FOI team to the web publishing team on February 3, 2026, asks for four different sets of documents to be delayed until the following Monday.
"Apologies for the change, the line area are seeking to delay due to estimates," it reads.
While the department was still in line with its 10-day publication rule, The Australia Institute is less than impressed.
Bill Browne, the institute's democracy and accountability director has some choice words for any public servants fronting up to budget estimates over the next two weeks.
"Too many senior public servants see their role as protecting the government from embarrassment, instead of answering to the public and the democratically elected Parliament," he said.
"The Australia Institute warned that the Albanese Government's proposed changes to FOI laws were based on dubious claims - and it seems the Attorney-General's Department agreed.
"Why else would they hold back their own documents to avoid them being referenced at estimates?"
The FOI changes were ultimately dumped after the government failed to secure the support of the Coalition, but Labor has promised to try again.
A spokesperson for AGD said it complied with its obligations under the FOI Act.
"The documents were published on the disclosure log on the morning of Monday 9th February, the same day as the department's Senate estimates appearance and before the statutory deadline of Friday 13th February 2026.
"The Act provides a 10-business day period for documents to be published following release to an applicant.
"We use this period to ensure the information prepared for publication is accurate and appropriate for publication on the disclosure log."
Canberra's night of nights is right around the corner, with posters for the Midwinter Ball adorning the halls of the press gallery.
The glitzy evening, held in Parliament's great hall, is attended by politicians, journalists and lobbyists and raises money for charity each year, including by auctioning off time with the country's most influential people.
Last year's auction items included a game of tennis with the Prime Minister at The Lodge, a meal with Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher and Qantas business class return air fares for two people, to either London or Los Angeles.
But the best by far was a flight on Sussan Ley's Cessna-182 plane and a classic Australian pub lunch.
Ms Ley, who earned her commercial pilot's license by the age of 20, would often fly her plane within her former electorate of Farrer, and even entertained the idea of jetting herself into Canberra.
This was all before she was booted as leader of the opposition in February and decided to throw in the towel on politics.
So what happened to the plane ride? Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes a Court bid $15,000 for the flight, in order to put young organiser Katya Zheluk on it.
He told The Guardian at the time he wanted to give Ms Ley "some much needed exposure to the demographic who are abandoning Liberals at the ballot box: younger Australians."
Public Eye followed up and Mr Holmes a Court said the flight hadn't yet taken place, though he had nudged Ms Ley.
"Obviously a very different context now, but I still think it'll be fascinating for Katya, perhaps even more valuable," he said.
Speaking of exposure, Finance secretary Matt Yannopoulos recently got to spend some time with some of the "new media" during the federal budget lock-up.
Public Eye spotted Mr Yannopoulos in the background of a video posted by Victoria Devine, the woman behind popular finance podcast, She's on the Money.
The Albanese government caused a stir when it decided to relax the traditions around the budget lock-up last year, allowing influencers to take part in a bid to reach a broader scope of young audiences.
The "legacy media" are kept locked up in their individual suites in the press gallery for the duration of the afternoon, but Ms Devine and her peers spent their time in one of the committee rooms, where Treasurer Jim Chalmers paid them a visit to answer some questions.
Wonder if Mr Yannopoulos picked up some tips.
