Section 76 of the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA) requires the Information Commissioner to inform the parties to a complaint of her decision, including the reasons for her decision and findings on material questions of fact underlying those reasons, referring to the material on which those findings were based.
The Commissioner is also required to publish her decisions but may do so in a form appropriate to ensure the public is adequately informed of the grounds on which the decisions are made.
The majority of the matters before the Information Commissioner are resolved by conciliation and negotiation (section 71). As such, matters resolved through formal decisions account for only a small proportion of the matters the OIC finalises.
Conciliated matters often result in:
- additional information being released;
- agencies reconsidering or varying their original decision; or
- applicants better understanding the reasons for a decision.
When a matter is resolved in this way, a published decision is not required.
Publication of Decisions in Noteform
Where the issues and principles arising in a particular matter are issues and principles previously dealt with by the Commissioner in full, published decisions and the decision, therefore, involves no new principles, the parties will have been informed by letter of the Commissioner's decision, reasons, material findings and the material on which those findings are based.
Such decisions are therefore not published in full but have appeared in note form only since 1 January 2000.
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