Freedom of information
What is Freedom of Information?
The Freedom of Information Act (FOI Act) gives you
the right to:
- obtain access to information held by NSW government authorities, ministers, councils and other public agencies subject to certain exemptions considered necessary for the proper administration of the Government
- request amendments to records of a personal nature that you believe are inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or out of date
- complain about or seek a review of a decision not to grant access to information or to amend personal records.
Complaints about Freedom of Information
Internal reviews
If you are unhappy with an agency's decision about your FOI request, you can ask the agency to review their decision - unless it was made by the head of the agency. This is called an internal review. Requests for an internal review must be in writing and you must make the request within 28 days of being told of the agency's decision.
You can also ask for an internal review if the agency has not responded in writing to your first application within 21 days -plus five days for postage. You then have 28 days to ask for an internal review.
The agency can charge up to $40 for an internal review. If you can show financial hardship, you may be eligible for a discount of 50%. The agency should let you know the cost of a review in their initial determination. You must send this fee with your review application.
External reviews
If you are unhappy with the result of an internal review, you can complain to us about the matter. External reviews by us are free of charge.
We can look into whether an agency has:
- taken an unreasonable time to process your FOI request
- charged an unreasonable amount for access to information
- inappropriately refused to give you access to documents
- refused to amend your personal records
- lost or cannot find documents
- not searched properly for documents, or you believe documents are being deliberately hidden
In dealing with your complaint, if we consider it appropriate we can recommend that:
- access be given to a document
- the agency reconsiders their decision
- the agency changes their practices or conduct
- the agency gives reasons for their decision
- the law be changed.
We cannot deal with certain matters, including matters:
- which are before the Administrative Decisions Tribunal
- if a request has been made for access to or amendment of a Minister's records
- if we have made a determination under the FOI Act about giving access to documents held by us.
How to apply for an external review by
the Ombudsman
If you apply to us for an external review, your application will be dealt with as a complaint under the Ombudsman Act.
Complaints to us should be in writing, but you can ring us first to discuss your complaint. Your complaint can be in any language and if you have difficulty writing a letter - due to language issues or a disability - we can help. We can also arrange for translations, interpreters and other services.
Your complaint should include copies of all relevant correspondence between you and the agency and should be sent to the address on the bottom of this page.
Click here to find out
how to make a complaint.
Review application to the Administrative Decisions
Tribunal
You can also ask the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT) to review an agency's decision about your FOI request. While we review the decision and the way it was made and we can make recommendations, the ADT acts as if it were the agency and makes a fresh determination.
The ADT can be used either as an alternative to an external review by us or after we have completed our external review.
Appeals to the ADT must be made within 60 days of the date of the agency's internal review decision or within 60 days of being advised of our decision.
You may have to meet the legal costs involved in taking your appeal to the ADT. Check with the Legal Aid Commission to see if you qualify for legal aid before you incur any legal expenses.
Documents held by the Ombudsman
Details of the documents held by the Ombudsman and their availability to members of the public are listed below. Because of the secrecy provisions of the Ombudsman Act 1974 (s.34) and our inclusion in the schedule to the FOI Act of exempt functions of certain bodies, some of the documents listed below may not be accessible to the public. If they are accessible, you can inspect them free of charge.
All documents with * are listed in our publications list. Click here to view available publications.
- office procedure manuals - 20c per photocopy per page, or you can purchase each manual for $100
- annual reports*
- special reports to parliament*
- discussion and issues papers*
- brochures*
- fact sheets*
- newsletters*
- statement or summary of affairs
- personnel files - access to his/her own personnel file is available to each staff member
- complaint files - not accessible to the public
- Freedom of Information request files - not accessible to the public
- Freedom of Information external review files - access to his/her own correspondence to the Ombudsman about the request or complaint is available to the complainant - but not accessible to the public
- administrative files
- accounts files
- files relating to the discharge of the Ombudsman's function under the Telecommunications (Interception) (New South Wales) Act 1987 and the Witness Protection Act 1995 - not accessible to the public
- register of police complaints - not accessible to the public
- performance indicator registers
- guidelines published by the Ombudsman relating to major areas of jurisdiction*.
Why you can't get access to some documents
held by the Ombudsman
In January 1991 the Ombudsman’s office was included in Schedule 2 of the FOI Act, which provides that documents about our investigative, complaint handling and reporting functions are exempt from the operation of the FOI Act. If we receive an FOI application for these types of documents we will make a determination whether access can be given to these documents, which may result in us determining that the documents are exempt under Schedule 2 of the FOI Act.
Some of our documents do not fall into the categories of investigative, complaint handling and reporting functions, which means that if we receive an application for these documents we must make a determination about whether we provide access to the documents. However, our determination in such cases can have no regard to Schedule 2 of the FOI Act.
If you apply under the FOI Act for documents held by the Ombudsman but created by another agency, you will be advised to apply to the other agency and your application fee will be refunded.
Some information held and created by the Ombudsman that is not subject to the FOI Act may be available quickly and informally without you having to make an FOI application. We will assess each request on its merits and in accordance with the secrecy provisions of section 34 of the Ombudsman Act - this places restrictions on what we can release to members of the public.
Summary of Affairs
Under the FOI Act, every agency in NSW has to publish a summary of affairs containing a list of their policy documents every six months. Policy documents are defined in the FOI Act as documents relating to an agency's activities that affect the public's rights in some way.
Click on the link below to view a copy of our latest summary of affairs.
Summary
of Affairs
