Tasmanian Consolidated Acts

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1991 - SECT 5

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

"agency" means an Agency, within the meaning of the State Service Act 2000, or a prescribed authority, and includes the Police Service and a council;

"Archives Office" has the same meaning as is in the Archives Act 1983;

"exempt information" means information which is exempt information by virtue of a provision of Part 3;

"officer", in relation to an agency, includes a member of the agency, a member of the staff of the agency and any person employed by or for the agency, whether or not that person is a State Service officer or State Service employee;

"Ombudsman" means the Ombudsman appointed under the Ombudsman Act 1978;

"prescribed authority" means –

(a) a body corporate established for a public purpose by or in accordance with an Act, other than a body corporate –

(i) formed for the purposes of the Tasmanian Government Insurance Office (Sale) Act 1993; or

(ii) formed under section 5 of the TT-Line Arrangements Act 1993; or

(iii) formed under section 14 of the Government Business Enterprises (Sale) Act 2003;

(b) an unincorporated body created by the Governor or a Minister; or

(c) any other body, whether incorporated or unincorporated, declared by the regulations to be a prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act, being –

(i) a body –

(A) which is supported directly or indirectly by government funds or other assistance; or

(B) over which the State is in a position to exercise control; or

(d) subject to subsection (3), the person holding or performing the duties of an office established by an Act; or

(e) the person holding, or performing the duties of, an appointment declared by the regulations to be an appointment the holder of which is a prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act, being an appointment made by–

(i) the Governor; or

(ii) a Minister–

otherwise than under an Act; or

(f) the Law Society of Tasmania established under the Law Society Act 1962 and continued as a body corporate under the Legal Profession Act 2007;

"principal officer" means –

(a) in relation to an Agency, within the meaning of the State Service Act 2000 – the Head of Agency; and

(b) in any other case –

(i) if the regulations declare an office to be the principal office in relation to the agency – the person holding or performing the duties of that office; or

(ii) in any other case – the person who constitutes that agency or, if the agency is constituted by 2 or more people, the person who is entitled to preside at a meeting of the agency at which the person is present;

"record" means –

(a) anything on which words, figures, letters or symbols are marked and includes a map, plan, graph, drawing, painting or photograph; and

(b) anything in which information is embodied so as to be capable of being reproduced;

"record of a Minister" means a record in the possession of a Minister, that relates to the affairs of an agency, and, for the purposes of this interpretation, a Minister is to be taken to be in possession of a record if the Minister is entitled to access to the record and it is not a record in the possession of an agency;

"regulations" means regulations made under this Act;

"responsible Minister" means –

(a) in relation to an Agency, within the meaning of the State Service Act 2000 – the Minister administering the Agency; or

(b) in relation to an agency that is a prescribed authority referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of "prescribed authority" – the Minister administering the Act by which the prescribed authority was established; or

(c) in relation to an agency that is a prescribed authority referred to in paragraph (d) of that definition – the Minister administering the Act by which the office was established; or

(d) in relation to any other agency – the Minister declared by the regulations to be the responsible Minister in respect of that agency.

      (2) An unincorporated body established by or in accordance with an Act for the purpose of assisting or performing functions connected with a prescribed authority is not to be taken to be a prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act but is to be taken to be comprised within the prescribed authority.

      (3) A person is not a prescribed authority solely because the person holds or performs the duties of –

(a) a prescribed office; or

(b) an office the duties of which the person performs as duties of his or her employment as an officer of an agency; or

(c) an office or member of a body; or

(d) an office established by or in accordance with an Act for the purposes of a prescribed authority.

      (4) A reference to the personal affairs of a person includes the personal affairs of a deceased person, and rights given by this Act in respect of the personal affairs of a person are, where the person is a deceased person, to be taken to be rights that may be exercised in respect of those personal affairs by the next-of-kin of that person.