Review of Freedom of Information laws

Submission to statutory review of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010.

PIAC’s submission to the statutory review of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 draws on PIAC’s earlier submissions to the Commonwealth Government on freedom of information reform.  

PIAC argues the imposition of fees and charges sits uncomfortably with the principle that individuals have a right to access information, and that such fundamental rights should not be made conditional on paying for them. PIAC argues that alleviating the administrative burden on agencies to meet freedom of information requests requires attention to be directed to agency file management and supervision procedures. Further, PIAC supports the introduction of a fee-free administrative access scheme to reduce unnecessary bureaucratic processing. PIAC submits that procedures and time frames should be introduced for Information Commissioner reviews to increase efficiency and that the Office of the Information Commissioner is sufficiently resourced to perform its administrative, policy and agency reporting roles.