Freedom of information

Contributed by Michael Clothier and Mary-Anne Kenny and current to 1 September 2005

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) gives the right of access to official documents of Commonwealth departments and authorities.

The Procedures Advice Manual (PAM) and all Policy Control Instructions used in the Department of Immigration are available at the Department’s offices. They may be examined free of charge, or copies of the required pages may be purchased. Documents held by the Department on a particular file, or general files or any other identifiable document, may be requested.

To request documents, write to the Freedom of Information Unit of the Department, stating that the request is made under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department is required to take all reasonable steps to ensure that a decision is made upon the request as soon as possible, and no later than 30 days after it was received. If it is felt that information so obtained is inaccurate or otherwise may mislead the Department in its actions, a request may be made to change the record. A form is available from the Department for this purpose. Currently the Department charges no fee for personal files (the fee used to be $30).

FOI APPEALS

If you are dissatisfied with the Department’s decision on your FOI request, you may seek an internal review, which means that the request is looked at again by a more senior officer of the Department who was not involved in the original decision. The officer may reverse, alter or confirm the original decision. An internal review form is available from the Department.

If you wish to have a decision reviewed in this manner, you need to ask for an internal review within 28 days of receiving a reply to your original request and in turn you must be given a new decision within 14 days. If you are dissatisfied with the internal review, you may seek an independent review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) (for more information, see CHALLENGING GOVERNMENT DECISIONS. The Commonwealth Ombudsman may also investigate complaints about the Department’s actions in handling FOI requests.