THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI) allows a person access to any document held by any Commonwealth government agency, unless the document, or part of it, falls into one of the exemptions listed in the legislation. Anyone can access a document whether or not she or he is involved in or affected by the information.
Despite its title, the FOI Act applies to documents, as opposed to information, that are held by government agencies. The term document includes:
- paper or other material on which there is writing
- a map, plan, drawing or photograph
- anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols or perforations having a meaning for people qualified to interpret them
- any article or material from which sounds, images or writings are capable of being reproduced with or without the aid of any article or device
- any article on which information has been stored or recorded either mechanically or electronically (for example computer-stored material) [s 4(1)].
A document includes any copy, reproduction or duplicate but does not include library material maintained for any reference purpose or Cabinet notebooks.
The Act does not apply to documents that are already available in a public register or to documents available for purchase by the public [s 12] (for example, annual reports or information on public registers).
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THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT : Last Revised: Wed Jul 17th 2002 |
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