Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - SECT 11

Statement of certain documents in possession of agencies to be published

11. Statement of certain documents in possession of agencies to be published



(1) This section applies, in respect of an agency other than a council, to any
document that is-

   (a)  a report, or a statement containing the advice or recommendations, of
        a prescribed body or organization established within the agency;

   (b)  a report, or a statement containing the advice or recommendations, of
        a body or organization established outside the agency by or under an
        Act, or by the Governor in Council or a Minister, for the purpose of
        submitting a report or reports, providing advice or making
        recommendations to the agency or to the responsible Minister of that
        agency;

   (c)  a report, or a statement containing the advice or recommendations, of
        an inter-departmental committee whose membership includes an officer
        of the agency;



   (d)  a report, or a statement containing the advice or recommendations, of
        a committee established within the agency to submit a report, provide
        advice or make recommendations to the responsible Minister of that
        agency or to another officer of the agency who is not a member of the
        committee;

   (e)  a report (including a report concerning the results of studies,
        surveys or tests) prepared for the agency by a scientific or technical
        expert, whether employed within the agency or not, including a report
        expressing the opinion of such an expert on scientific or technical
        matters;

   (f)  a report prepared for the agency by a consultant who was paid for
        preparing the report;

   (g)  a report prepared within the agency and containing the results of
        studies, surveys or tests carried out for the purpose of assessing, or
        making recommendations on, the feasibility of establishing a new or
        proposed government policy, programme or project;

   (h)  a report on the performance or efficiency of the agency, or of an
        office, division or branch of the agency, whether the report is of a
        general nature or concerns a particular policy, programme or project
        administered by the agency;

        (i)    a report containing final plans or proposals for the
               re-organisation of the functions of the agency, the
               establishment of a new policy, programme or project to be
               administered by the agency, or the alteration of an existing
               policy, programme or project administered by the agency,
               whether or not the plans or proposals are subject to approval
               by an officer of the agency, another agency, the responsible
               Minister of the agency or the Cabinet;

   (j)  a statement prepared within the agency and containing instructions
        submitted to the Parliamentary Counsel for the drafting of a Bill;

   (k)  a submission prepared within the agency (other than by the responsible
        Minister of the agency) for presentation to the Cabinet;

   (l)  a report of a test carried out within the agency on a product for the
        purpose of government equipment purchasing;

   (m)  an environmental impact statement prepared within the agency; and

   (n)  a valuation report prepared for the agency by a valuer, whether or not
        the valuer is an officer of the agency.

(2) The principal officer of an agency shall-

   (a)  cause to be published in the prescribed form as soon as practicable
        after the commencement of this Part a statement (which may take the
        form of an index) specifying the documents to which this section
        applies which have been created since the date of commencement of Part
        I of this Act and are in the possession of the agency;

   (b)  within twelve months after first publication of the statement required
        under paragraph (a) and thereafter at intervals of twelve months,
        cause to be published in a prescribed form statements bringing up to
        date the information contained in the previous statement or
        statements.

(3) This section does not require a document of the kind referred to in
subsection (1) containing exempt matter to be referred to in a statement
published in accordance with subsection (2)(a), if the fact of the existence
of the document cannot be referred to in the statement without exempt matter
being disclosed.

(4) An agency that comes into existence after the commencement of this Part
shall comply-

   (a)  with the provisions of subsection (2)(a) as soon as practicable after
        the day on which the agency comes into existence and not later than
        twelve months after that day; and

(b) with the provisions of subsection (2)(b) as if the reference to "first
publication" in that paragraph were a reference to first publication in
compliance with this subsection.