Review of the FOI Act

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA Act) will replace the Freedom of Information Act 1989 in early 2010. The Office of the Information Commissioner is being established as part of the new right to information regime under the GIPA Act which will replace the current FOI regime.

Update May/June 2009:

The government released the exposure draft of the Open Government Information Bill and Information Commissioner Bill in May 2009 and invited submissions on the draft legislation. Here are links to:

Update 5 February 2009:

The Ombudsman released a report today as part of his review of the New South Wales Freedom of Information Act 1989. The report draws on the work described on this page, and provides a blueprint for accessing government information in the future. The Ombudsman’s recommendations are built around three key elements:

a greater level of proactive disclosure of information,
the drafting of a new, clearly worded Act, and
the appointment of an independent Information Commissioner.

To view an electronic version of the report, click on the link below:

Opening up government: Review of the Freedom of Information Act 1989

Background

Freedom of Information legislation is one of the cornerstones of good governance. It ensures that government decision making is open and transparent, and that decision-makers are held accountable for their actions.

We are aware that since the FOI Act came into force nearly 20 years ago, the way government departments operate and do business has altered dramatically. The Act has been the subject of more than sixty amendments in that time which have only served to make it more complex and difficult to navigate. We are aware from our work dealing with FOI complaints that both applicants and agencies find the Act frustrating to use and work with.

For almost 14 years we have been calling for an independent and comprehensive review of the FOI Act. In the absence of the NSW government initiating a review of the Act, the Ombudsman has decided to conduct such a review. The Premier has given his support.

The review

In order to gain the most complete picture possible of the FOI landscape in NSW, the review will consist of a number of major elements:

Multiple specific investigations

18 agencies have been selected for specific investigation as part of the review. They have been selected as a representative cross section of public sector agencies. We have deliberately selected a mix of agencies including:

government departments, local councils, universities and area health services;
agencies of varying size to reflect the different resources available to handle FOI matters;
different functions from regulatory, to service delivery to policy coordination;
recipients of varying numbers of FOI applications from large numbers to more limited applications.

The agencies selected are:

NSW Health
Police Force
Department of Education and Training
Roads and Traffic Authority
RailCorp
Department of Premier and Cabinet
Pillar Administration
Department of Corrective Services
Department of Planning
Department of Commerce
Sydney Ferries
Macquarie University
Southern Cross University
Sutherland Shire Council
Liverpool City Council
City of Sydney Council
South Eastern Sydney/Illawarra Area Health Service
Hunter/New England Area Health Service

Each agency has been asked to provide specific documents and information. We will also be conducting audits of a sample of their FOI files and interviewing their staff who deal with FOI applications.

We have also requested information from the Administrative Decisions Tribunal about external review applications it deals with, as well as information from all NSW local councils about requests they deal with under s12(6) of the Local Government Act, FOI Act, Privacy and Personal Information Act and Health Records Information Privacy Act.

Discussion paper

As part of the investigation process, we have released a public discussion paper to provide all interested parties with an opportunity to contribute to the review. This is a detailed document reflecting our experience in dealing with a wide range of challenges and difficulties related to FOI in NSW. It is being distributed widely, including being posted here on our website. It is important that anyone who plans to provide us with information is aware that we will be posting submissions on our website. The closing date for submissions is 14 November 2008.

Final report to Parliament

The findings from our investigation will inform our final report and recommendations to Parliament.

Updates and announcements regarding our review will be posted on this webpage.

Click on the link below to download a copy of the discussion paper

Discussion paper: Review of the Freedom of Information Act 1989