What is freedom of information?

Freedom of information in Australia is the legal right of any person to access documents held by government agencies. The right is established by the federal Freedom of Information Act 1982 and by equivalent state and territory FOI laws, supplemented by administrative release programmes and proactive publishing on government websites.

The federal FOI Act allows any person to lodge an FOI request with any federal government agency or minister asking for access to specified documents. The agency must respond within 30 days, with extensions available in specified circumstances. The agency can refuse access (in whole or in part) only on specific grounds set out in the Act, including national security and defence, Cabinet documents, deliberative processes (drafts and consultation documents), legal professional privilege, personal privacy, commercial-in-confidence material, and operational matters of certain agencies (including the Australian Federal Police and intelligence agencies).

Requests cost a small fee (in some cases). Applications by individuals seeking access to their own personal information are free. Applications for other documents typically involve a request fee (about 30 dollars), plus charges for processing time at a set hourly rate, and copying costs. Public interest applicants (including media, academics, and not-for-profit organisations) can sometimes have charges reduced or waived. Refused decisions can be reviewed internally by the agency, then by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and ultimately by the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Most documents released under FOI are now also published proactively on the Australian Government Information Publication Scheme, with each federal agency required to publish core information including operational manuals, policies, and decisions of general application. Major agencies including the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasury, the Australian Taxation Office, Services Australia, and the Department of Home Affairs publish extensive material without specific FOI requests. State and territory FOI laws operate in parallel, with the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 in NSW, the Freedom of Information Act 1982 in Victoria, the Right to Information Act 2009 in Queensland, and equivalents in other states. Reform proposals have aimed at faster processing (current waits sometimes stretch to many months), narrower exemptions, and expanded proactive publication.