Freedom of Information Law
The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) contains provisions that guarantee access to data held by the Commonwealth Government. The Act establish a 'right-to-know' legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. You would normally want to utilise freedom of information laws when you want to collect information from your APS agency relating to you and your complaint of workplace mistreatment if you are concerned about:
Alternatively, in September 2012, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner announced a guidance paper setting out how agencies can set up an Administrative Access Scheme, outside the formal processes of the FOI Act, for the release of government information. Administrative Access Schemes would be best suited to apply to certain types of documents such as:
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the Commonwealth agency that deals with freedom of information and privacy matters) has written an excellent guide that summarises your rights under the FOI Act. Read this thoroughly if you are planning on making a freedom of information request and pay particular attention to the statutory timeframes. The guide covers:
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is under-resourced, so be prepared that their review activities will be drawn-out for exceptionally long periods of time and ineffective communication from the agency's employees is quite possible. Thus, you will want to make a freedom of information request/review as soon as possible and be actively involved in keeping pace of your matter. Also be aware that there can be a lack of adequate coordination between the division of the office that deals with privacy matters (mainly based in Sydney) and the division of the office that deals with freedom of information matters (mainly based in Canberra), resulting in mixed and confused messages being given to stakeholders.
To have some knowledge of how APS agencies are known to not carry out freedom of information requests in the spirit of the objectives of the FOI Act, see The Reality page.
- the processes undertaken;
- outcomes incorrectly reached; or
- inaccurate information held about you and your complaint which you want to correct (where your APS agency has not allowed you to access and correct such information under the Privacy Act 1988 - see the Privacy Law sub-page).
Alternatively, in September 2012, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner announced a guidance paper setting out how agencies can set up an Administrative Access Scheme, outside the formal processes of the FOI Act, for the release of government information. Administrative Access Schemes would be best suited to apply to certain types of documents such as:
- documents containing personal information of the requester, particularly those documents supplied by the requester;
- personal information of a requester who is a current or former employee of the agency;
- statistics or data relating to the agency's key functions and activities;
- documents that would be released in full if the request were made under the FOI Act;
- discrete information that can be provided more simply and efficiently than through an FOI
- discrete information that can be provided more simply and efficiently than through an FOI request - for example, information contained in a document which could be provided to a FOI applicant but in circumstances where the remainder of the document which is not of interest to the FOI applicant would have to be redacted.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the Commonwealth agency that deals with freedom of information and privacy matters) has written an excellent guide that summarises your rights under the FOI Act. Read this thoroughly if you are planning on making a freedom of information request and pay particular attention to the statutory timeframes. The guide covers:
- the role of the Australian Information Commissioner;
- the scope of the FOI Act;
- the making of requests;
- grounds for refusing/deferring access;
- reasons for refusing access;
- charges;
- exempt documents;
- requests for amendment/annotation of personal information;
- procedures for internal APS agency reviews of decisions;
- procedures for the Australian Information Commissioner's reviews of decisions;
- tribunal/court reviews of decisions;
- making complaints and investigations;
- grounds for determining vexatious applicants.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is under-resourced, so be prepared that their review activities will be drawn-out for exceptionally long periods of time and ineffective communication from the agency's employees is quite possible. Thus, you will want to make a freedom of information request/review as soon as possible and be actively involved in keeping pace of your matter. Also be aware that there can be a lack of adequate coordination between the division of the office that deals with privacy matters (mainly based in Sydney) and the division of the office that deals with freedom of information matters (mainly based in Canberra), resulting in mixed and confused messages being given to stakeholders.
To have some knowledge of how APS agencies are known to not carry out freedom of information requests in the spirit of the objectives of the FOI Act, see The Reality page.