Public interest conditional exemptions—the economy
47J Public interest conditional exemptions—the economy
A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would, or could be reasonably expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on Australia’s economy by:
influencing a decision or action of a person or entity; or
giving a person (or class of persons) an undue benefit or detriment, in relation to business carried on by the person (or class), by providing premature knowledge of proposed or possible action or inaction of a person or entity.
A person includes a body corporate and a body politic (see section 22 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901). Examples of a body politic include the government of the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or a foreign country.
For the purposes of subsection (1), a substantial adverse effect on Australia’s economy includes a substantial adverse effect on:
a particular sector of the economy; or
the economy of a particular region of Australia.
The documents to which subsection (1) applies include, but are not limited to, documents containing matter relating to any of the following:
currency or exchange rates;
interest rates;
taxes, including duties of customs or of excise;
the regulation or supervision of banking, insurance and other financial institutions;
proposals for expenditure;
foreign investment in Australia;
borrowings by the Commonwealth, a State or an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State.
Access must generally be given to a conditionally exempt document unless it would be contrary to the public interest (see section 11A).
34 Schedule 4
Omit “Section 43A”, substitute “Section 47H”.
Part 3—Other exemption amendments
Archives Act 1983
35 Paragraph 33(1)(b)
Repeal the paragraph, substitute:
information or matter:
that was communicated in confidence by, or on behalf of, a foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an international organisation (the foreign entity) to the Government of the Commonwealth, to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person who received the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or an authority of the Commonwealth (the Commonwealth entity); and
which the foreign entity advises the Commonwealth entity is still confidential; and
the confidentiality of which it would be reasonable to maintain;
36 Paragraph 50A(2)(b)
Repeal the paragraph, substitute:
whether it would be reasonable to maintain the confidentiality of information or matter to which both of the following apply by not making the record available for public access:
the information or matter was communicated in confidence by, or on behalf of, a foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an international organisation (the foreign entity) to the Government of the Commonwealth, to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person who received the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or an authority of the Commonwealth (the Commonwealth entity);
the foreign entity advises the Commonwealth entity that the information or matter is still confidential.
37 Paragraph 50A(3)(b)
Repeal the paragraph, substitute:
whether it would be reasonable to maintain the confidentiality of information or matter to which both of the following apply by not making that part, or a copy of that part, of the record available for public access:
the information or matter was communicated in confidence by, or on behalf of, a foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an international organisation (the foreign entity) to the Government of the Commonwealth, to an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person who received the communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or an authority of the Commonwealth (the Commonwealth entity);
the foreign entity advises the Commonwealth entity that the information or matter is still confidential.
Privacy Act 1988
38 Subsection 34(1)
Omit “or 33A,”.
Part 4—Application provisions
39 Application—Part 2
An amendment made by an item in Part 2 applies in relation to requests for access made under section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 that are received at or after the commencement of that item.
40 Application—items 35, 36 and 37
The amendments made by items 35, 36 and 37 apply for the purposes of determining whether access, or an extension of partial access, to a record referred to in section 31 of the Archives Act 1983 will be given in accordance with an application made under section 40 of that Act that is received by the Archives at or after the commencement of those items.
Schedule 4—Information Commissioner amendments
Part 1—Main amendments
Freedom of Information Act 1982
1 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
access grant decision has the meaning given by section 53B.
2 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
access refusal decision has the meaning given by section 53A.
3 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
action, if the action is taken by a person or agency, has the same meaning as in the Ombudsman Act 1976.
See subsections 3(2) to (7) of the Ombudsman Act 1976.
4 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
affected third party has the meaning given by section 53C.
5 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
authorised person has the meaning given by section 77.
6 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
complainant has the meaning given by subsection 70(1).
7 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
engage in conduct means:
do an act; or
omit to do an act.
8 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
IC review has the meaning given by section 54G.
9 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
IC reviewable decision has the meaning given by section 54K.
10 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
IC review applicant has the meaning given by section 54J.
11 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
IC review application has the meaning given by section 54H.
12 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
implementation notice has the meaning given by section 89.
13 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
Information Commissioner has the meaning given by the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010.
14 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
internal review has the meaning given by sections 54 and 54A.
15 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
internal review applicant has the meaning given by section 54B.
16 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
investigation recommendations has the meaning given by section 88.
17 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
investigation results has the meaning given by section 87.
18 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
respondent agency has the meaning given by subsections 69(2) and 70(2).
19 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
review parties has the meaning given by section 55A.
20 Subsection 4(1)
Insert:
vexatious applicant declaration has the meaning given by section 89K.
21 Subsection 12(1)
Omit “(1)”.
22 Subsections 12(2) to (4)
Repeal the subsections.
23 Subsection 21(3)
Repeal the subsection.
24 Subparagraph 26(1)(c)(ii)
Omit “Ombudsman”, substitute “Information Commissioner”.
25 Paragraph 26(1)(c)
Omit “review under section 54”, substitute “internal review (Part VI) and IC review (Part VII)”.
26 Paragraph 29(9)(b)
Omit “Ombudsman”, substitute “Information Commissioner”.
27 Subsection 29(9)
Omit “review under section 54”, substitute “internal review (Part VI) and IC review (Part VII)”.
28 Section 31
Repeal the section, substitute:
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandumSecond reading speech
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