Freedom of Information Act 1982, Australia

Act No. 3 of 1982 as amended

This compilation was prepared on 1 July 2005

taking into account amendments up to Act No. 45 of 2005

The text of any of those amendments not in force

on that date is appended in the Notes section

The operation of amendments that have been incorporated may be

affected by application provisions that are set out in the Notes section

Prepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing,

Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra

An Act to give to members of the public rights of

access to official documents of the Government of

the Commonwealth and of its agencies

Part I—Preliminary

1 Short title [see Note 1]

This Act may be cited as the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

2 Commencement [see Note 1]

The several Parts of this Act shall come into operation on such

respective dates as are fixed by Proclamation.

3 Object

(1) The object of this Act is to extend as far as possible the right of the

Australian community to access to information in the possession of

the Government of the Commonwealth by:

(a) making available to the public information about the

operations of departments and public authorities and, in

particular, ensuring that rules and practices affecting

members of the public in their dealings with departments and

public authorities are readily available to persons affected by

those rules and practices; and

(b) creating a general right of access to information in

documentary form in the possession of Ministers,

departments and public authorities, limited only by

exceptions and exemptions necessary for the protection of

essential public interests and the private and business affairs

of persons in respect of whom information is collected and

held by departments and public authorities; and

(c) creating a right to bring about the amendment of records

containing personal information that is incomplete, incorrect,

out of date or misleading.

(2) It is the intention of the Parliament that the provisions of this Act

shall be interpreted so as to further the object set out in

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subsection (1) and that any discretions conferred by this Act shall

be exercised as far as possible so as to facilitate and promote,

promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost, the disclosure of

information.

4 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

ACT enactment means an enactment as defined by section 3 of the

Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.

agency means a Department, a prescribed authority or an eligible

case manager.

applicant means a person who has made a request.

Cabinet notebook means a notebook or other like record that

contains notes of discussions or deliberations taking place in a

meeting of the Cabinet or of a committee of the Cabinet, being

notes 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 Service

that corresponds to a Department of State of the Commonwealth

but does not include the branch of the Australian Public Service

comprising the transitional staff as defined by section 3 of the

A.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 for

persons qualified to interpret them;

(iv) any article or material from which sounds, images or

writings are capable of being reproduced with or

without the aid of any other article or device;

(v) any article on which information has been stored or

recorded, either mechanically or electronically;

(vi) any other record of information; or

(b) any copy, reproduction or duplicate of such a thing; or

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Freedom 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 or document of the agency means a

document in the possession of an agency, or in the possession of

the agency concerned, as the case requires, whether created in the

agency or received in the agency.

edited copy, in relation to a document, means a copy of the

document from which deletions have been made under section 22.

eligible case manager means an entity (within the meaning of the

Employment Services Act 1994):

(a) that is, or has at any time been, a contracted case manager

within 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) made

under an Act or under such an Ordinance and includes an

enactment as amended by another enactment.

exempt document means:

(a) a document which, by virtue of a provision of Part IV, is an

exempt document;

(b) a document in respect of which, by virtue of section 7, an

agency is exempt from the operation of this Act; or

(c) an official document of a Minister that contains some matter

that does not relate to the affairs of an agency or of a

Department of State.

exempt Internet-content document means:

(a) a document containing information (within the meaning of

Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992) that:

(i) has been copied from the Internet; and

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4 Freedom of Information Act 1982

(ii) was offensive Internet content when it was accessible on

the Internet; or

(b) a document that sets out how to access, or that is likely to

facilitate access to, offensive Internet content (for example:

by setting out the name of an Internet site, an IP address, a

URL, a password, or the name of a newsgroup).

exempt matter means matter the inclusion of which in a document

causes the document to be an exempt document.

offensive Internet content means Internet content (within the

meaning of Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992) that

is:

(a) prohibited content (within the meaning of that Schedule); or

(b) potential prohibited content (within the meaning of that

Schedule).

officer, in relation to an agency, includes a member of the agency

or a member of the staff of the agency.

official document of a Minister or official document of the

Minister means a document that is in the possession of a Minister,

or that is in the possession of the Minister concerned, as the case

requires, in his or her capacity as a Minister, being a document that

relates 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 be

in possession of a document that has passed from his or her

possession if he or she is entitled to access to the document and the

document is not a document of an agency.

Ombudsman means the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Ordinance, in relation to the Australian Capital Territory, includes

a law of a State that applies, or the provisions of a law of a State

that apply, in the Territory by virtue of an enactment (other than a

law that is, or provisions that are an ACT enactment).

personal information means information or an opinion (including

information forming part of a database), whether true or not, and

whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual

whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from

the information or opinion.

prescribed authority means:

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Freedom of Information Act 1982 5

(a) a body corporate, or an unincorporated body, established for

a 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 be

a prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act;

(iii) the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly;

(iv) the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory or

the Executive Council of the Northern Territory;

(v) the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Norfolk

Island; or

(vi) a Royal Commission;