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Introduction
The objects of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) make it clear that Parliament intends for powers and functions under the FOI Act to be performed and exercised, as far as possible, to facilitate and promote disclosure of information held by government promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost (s 3(4)).
The FOI Act gives every person a legally enforceable right to obtain access to agency documents and official documents of a minister (s 11). The FOI Act sets out a formal process through which a person can exercise that right. Importantly however, the FOI Act also states that Parliament does not intend to discourage agencies and ministers from making information they hold available in other ways (s 3A(2)).
Formal FOI Act processes work more effectively if supplemented by other forms of access to information. Complementary access mechanisms are also an important means of implementing Principle 1 in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) Principles on Open Public Sector Information, which says that open access to information should be the default position in government.
Agency websites play an important role in helping people exercise their rights under the FOI Act and informing them about the information agencies hold. They also play an important part in advancing the objectives of open government more broadly by promoting other forms of access to information.
However, as society increasingly embraces digital engagement, some agencies have said that increased focus on their websites has led people away from existing informal methods of accessing information that do not require an FOI request. These informal methods are described in this guidance paper as ‘administrative access schemes’ and are explained more fully in the OAIC’s Administrative Access resource. Administrative access schemes are widely used by agencies to provide personal and case file information, but are also used increasingly to respond to information requests from the public.
Using the FOI process rather than an administrative access scheme can be inefficient for agencies and may provide no benefit to the public.
Access to information
The OAIC encourages Australian Government agencies to adopt the standard ‘access to information’ icon that is used across all levels of government in Australia. This icon can be downloaded from the OAIC’s Icon for access to information page.
By acting as an immediate visual cue, the icon facilitates access to information, regardless of the structure of individual agencies’ websites or the user’s knowledge about accessing government information.
The access to information icon is intended to be displayed on the agency’s homepage (for example, within the footer) and to link to an access to information homepage that explains how members of the public can access information the agency holds.
The access to information page should contain information about:
- administrative access schemes established by the agency
- how to make an FOI request
- the agency’s Information Publication Scheme (IPS)
- the agency’s FOI disclosure log
- other mechanisms or arrangements for obtaining agency information (if relevant).
Administrative access schemes
Agencies should draw attention to any administrative access schemes through which people can access information.
An example, provided for under s 15A of the FOI Act, is an administrative arrangement allowing current or former agency employees to access personnel records without making an FOI request. Another example could be an arrangement allowing members of the public to quickly access personal information, such as case files that an agency holds about them.
Agencies should clearly identify the sorts of information that is available outside the FOI Act (whether through an administrative access scheme or some other means) and information that is available only through the FOI access request process. The headings and content description should be understandable to the public.
Examples of information that could be listed on the website include:
- data
- statistics
- information about the agency’s collections
- resources available elsewhere on the agency website
- agency resources available on other websites, such as data.gov.au
If the webpage becomes sufficiently long, agencies could consider adding a table of contents.
Customising content to suit agency circumstances
The ‘Access to information’ model webpage (see below) describes the sorts of information an agency may make available outside the FOI Act.
However, agencies should customise headings and content to suit their circumstances, including the types of FOI requests commonly received and the agency’s information holdings.
For example, an agency that does not receive a large number of requests for access to personal information may choose to remove the ‘Personal information’ headings, or place personal information as an item in a list of other available information. Similarly, an agency may include media enquiries or research questions on the ‘Access to information’ webpage, or choose to deal with those separately elsewhere on the agency website.
Information about making an FOI request
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recommends that the access to information homepage links to a plain English explanation of:
- a person’s right to request access to documents under the FOI Act
- how to make an FOI request, including:
- the requirements for a valid request and how to obtain assistance
- the position title, telephone number and email address of the FOI contact officer or officers. Consideration should be given to establishing generic telephone numbers and email addresses (for example foi@agency.gov.au) that will not change with staff movements
- if the FOI request is made on behalf of another person – the need for the applicant to provide an authority from that other person
- an FOI application form (if available)
- the types of documents that are not available under the FOI Act
- charges, including remission of charges
- internal and IC review options
- complaints to the OAIC.
The model web page at the end of this guidance contains suggested text about the FOI process.
Accessibility
Agencies using the access to information icon must ensure they comply with whole-of-government online accessibility requirements by appropriate alternative text that accompanies the icon.
Guidance to help agencies manage their online presence and understand their legal and policy obligations is available from the Digital Transformation Agency Digital Service Standard.
Advice about accessibility in the context of FOI is contained in the FOI Guidelines, particularly Parts 13 (IPS) and 14 (Disclosure log).
Other web page considerations
IPS and FOI disclosure log pages
Guidance on IPS structure and content is available in Part 13 of the FOI Guidelines. A template FOI disclosure log page is available in Part 14 of the FOI Guidelines.
As explained above, links to the agency’s IPS and disclosure log pages should be provided from the ‘Access to information’ page.
Short form web addresses
Agencies should consider adopting short form web addresses for the following pages:
- Access to information (where applicable): www.agency.gov.au/information
- Freedom of information (where applicable): www.agency.gov.au/foi
- IPS: www.agency.gov.au/ips
- Disclosure log: www.agency.gov.au/disclosurelog
- Privacy: www.agency.gov.au/privacy
Agencies transitioning to the ‘Access to information’ approach may wish to consider redirecting any existing www.agency.gov.au/foi short form links to the new ‘Access to information’ page for an appropriate period of time (where internal web governance and operational arrangements allow).
Model web page
Access to information
We make a range of information available for public access. You can request access to documents we hold under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). Alternately, we can give you certain information if you ask for it through other access arrangements we have set up, as outlined below.
Requesting information or documents
Most requests for information or copies of documents can be dealt with informally and quickly – a phone call or email may be all that is required.
[Agencies to link to a dedicated page if necessary or insert details about who to contact, the requests that can be handled in this way, how quickly the public can expect a response, and when they should use the FOI Act instead.
The OAIC recommends that agencies devise procedures for administrative access, based on the Administrative Access web page. Note in particular the ‘Administrative access checklist’.]
Personal information – agency clients and customers
You can ask to see or be given a copy of any personal information we hold about you. [Insert details about how to request personal information. The procedures for requesting access to personal information may be a part of the Administrative Access procedures referred to under the previous heading.]
Personal information – current and former agency employees
Current and former agency employees can obtain access to their employment record [insert details about the agency-specific scheme].
Section 15A of the FOI Act requires you to use this procedure before making a request under the FOI Act. You may make an FOI request after 30 days if you are not satisfied with our response.
Information Publication Scheme
As required by the FOI Act, we have an Information Publication Scheme entry [link] that provides information on our structure, functions, appointments, annual reports, consultation arrangements, FOI officer, information we routinely release following FOI requests and information we routinely provide to Parliament.
FOI disclosure log
Our FOI disclosure log [link] lists information that has been released in response to requests made under the FOI Act.
Other information we hold
[List other information sources, or contact details as appropriate, for example an administrative access scheme, datasets on data.gov.au, other online resources or a phone/email/postal contact point for certain kinds of information]
Freedom of information requests
Your rights
The FOI Act gives any person the right to:
- access copies of documents (except exempt documents) we hold
- ask for information we hold about you to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading
- seek a review of our decision not to allow you access to a document or not to amend your personal record.
You can ask to access any document we hold. We can refuse access to some documents, or parts of documents, that are exempt from disclosure. Exempt documents may include those relating to national security, documents containing material obtained in confidence and Cabinet documents, or other matters set out in the FOI Act.
How to make an FOI request
Your request must:
- be in writing
- state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act
- provide information about the document(s) you wish to access so that we can process your request
- provide an address for reply.
You can use the request form [link if applicable] or you can send your request:
By post to: FOI Contact Officer
Branch
Department
Address
By email to: foi@agency.gov.au
[Agencies to insert information about proof of authority they require for a third party to act, for example:
If you are making an FOI request on behalf of another person, you need to provide a specific, written authority from that person that authorises [agency name] to send copies of documents to you or to allow you to inspect copies of documents containing information about the other person.]
If you require assistance with your request, please contact the FOI Contact Officer on XX XXXX XXXX or by email at foi@agency.gov.au.
Fees and charges
There is no application fee for an FOI request.
There are no processing charges for FOI requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. The most common charges are:
Fees and charges for processing FOI requests
Activity Item | Charge |
|---|---|
Search and retrieval: time we spend searching for or retrieving a document | $15.00 per hour |
Decision making: time we spend in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, and making deletions | First five hours: Nil |
Transcript: preparing a transcript from a sound recording, shorthand or similar medium | $4.40 per page of transcript |
Photocopy | $0.10 per page |
Inspection: supervision by an agency officer of your inspection of documents or hearing or viewing an audio or visual recording at our premises | $6.25 per half hour (or part thereof) |
Delivery: posting or delivering a copy of a document at your request | Cost of postage or delivery |
If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. Where the estimated charge is between $20 and $100, we may ask you to pay a deposit of $20, or where the estimated charge exceeds $100, we may ask you to pay a 25% deposit before we process your request.
You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for any reason, including financial hardship or on the grounds of public interest. If you do so, you should explain your reasons and you may need to provide some evidence.
What you can expect from us
We will tell you within 14 days that we have received your request. We will also give you an estimate of the charges that apply to your request. We will give you our decision within 30 days unless that time has been extended. If a document contains information about a third party, we will need to consult them and may need to extend the time to give you our decision by another 30 days. We may also seek your agreement to extend the time by up to 30 days if your request is complex.
If you disagree with our decision
When we have made a decision about your FOI request, we will send you a letter explaining our decision and your review and appeal rights.
You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:
- if we refuse to give you access to all or part of a document or if we defer giving you access
- if we impose a charge
- if we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.
A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.
Internal review
You can ask in writing that we reconsider our decision (internal review). An internal review will be conducted by another officer in our agency. We will advise you of our new decision within 30 days of receiving your request.
Information Commissioner review
You can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our original decision or our decision on internal review within 60 days of the date of decision (or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party). The Information Commissioner can affirm or vary the decision or substitute a new decision. The Information Commissioner may decide not to conduct a review in certain circumstances. More information is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available from the OAIC. The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.
More information
If you require assistance with your request, please contact the FOI Contact Officer on XX XXXX XXXX or by email at foi@agency.gov.au.
