FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 94 Regulations

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 94

  (1)   The Governor - General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters that are required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed, or are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act, and, in particular, making provision for or in relation to:

  (a)   the making of charges of amounts, or at rates, fixed by or in accordance with the regulations in respect of requests for access to documents or in respect of the provision of access to documents (including the provision of copies or transcripts) in accordance with this Act, including requiring deposits on account of such charges; and

  (b)   the officers who may give decisions on behalf of an agency.

  (2)   Without limiting the generality of subsection   (1), regulations under that subsection making provision for or in relation to the making of charges:

  (a)   shall not be such that the amount or rate of charge varies according to whether a document is a document of one agency or of an agency included in one class of agency or is a document of another agency or of an agency included in another class of agency;

  (b)   shall, if a charge is made for time that is spent by an agency or a Minister in undertaking any of the following activities:

  (i)   searching for or retrieving a document;

  (ii)   making, or doing things related to making, a decision on a request for access;

    provide for the charge in respect of that activity to be calculated at a single hourly rate that shall be applied by the agency or Minister in respect of any request, regardless of the classification or designation of the officer who undertakes the work involved; and

  (d)   may provide for a charge to be made that takes into account the direct costs incurred by an agency or a Minister in making available an officer to supervise the inspection by a person of any document for which a request for access has been made under this Act.

  (3)   Where, as a result of a request, access is given to a document in respect of which the applicant would not be entitled to access under this Act, regulations under this Act relating to charges apply as if the applicant had been given access to that document in accordance with an entitlement under this Act.

This Part   establishes an information publication scheme for agencies.

Each agency must publish a plan showing how it proposes to implement this Part.

An agency must publish a range of information including information about what the agency does and the way it does it, as well as information dealt with or used in the course of its operations, some of which is called operational information.

In addition, an agency may publish other information held by the agency.

Information published by an agency must be kept accurate, up - to - date and complete.

An agency is not required to publish exempt matter. An agency is also not required to publish information if prohibited by another enactment.

The information (or details of how to access the information) must be published on a website. If there is a charge for accessing the information, the agency must publish details of the charge.

An agency must, in conjunction with the Information Commissioner, review the operation of the scheme in the agency every 5 years (if not earlier).

An agency must have regard to the objects of this Act, and guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner, in doing anything for the purposes of this Part.

If operational information is not published in accordance with this Part, a person must not be subjected to any prejudice as a result of not having access to the information.

This Part   provides for internal review of decisions by agencies, other than decisions made personally by the principal officer of an agency or the responsible Minister. Agencies are required to complete internal reviews within 30 days. However, this period may be extended.

Sections   53A, 53B and 53C define the terms access refusal decision , access grant decision and affected third party . These terms are used in this Part   and in Parts VII and VIIA.

This Part sets up a system for review of decisions by the Information Commissioner.

Division   2 sets out the key concepts for the Part.

Division   3 sets out the types of decisions that are reviewable.

Division   4 provides for the making of applications for review by the Information Commissioner, including the time limits within which applications must be made.

The Information Commissioner may make preliminary inquiries before deciding whether or not to conduct a review. In certain circumstances, the Information Commissioner may decide not to review a decision (or a part of a decision) (see Division   5).

Division   6 provides for the procedure in an IC review, including the parties to the proceeding, circumstances in which a hearing may be held and who bears the onus of proof.

The Information Commissioner may refer questions of law to the Federal Court of Australia at any time during the review.

The Information Commissioner must make a decision on the review in accordance with Division   7.

The Information Commissioner has powers to gather information for the purposes of an IC review (see Division   8).

In certain circumstances, the Inspector - General of Intelligence and Security must be called to give evidence (see Division   9).

An application for review of a decision of the Information Commissioner may be made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. A review party may appeal to the Federal Court of Australia, on a question of law, from a decision of the Information Commissioner (see Division   10).

An application may be made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for the review of certain decisions (see section   57A).

Division   3 sets out the powers of the Tribunal in a review.

Division   4 deals with the procedure to be followed in a review by the Tribunal.

Division   5 deals with ensuring that exempt matter that comes before the Tribunal is protected from disclosure.

Division   6 deals with the circumstances in which the Tribunal may make recommendations as to costs.

Division   7 deals with the stay of decisions pending appeal to the Federal Court of Australia.

This Part   is about investigations by the Information Commissioner and by the Ombudsman.

Division   2 sets up a system for investigations by the Information Commissioner.

The Information Commissioner may investigate an action taken by an agency in the performance of functions or the exercise of powers under this Act on a complaint from a person, or on the Information Commissioner's initiative.

If a person disputes the merits of an access refusal decision or an access grant decision, this Act provides elsewhere for the review of that decision (see Parts VI, VII and VIIA).

However, this does not prevent a person from making a complaint to the Information Commissioner about the way in which the agency has handled the decision.

The Information Commissioner has powers to obtain documents, to question persons and to enter premises (see Subdivision   D of Division   2).

At the conclusion of the investigation, the Information Commissioner must give a notice to the complainant and to the respondent agency about the Information Commissioner's findings, with any recommendations that the Information Commissioner believes the agency ought to implement (see section   86).

If the Information Commissioner is not satisfied that the agency has taken adequate and appropriate action to implement the recommendations, the Information Commissioner may take further steps (see sections   89, 89A and 89B).

Division   3 deals with the investigation of complaints by the Ombudsman about action taken under this Act.