- Freedom of Information Act 1992
- Freedom of Information Regulations 1993
- Information Commissioner Act 2024
The Commonwealth, the states and the mainland territories of Australia each have freedom of information legislation. The Commonwealth and some states also have privacy legislation.
Research on Information Access in Australia
The NSW Information Commissioner has led the coordination of a Jurisdictional Compendium prepared by the Association of Information Access Commissioners. The Compendium was prepared to assist in the development of the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan, particularly the Plan's draft commitment to review information access laws and to be available as a resource for each jurisdiction. The Compendium identifies the similarities and differences of Australian legislative arrangements at a high level and does not purport to represent a detailed analysis of these arrangements.
- Compendium of information access laws across Australian states and territories (Updated October 2023)
The Monash Report on the Culture of Implementing FOI in Australia
In 2021, the Office of the Information Commissioner WA, together with the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner and the South Australian Ombudsman (the project partners), engaged independent researchers at Monash University to conduct a major research project exploring the culture of administering freedom of information (FOI) legislation and access to government-held information in Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia. The three-year project culminates in the attached report, which outlines the findings and recommendations of the Monash University researchers. The project was jointly funded by the project partners, Monash University and a significant linkage grant from the Australian Research Council.
The report captures and analyses how State and local government freedom of information (FOI) practitioners, agency executives and government ministers in Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia view information access and the factors that shape their attitudes towards implementing FOI. The study was conducted across three years, 2021–2024 and was funded by the Australian Research Council and the Information Commissioners in Victoria and Western Australia and the SA Ombudsman.
The report was launched on 18 June with an online event to discuss the study and importance of improving the culture of FOI in Australia.
Information Access in other Jurisdictions
The Commonwealth, the states and the mainland territories of Australia each have freedom of information legislation. The Commonwealth and some states also have privacy legislation.
Commonwealth
State and Territory
The External Review Process
Show more- Application for External Review (PDF)
- Consulting with third parties during external review - guide for agencies (PDF)
- Decisions of the Information Commissioner – guide for access applicants (PDF)
- Decisions of the Information Commissioner – guide for agencies (PDF)
- Decisions of the Information Commissioner – guide for third parties (PDF)
- Documents that cannot be found or do not exist – guide for access applicants (PDF)
- Exchange of submissions and procedural fairness - guide for parties (PDF)
- External Review Procedure - guide for parties (PDF)
- Preparing for a conciliation conference - guide for parties (PDF)
- Producing documents to the Information Commissioner – guide for agencies (PDF)
- Understanding the conciliation process - guide for parties (PDF)
Amendments to the FOI Act
Show moreClause 5(1)(b) of Schedule 1
An amendment Act (Freedom of Information Amendment Act 2004) was assented to by the Governor on 19 November 2004, and amends clause 5(1)(b) of Schedule 1 to the FOI Act by deleting the words “reveal the” and inserting instead the words “prejudice an”. The amending Act comes into operation immediately.
As a result clause 5(1)(b) now provides that matter is exempt “...if its disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice an investigation of any contravention or possible contravention of the law in a particular case, whether or not any prosecution or disciplinary proceedings have resulted”.
The effect of this amendment will mean:
- to establish the exemption it will no longer be sufficient for an agency to show that disclosure of the document in question will merely “reveal” the investigation of a contravention or possible contravention of the law; rather, it will be necessary to show that some harm or damage to an investigation of the relevant kind could reasonably be expected to be caused by disclosure of the information in question.
Relevant Parliamentary debate about this amendment and the reasons for its introduction can be found on the Parliament of Western Australia website.
This exemption is now similar to that in the FOI legislation of other Australian jurisdictions. A search of cases and FOI legislation published on the Australasian Legal Information Institute may also assist in interpreting the amended clause.
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