Exemptions

FOI does not apply to all documents [Freedom of Information Act s 11]. Those which are exempt are:

documents affecting national security, defence, international relations [s 33]
documents affecting relations with the States [s 33A]
Cabinet documents [s 34]
Executive Council documents [s 35]
internal working documents [s 36]
documents affecting the enforcement of the law and public safety [s 37]
documents to which specified secrecy laws apply [s 38]
documents affecting financial or property interests of the Commonwealth [s 39]
documents concerning certain operations of agencies [s 40]
documents affecting personal privacy [s 41]
documents subject to legal professional privilege [s 42]
documents relating to business affairs, for example trade secrets [s 43]
research documents of agencies listed in Schedule 4 of the Act. At present this only lists the Australian National University [s 43A]
documents affecting the national economy [s 44]
documents containing material obtained in confidence [s 45]
documents, disclosure of which would be contempt of court or Parliament [s 46]
certain documents arising out of companies and securities legislation [s 47]
electoral rolls and related documents [s 47A].

Despite these exemptions, the Act encourages the disclosure of documents (including technically exempt documents) by an agency where these documents are not sensitive [s 14]. The exemptions are deliberately narrow to prevent too broad a coverage.