Freedom of Information Act 1982, Australia

Freedom of Information Act 1982Act No. 3 of 1982 as amendedThis compilation was prepared on 1 July 2005taking into account amendments up to Act No. 45 of 2005The text of any of those amendments not in forceon that date is appended in the Notes sectionThe operation of amendments that have been incorporated may beaffected by application provisions that are set out in the Notes sectionPrepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing,Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra

An Act to give to members of the public rights ofaccess to official documents of the Government ofthe Commonwealth and of its agenciesPart I—Preliminary1 Short title [see Note 1]This Act may be cited as theFreedom of Information Act 1982.2 Commencement [see Note 1]The several Parts of this Act shall come into operation on suchrespective dates as are fixed by Proclamation.3 Object(1) The object of this Act is to extend as far as possible the right of theAustralian community to access to information in the possession ofthe Government of the Commonwealth by:(a) making available to the public information about theoperations of departments and public authorities and, inparticular, ensuring that rules and practices affectingmembers of the public in their dealings with departments andpublic authorities are readily available to persons affected bythose rules and practices; and(b) creating a general right of access to information indocumentary form in the possession of Ministers,departments and public authorities, limited only byexceptions and exemptions necessary for the protection ofessential public interests and the private and business affairsof persons in respect of whom information is collected andheld by departments and public authorities; and(c) creating a right to bring about the amendment of recordscontaining personal information that is incomplete, incorrect,out of date or misleading.(2) It is the intention of the Parliament that the provisions of this Actshall be interpreted so as to further the object set out inPart I PreliminarySection 42 Freedom of Information Act 1982subsection (1) and that any discretions conferred by this Act shallbe exercised as far as possible so as to facilitate and promote,promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost, the disclosure ofinformation.4 Interpretation(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:ACT enactment means an enactment as defined by section 3 of theAustralian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.agency means a Department, a prescribed authority or an eligiblecase manager.applicant means a person who has made a request.Cabinet notebook means a notebook or other like record thatcontains notes of discussions or deliberations taking place in ameeting of the Cabinet or of a committee of the Cabinet, beingnotes made in the course of those discussions or deliberations by,or under the authority of, the Secretary to the Cabinet.Department means a Department of the Australian Public Servicethat corresponds to a Department of State of the Commonwealthbut does not include the branch of the Australian Public Servicecomprising the transitional staff as defined by section 3 of theA.C.T. Self-Government (Consequential Provisions) Act 1988.document includes:(a) any of, or any part of any of, the following things:(i) any paper or other material on which there is writing;(ii) a map, plan, drawing or photograph;(iii) any paper or other material on which there are marks,figures, symbols or perforations having a meaning forpersons qualified to interpret them;(iv) any article or material from which sounds, images orwritings are capable of being reproduced with orwithout the aid of any other article or device;(v) any article on which information has been stored orrecorded, either mechanically or electronically;(vi) any other record of information; or(b) any copy, reproduction or duplicate of such a thing; orPreliminary Part ISection 4Freedom of Information Act 1982 3(c) any part of such a copy, reproduction or duplicate;but does not include:(d) library material maintained for reference purposes; or(e) Cabinet notebooks.document of an agency ordocument of the agency means adocument in the possession of an agency, or in the possession ofthe agency concerned, as the case requires, whether created in theagency or received in the agency.edited copy, in relation to a document, means a copy of thedocument from which deletions have been made under section 22.eligible case manager means an entity (within the meaning of theEmployment Services Act 1994):(a) that is, or has at any time been, a contracted case managerwithin the meaning of that Act; and(b) that is not:(i) a Department; or(ii) a prescribed authority.enactment means, subject to section 4A:(a) an Act;(b) an Ordinance of the Australian Capital Territory; or(c) an instrument (including rules, regulations or by-laws) madeunder an Act or under such an Ordinance and includes anenactment as amended by another enactment.exempt document means:(a) a document which, by virtue of a provision of Part IV, is anexempt document;(b) a document in respect of which, by virtue of section 7, anagency is exempt from the operation of this Act; or(c) an official document of a Minister that contains some matterthat does not relate to the affairs of an agency or of aDepartment of State.exempt Internet-content document means:(a) a document containing information (within the meaning ofSchedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992) that:(i) has been copied from the Internet; andPart I PreliminarySection 44 Freedom of Information Act 1982(ii) was offensive Internet content when it was accessible onthe Internet; or(b) a document that sets out how to access, or that is likely tofacilitate access to, offensive Internet content (for example:by setting out the name of an Internet site, an IP address, aURL, a password, or the name of a newsgroup).exempt matter means matter the inclusion of which in a documentcauses the document to be an exempt document.offensive Internet content means Internet content (within themeaning of Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992) thatis:(a) prohibited content (within the meaning of that Schedule); or(b) potential prohibited content (within the meaning of thatSchedule).officer, in relation to an agency, includes a member of the agencyor a member of the staff of the agency.official document of a Minister or official document of theMinister means a document that is in the possession of a Minister,or that is in the possession of the Minister concerned, as the caserequires, in his or her capacity as a Minister, being a document thatrelates to the affairs of an agency or of a Department of State and,for the purposes of this definition, a Minister shall be deemed to bein possession of a document that has passed from his or herpossession if he or she is entitled to access to the document and thedocument is not a document of an agency.Ombudsman means the Commonwealth Ombudsman.Ordinance, in relation to the Australian Capital Territory, includesa law of a State that applies, or the provisions of a law of a Statethat apply, in the Territory by virtue of an enactment (other than alaw that is, or provisions that are an ACT enactment).personal information means information or an opinion (includinginformation forming part of a database), whether true or not, andwhether recorded in a material form or not, about an individualwhose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, fromthe information or opinion.prescribed authority means:Preliminary Part ISection 4Freedom of Information Act 1982 5(a) a body corporate, or an unincorporated body, established fora public purpose by, or in accordance with the provisions of,an enactment or an Order-in-Council, other than:(i) an incorporated company or association;(ii) a body that, under subsection (2), is not to be taken to bea prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act;(iii) the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly;(iv) the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory orthe Executive Council of the Northern Territory;(v) the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of NorfolkIsland; or(vi) a Royal Commission;