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Download the Information Access Study 2019
Background information on the Information Access Study
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the NSW Information Commissioner are members of the Australian Open Government Forum. This initiative was included under the Open Government National Action Plan. Woolcott Research was commissioned by participating jurisdictions to investigate the public’s awareness and experience of the right to access information held by government agencies in NSW, ACT, VIC, QLD, WA and the Commonwealth of Australia. The report compares results between jurisdictions.
- Please note that due to rounding, percentages may not always add to 100%.
- Also note that the actual base sizes have been used in all charts so due to data weighting, where raw scores have been used in the tables they may not add up to the base size.
Importance of having the right to access information
Three quarters of participants felt that their right to access information held by the government is ‘very’ or ‘quite’ important.
Figure 1
How important is it to you that you have a right to access government information?
Total awareness of right to access information
The majority of the respondents were aware they had the right to access information held by a range of Australian Government agencies.
Figure 2
Did you know, you have a right to access information (including any of your personal information) held by the following agencies?
Total attempts to access information
Over one third had attempted to access information held by at least one in the range of Australian Government agencies.
18-34 years olds were more likely to have contacted at least one organisation, while those aged over 55 years were less likely to have attempted to access information.
Figure 3
In the last 3 years have you tried to access information held by Australian Government agencies?
Total success in attempting to access information
Most respondents who tried to access information were successful in doing so at least once.
Long descriptions
The table below shows the results of survey that asked the following question:
How important is it to you that you have a right to access government information?
| AU | NSW | ACT | VIC | QLD | WA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very important | 52 | 51 | 51 | 53 | 47 | 48 |
| Quite important | 32 | 38 | 39 | 37 | 40 | 39 |
| Not all that important | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 9 |
| Not important at all | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
The table below shows the results of survey that asked the following question:
Did you know, you have a right to access information (including any of your personal information) held by the following agencies?
| AU | NSW | ACT | VIC | QLD | WA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| %Yes | 87 | 77 | 77 | 85 | 80 | 81 |
The table below shows the results of survey that asked the following question:
In the last 3 years have you tried to access information held by held by the Australian government.
| AU | NSW | ACT | VIC | QLD | WA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| %nYes | 37 | 40 | 15 | 35 | 37 | 37 |
The table below shows the results of survey that asked the following question:
Did you access the information successfully?
| AU | NSW | ACT | VIC | QLD | WA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Yes | NA | 80 | 60 | 75 | 70 | 91 |
