Freedom Of Information
Freedom Of Information refers to your right (public) to access government-held information they hold about you or about govt. policies and decisions.
Freedom Of Information Act (1982)
The Freedom of Information Act (1982) forced the Australian government to be more open to public scrutiny.
Information Exemptions
Certain information is exempt from the F.O.I, this includes;
- Documents detailing Cabinet Deliberations or decisions
- Documents detailing Trade Secrets
- Documents that could damage National Security, Defence, or International Relations
- Documents that could damage Commenwealth-State relations
- Documents that would result in unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any individual person, dead or alive.
Rights and Responsibilities
Rights
- You can request any information that is no exempted from disclosure held by Government ministers and most agencies
- Request that ministers or agencies amend or annotate any information they hold about you
Responsibilites
- You must be specific with your information request
- You incur a fee to request information (unless it is personal information / requires less than 5 hours of decision-making time)
References
General
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_1982
Rights & Responsibilities