Freedom of Information - State

Contributed by Margaret Jordan and current to 1 September 2005

Where a person aggrieved seeks information relating to a decision by a State government agency, access to such information may be possible under the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA).

OBJECTS

The objects of the Freedom of Information Act 1992 are to:

• enable the public to participate more effectively in governing the State; and
• make the persons and bodies that are responsible for the State and local government to be more accountable to the public.

This is said to be achieved by:

• creating a general right of access to State and local government documents;
• providing means to ensure that personal information held by State and local governments is accurate, complete, up to date and not misleading; and
• requiring that certain documents concerning State and local government operations be made available to the public.

EXEMPTION FROM ACCESS

Despite the stated objectives, a wide range of documents are exempted from production under the Act, including:

• documents relating to Cabinet and Executive Council;
• documents relating to inter-governmental relations;
• documents containing personal information relating to a person other than the applicant;
documents privileged from production on the grounds of Legal Professional Privilege;
documents exempted by the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA), the Legal Aid Commission Act 1976 (WA) or the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 (WA);
documents whose disclosure:
– would reveal trade secrets of a person;
– could reasonably be expected to impair the effectiveness of any lawful method or procedure for preventing, detecting, investigating, or dealing with any contravention or possible contravention of the law;
– would reveal any opinion, advice or recommendation or consultation or deliberation in the course of or for the purpose of the deliberative processes of the Government, a Minister or an agency and the disclosure of which would be contrary to the public interest;
– would be a breach of confidence;
– could reasonably be expected either to have an adverse effect on the management of the economy of the State or result in an unfair benefit or detriment due to a premature disclosure of information concerning a proposed action of the government for the purposes of managing the economy;
– could reasonably be expected to impair the effectiveness of any method or procedure for the conduct of tests, examination or audits by any agency;
– would be in contempt of court;
– would reveal information in relation to the adoption of a child or participation of a person in artificial fertilization procedure; and
– would reveal information about gold or other precious metals held by Gold Corporation.

Additionally, a wide range of government agencies are fully exempt from the provisions of the Act, including:
• both houses of parliament and parliamentary committees;
• the Auditor General;
• the Director of Public Prosecutions;
• the Information Commissioner;
• the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations;
• the Parole Board;
• the R &I Bank;
• the State Government Insurance Corporation;
• any Royal Commission;
• the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, Protective Services Unit and Internal Affairs Unit of the Police Force of WA; and
• the Internal Investigations Unit of the Ministry of Justice.

OBTAINING ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

A request must be in writing and give sufficient detail to identify the document sought. The agency receiving the request, must deal with that request within 45 days, although extensions of time can be permitted.

REVIEW OF DENIALS OF ACCESS

If access to documents is refused, the individual concerned has a right to review that decision by lodging an application within 30 days of being given notice of the refusal. The application will be considered by a person other than the person who made the decision to be reviewed and will not be in a position subordinate to the original decision-maker. If the agency fails to give a decision on the application to review within 15 days, then the agency is deemed to have affirmed the previous decision to refuse access to the documents.

An applicant wishing to pursue the matter further may complain in writing to the Information Commissioner concerning refusal of access to documents. The Supreme Court may determine a question of law which arises out of the decision of the Information Commissioner.

APPLICATIONS TO CHANGE PERSONAL INFORMATION

A person has the right to apply to a state agency for amendment of personal information about the person contained in a document of the agency if the information is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading. The application must be in writing, sufficiently identify the document concerned, give detail of the matters which are believed to be incorrect, give the person’s reasons for holding that belief and details of the amendment that is sought. If the agency refuses to amend the information, then a review of that decision can be obtained as above and a complaint made to the Information Commissioner if necessary.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Commissioner for Information maintains a website containing useful information concerning how to obtain information sought and the relevant legislation and regulations at www.foi.wa.gov.au.