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Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 1989 (NSW) (FOI Act) provides the public with access to documents held by NSW government agencies. Under the FOI Act, the University is considered a government agency. The FOI Act allows persons to apply for access to information about others, or about themselves, from a government agency.
The purpose of the legislation is to promote government transparency, and encourage release of documentation unless an exemption applies.
1. How do You make an FOI Application?
(a) What can you ask for?
Only documents held by the University can be released under an FOI application.
Documents are:
- Any paper or other material on which there is writing or in or on which there are marks, symbols or perforations having a meaning, whether or not that meaning is ascertainable only to persons qualified to interpret them; and
- Any disc, tape or other article from which sounds, images or messages are capable of being produced.
This” includes electronic documents such as emails or databases, recordings and security footage.
An agency’s documents are those:
- held by the agency; or
- held by an officer of the agency in his or her official capacity; or
- that the agency has an immediate right of access to.
Please note that the University is subject to the State Records Act, and has an obligation to destroy documents after certain periods of time, depending on the nature of the documents. If the University has lawfully destroyed documents, it will be unable to provide access to these documents as it no longer holds those documents.
(b) How do you make an FOI Application?
You can request information from an agency by lodging a valid FOI application.
The easiest way to make an FOI application with the University is to use the University’s prepared FOI application
Only applications which:-
- Are in writing;
- specify that it is being made under the FOI Act;
- are accompanied by the application fee;
- contain a description of the documents sought that enables those documents to be identified;
- specifies an address in Australia for responses, and
- is sent to the University’s FOI officer
are considered valid applications. Any application that does not include all of the above will not be processed as a valid FOI application.
Please note that if you fill out our FOI application Form, but do not provide the application fee, your application is not valid.
If we do think your application is not valid, we will contact you using the details you provided on the FOI application Form in order to remedy any deficiencies.
If you are not sure whether you should make an FOI application, please call the FOI Officer so that we can assist you.
2. What is the Process Once the Application is Received?
Under the FOI Act, the University has only 21 days in which to:-
- receive the application;
- understand the scope of the request;
- seek those documents from the relevant areas of the University;
- review those documents;
- remove any material not related to the application;
- consider any exemptions that may apply that prevent release;
- consider whether the documents require consultation with others;
- process those documents;
- list and describe those documents, and
- draft and finalise a determination of your FOI application addressed to you.
In certain circumstances, the University is required to consult with others to obtain their views on release of documents, and the FOI Act allows a further 14 days for any consultation. Those circumstances include when the documents affect to the personal affairs of someone other than the applicant, affect inter-governmental relations, affect business affairs, or affect the conduct of research. Should the timeframe be extended, the FOI officer will notify you of this.
As you can imagine, this means that the University has a lot of work to do for each FOI application it receives.
If the scope of documents you are seeking is large, we may contact you to try and narrow this scope. The University is entitled to charge fees for processing FOI applications and may request an advance deposit for processing large amounts of documents.
3. When will the University contact you?
We will contact you:
- If your application is not valid;
- If we cannot understand your request;
- If we cannot locate the documents you are seeking;
- If we have to consult with others and extend the time limit;
- If we cannot provide the documents in time;
- If we are seeking an advance deposit.
4. How is access to the information provided?
You can request the following forms of access to documents:
- Inspecting the documents;
- Being sent a copy of the documents;
- If a recording etc, by giving you an opportunity to see or hear that recording (whichever is relevant);
- If a document is in shorthand or encoded, by giving you a written transcript of the content.
Most applications elect to receive a copy of the documents sought.
5. What fees are charged?
As authorised by the FOI Act, the University can apply fees and charges for the processing of FOI applications.
These fees and charges include an application fee, and can include hourly charges payable for the time taken to process the FOI application. For more detail, see the below table:
| Application Type | Application Fee | Processing Charge |
|
Access to records by a natural person about that person’s personal affairs
|
$30 |
- First 20 hours free - $30 per hour thereafter |
|
All other requests
|
$30 |
$30 per hour |
| Internal Review of Determination |
$40 |
Nil |
* a 50% reduction in processing charges may apply if you are under 18 years of age, or hold a pensioner health benefit card or have an equivalent income and are under financial hardship, are a non profit organisation which can demonstrate financial hardship, or apply for public interest reasons. There are certain grounds that must be met for these reductions to apply.
The University will keep timesheets of work done to the nearest quarter hour.
If your request involves a large amount of documents, the University may seek an advance deposit based on an estimate to cover the costs involved in processing those documents, and can place the FOI application on hold until that advanced deposit is paid. Please note that estimates of charges are only best estimates, and the University will not be able to calculate the exact charges until the actual time taken to process the application is known.
6. Can the University refuse to provide access to information?
Yes, the University can refuse access to a document in a number of circumstances, including:
- If that information falls outside the scope of your application; or
- If it is an exempt document, or
- if the work involved with dealing with your application would, if carried out, substantially and unreasonably divert the University’s resources away from their use by the University in the exercise of its functions; or
- it is a document that is available for inspection from the agency regardless.
Exempt documents
Documents may be exempt if they fall within a certain category of documents, and satisfy certain tests. The exempt categories include documents:
- affecting law enforcement and public;
- affecting counter-terrorism measures;
- affecting personal affairs, or business affairs, or the conduct of research;
- internal working documents;
- subject to legal professional privilege;
- containing confidential material;
- concerning operation of agencies;
- relating to the ranking or assessment of students who have completed the Higher School Certificate for entrance into tertiary institutions.
Whether a document is exempt will be for the FOI Officer to determine. To the extent possible, the FOI Officer may remove exempt material from a document but provide the rest of that document if that remainder is releasable.
7. What is a “Determination”?
After considering your application for access, and reviewing the relevant documents and any consultations or exemptions, the University’s FOI Officer must determine what documents are to be released, and does this by sending you a Notice of Determination, which must include:
- The date of determination;
- The name and title of the officer making the determination;
- Rights of the applicant regarding internal review, complaint or appeal;
- If access is granted, whether that access is to part or all of a document;
- Whether exemptions apply, an explanation of that exemption and how it applies to the document;
- Any refusal for access and reasons for that refusal;
- Any fees payable or refund payable, including a statement of calculation;
- If a third party has been consulted, and a decision has been made to release information despite the objections of that third party, the facts and reasons behind this decision, any appeal rights that third party may have, and the fact that the documents cannot be released to the applicant until the expiry date for the third party appeal rights has lapsed or a decision is made on any appeal by that third party.
Depending on the type of access, whether any consulted third party has appeal rights, and whether the fees have been paid, you may also receive access to released documents (usually by receiving copies of those documents attached to the Notice of Determination).
8. What do to if you are a third party “Consulted” regarding an FOI Application
This part applies to persons who are not the FOI applicant.
Consultation is when the FOI Officer contacts you to seek your views on the release of a document sought under an FOI Application, and that document relates to:
- your personal affairs;
- your business affairs; or
- the conduct of research you are conducting.
The FOI Act requires that the FOI Officer must consult you regarding such documents.
If you receive a request from the FOI Officer seeking your views, the FOI Officer’s request will properly explain the documents, how they relate to you, and what you are required to do in responding (to either consent or object).
Again, we usually don’t have much time, so your response within our timeframe is important. If you don’t respond, we will make the determination on whether to release those documents in the absence of your views.
If the FOI Officer determines that a document is to be released despite your objection, you have 28 days in which to seek an internal review [link to internal review], and the documents cannot be released to the applicant until this timeframe lapses, or until any internal review you seek has been finalised.
9. What if you are not happy with the Determination
(a) Internal Reviews
If you are a person “aggrieved” by a determination, you can seek an internal review within:-
- 28 days of being advised of the University’s Notice of Determination or
- Within 49 days of your initial FOI Application if no determination has been made.
(i) What is an Internal Review?
An Internal Review is where a different University Officer will review your FOI application and the determination, and make their own determination.
(ii) How to apply for an Internal Review
An application for internal review must satisfy certain criteria, including being in writing and having the $40 fee attached. The easiest way to provide the University with a valid application for Internal Review is to fill in the Application for Internal Review form, attach the fee, and send both to the FOI Officer.
(iii) How does the University process internal review applications?
Applications for Internal Review must be dealt with the same way as FOI Applications, but have a shorter time frame of 14 days from receipt by the University. The Application for Internal Review must not be dealt with by the person who dealt with the original FOI Application or by a person who is subordinate to that person. The University will send any Application for Internal Review to a different officer, and that officer will contact you to confirm receipt of the application.
(b) External appeals
You (or a consulted third party) may have a right to appeal to the NSW Ombudsman and/or the Administrative Decisions Tribunal. The contact details for those offices are below:
The Ombudsman or ADT can refuse to investigate your complaint if:
- you have a right to internal review but have not exercised this right, or
- if the other agency (either the Ombudsman or ADT) is already dealing with your matter.
10. Who is the University’s FOI Officer?
The FOI Officer is the officer authorised by the University to manage FOI applications and matters, and in compliance with the FOI Act.
In performing this role, the FOI Officer cannot follow the orders of the University, but must act independently and within the scope of the FOI Act. The FOI Officer has the authority to delegate management of an FOI application to another University officer.
The University’s FOI Officer is Angela Taylor, and her contact details are:
Angela Taylor
FOI Officer
Legal Services
University of Wollongong
Building 36, Level 4
Wollongong NSW 2522
Phone: (02) 4221 3277
Fax: (02) 4221 4254
Email: angelata@uow.edu.au