Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 30A

             (1)  Where:

                     (a)  there is, in respect of an application to an agency or Minister under subsection 15(1) requesting access to a document or under subsection 54(1) requesting a review of a decision relating to a document, an application fee (whether or not the fee has been paid); and

                     (b)  the agency or Minister considers that the fee or a part of the fee should be remitted for any reason, including either of the following reasons:

                              (i)  the payment of the fee or of the part of the fee would cause or caused financial hardship to the applicant or a person on whose behalf the application was made;

                            (iii)  the giving of access is in the general public interest or in the interest of a substantial section of the public;

the agency or Minister may remit the fee or the part of the fee.

          (1A)  The applicant may make a written request for the application fee to be wholly or partly remitted under subsection (1). The agency or Minister must take all reasonable steps to enable the applicant to be notified of the decision on the request as soon as practicable, but in any case no later than 30 days after the day on which the request was made.

          (1B)  If:

                     (a)  that period of 30 days has ended; and

                     (b)  the applicant has not received notice of a decision on the request;

the agency or the Minister, as the case requires, is taken, for all purposes of this Act, to have made, on the last day of the period, a decision to the effect that no part of the application fee is to be remitted.

             (2)  Where the whole or a part of an application fee is remitted under subsection (1), then, to the extent of the remission, there shall not, for the purposes of subsection 15(2) or 54(1), as the case may be, be taken to be an application fee in respect of the application.

             (3)  If:

                     (a)  a person makes a written request for an application fee to be remitted, in whole or in part; and

                     (b)  the agency or Minister makes a decision to refuse the request, in whole or in part;

the agency or Minister, as the case requires, must give the applicant written notice of the reasons for the decision.

Note:          Section 25D of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 sets out rules about the contents of a statement of reasons.

             (4)  A notice under subsection (3) must also state the name and designation of the person making the decision and give the applicant appropriate information about:

                     (a)  his or her rights with respect to review of the decision; and

                     (b)  his or her rights to make a complaint to the Ombudsman in relation to the decision; and

                     (c)  the procedure for the exercise of those rights;

including (where applicable) particulars of the manner in which an application for review under section 54 may be made.

             (5)  Section 13 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 does not apply to a decision referred to in subsection (3).

             (6)  A notice under subsection (3) is not required to contain any matter that is of such a nature that its inclusion in a document of an agency would cause that document to be an exempt document.