Freedom of Information

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General
Making an application
Procedures
Assessing an application
Cost - information or document
Refusal of a request
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

General

Since 1982, the Freedom of Information Act has given people the right to obtain information held by State Ministers, State Government departments, statutory authorities, etc. The legislation applied to local councils from 1994.

The Act gives people the right to request documents relating to their personal affairs and information about any activities of a government agency, council, etc.

A person may request documents created by an agency or documents supplied to it by another agency.

Making an application

An application must be made in writing accompanied by a $22.50 fee (which is not refundable).

It is in the applicant's best interests to ensure that the request is clear in the following manner:

The nature of the request, ie that the request is being made under the Freedom of Information Act,
The nature of the information or document requested - the more precise the request in respect of the information or document sought, the more able the Council will be to assess the request. This will avoid any possible misunderstanding and save time for both the applicant and the Council.

Assessing an application

An authorised Council Officer will assess the initial request. A written response will be sent to the applicant as soon as possible, but not later than 45 days from the date on which the Council received the request.

In some instances, it may be necessary for the Council to seek clarification, in writing, from the applicant regarding the request.

Cost - information or document

Where an application for access is granted, costs will be incurred by the applicant (in addition to the application fee). These costs will relate to, amongst other things:

Search fees
Supervision charges
Photocopying charges
Providing access in a form other than a photocopy
The costs for these charges are governed by the Freedom of Information (Access Charges) Regulations 1993.
Where it is anticipated that costs will exceed $50, the applicant will be advised and requested to submit a deposit. The applicant will also be asked if they wish to continue with the request.
At this point, the applicant also has the right (of which they will be informed) to request a review of the charges.

Refusal of a request

Not all information is automatically made available in response to a request for it. The Act sets out a number of reasons for an agency to refuse access to a document.

Some of the main reasons for refusing access to a document are:

It affects the personal affairs of another person;
It is commercially confidential;
It would undermine law enforcement;
The information was obtained in confidence;
It contains trade or commercial secrets or other matters of a business commercial or financial nature;
Disclosure would be contrary to the public interest.

If the application is refused, the applicant has 28 days in which to request an internal review by the Council's Principal Officer who is the Chief Executive Officer.

The Principal Officer has 14 days from the date of receiving the request for review, to make a decision.

For enquiries, please call 9518 3696 during business hours.

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

If the applicant wishes to appeal the result of the internal review, they have 60 days from the date they were notified of the results of the review, to lodge an appeal with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

There is an application fee for each appeal application lodged. The Tribunal can be contacted on 9628 9700.

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Updated: 9 July 2008

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