Internal emails released under a freedom of information request show the federal Department of Health considered trialling a cheaper, lower-ply toilet paper in 2017 after staff complained a male colleague was "blocking the loo on a regular basis."
The correspondence, part of a file disclosed this year, includes an email asking, "Could we trial a very low-ply toilet paper for a week on L 4 men's? We had an ongoing issue with a staff member blocking the toilets on a regular basis." The chain, saved under the subject line "toilet paper correspondence," records staff arranging to supply a box of the lower-ply paper and discussing cost implications.
The emails indicate staff concluded no formal quote was required because the alternate product would be cheaper than the existing supply. Six months after the initial exchanges, another internal message said the department had agreed to change from the product listed as "TMS-700 Sheet Toilet Rolls (x48)" to the "BC Premium 2-ply 700 sheets Toilet Paper," citing the new product’s degradable qualities. That message also noted current stock—two and a half pallets—would be used before the new product was supplied, an amount estimated to last about three weeks.
The FOI file does not identify the requestor or explain their motivation, and the initial correspondence does not state whether the one-week trial took place. The documents were reported in national outlets and dubbed "Poopergate" by The Medical Republic.
The release comes as the federal government debates changes to the freedom of information system. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has proposed legislation to limit what the government calls "frivolous" FOI requests, measures that would allow public servants to refuse requests that would take more than 40 hours to collate and would ban anonymous requests. The bill would also introduce fees for requests that are not of a personal nature.
Costs of administering Australia’s FOI system have risen substantially in recent years, according to government figures cited in news reports: $86 million in 2023–24, up from $70 million the prior year and $36 million in 2010–11. Shadow Attorney-General Julian Leeser has criticised the proposals, calling them a "truth tax" because of the potential costs placed on applicants.
Department of Health spokespeople did not elaborate on the 2017 correspondence in the released file. The FOI documents provide a rare, detailed snapshot of day-to-day operational decisions inside a federal agency and have provoked commentary about the balance between public transparency and administrative burden.
The matter illustrates how routine workplace issues can surface in public records when FOI requests are made. The department’s change to a more degradable toilet paper product, as recorded in the 2017 emails, appears to have been motivated by facilities concerns; it is not recorded in the released correspondence whether any disciplinary or individual human-resources actions followed the complaints about repeated blockages. The FOI applicant and their reasons for requesting the material remain unknown.