Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - SECT 51

Internal review

51. Internal review



(1) Where a decision has been made, in relation to a request to an agency,
otherwise than by the responsible Minister or principal officer of the agency
(not being a decision on a review under this section), the applicant may,
within 28 days (or, in the case of a decision refusing to grant access to a
document containing health information on the ground referred to in section 36
of the Health Records Act 2001, within 70 days) after the day on which notice
of the decision was given to the applicant in accordance with section 27,
apply to the principal officer of the agency for a review of the decision.

(2) Subject to section 51A, a person is not entitled to apply to the Tribunal
for review of a decision in relation to which subsection (1) applies unless-

   (a)  he has made an application under subsection (1) in relation to the
        decision; and

   (b)  he has been informed of the result of the review or a period of
        fourteen days has elapsed since the day on which he made that
        application.

(3) Where an application for a review of a decision is made to the principal
officer in accordance with subsection (1), the principal officer shall
forthwith arrange for himself or a person (not being the person who made the
decision) authorized by him to conduct such reviews to review the decision and
to make a fresh decision on the original application.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (2), a person is not entitled to apply to the
Tribunal for review of a decision in relation to which subsection (1) applies
where he has made or caused to be made an application for review of a decision
to the Visitor of a University unless the Visitor has declined to conduct such
review or a period of 30 days has elapsed since the day on which that
application for review was made.