Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009

This Act is the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009.

This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.

In order to maintain and advance a system of responsible and representative democratic Government that is open, accountable, fair and effective, the object of this Act is to open government information to the public by—

authorising and encouraging the proactive public release of government information by agencies, and

giving members of the public an enforceable right to access government information, and

providing that access to government information is restricted only when there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.

It is the intention of Parliament—

that this Act be interpreted and applied so as to further the object of this Act, and

that the discretions conferred by this Act be exercised, as far as possible, so as to facilitate and encourage, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost, access to government information.

Key definitions In this Act—

access application means an application for access to government information under Part 4 that is a valid access application under that Part.

agency means any of the following—

a Public Service agency,

a Minister (including a person employed by a Minister under Part 2 of the Members of Parliament Staff Act 2013),

a public authority,

a public office,

a local authority,

a court,

a person or entity that is an agency pursuant to regulations under clause 5 of Schedule 4.

Note.

Schedule 4 contains definitions of Public Service agency, public authority, local authority, public office and court. The Information Commissioner publishes a list of agencies and their contact details.

government information means information contained in a record held by an agency.

Note.

Record is defined in clause 10 of Schedule 4.

Other interpretative provisions Expressions used in this Act that are defined in Schedule 4 have the meanings set out in that Schedule.

There is a presumption in favour of the disclosure of government information unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.

An agency must make the government information that is its open access information publicly available unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.

Note.

Part 3 lists the information that is open access information.

Open access information is to be made publicly available free of charge on a relevant website (unless to do so would impose unreasonable additional costs on the agency) and can be made publicly available in any other way that the agency considers appropriate.

At least one of the ways in which an agency makes open access information publicly available must be free of charge. Access provided in any other way can be charged for.

An agency must facilitate public access to open access information contained in a record by deleting matter from a copy of the record to be made publicly available if inclusion of the matter would otherwise result in there being an overriding public interest against disclosure of the record and it is practicable to delete the matter.

An agency must keep a record of the open access information (if any) that it does not make publicly available on the basis of an overriding public interest against disclosure. The record is to indicate only the general nature of the information concerned.

Nothing in this section or the regulations requires or permits an agency to make open access information available in any way that would constitute an infringement of copyright.

In this section—

relevant website means—

a website maintained by the agency, or

for open access information prescribed under section 18(g) for which a website is prescribed by the regulations—the website.

An agency is authorised to make any government information held by the agency publicly available unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.

The information that an agency decides to make publicly available is to be made publicly available in any manner that the agency considers appropriate, either free of charge or at the lowest reasonable cost to the agency.

An agency must, at intervals of not more than 12 months, review its program for the release of government information under this section to identify the kinds of government information held by the agency that should in the public interest be made publicly available and that can be made publicly available without imposing unreasonable additional costs on the agency.

An agency can facilitate public access to government information contained in a record by deleting matter from a copy of the record to be made publicly available if inclusion of the matter would otherwise result in there being an overriding public interest against disclosure of the record.

The functions of an agency under this section may only be exercised by or with the authority (given either generally or in a particular case) of the principal officer of the agency.

An agency is authorised to release government information held by it to a person in response to an informal request by the person (that is, a request that is not an access application) unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.

An agency can release government information in response to an informal request subject to any reasonable conditions that the agency thinks fit to impose.

An agency cannot be required to disclose government information pursuant to an informal request and cannot be required to consider an informal request for government information.

An agency can decide by what means information is to be released in response to an informal request.

An agency can facilitate public access to government information contained in a record by deleting matter from a copy of the record to be released in response to an informal request if inclusion of the matter would otherwise result in there being an overriding public interest against disclosure of the record.

The functions of an agency under this section may only be exercised by or with the authority (given either generally or in a particular case) of the principal officer of the agency.

A person who makes an access application for government information has a legally enforceable right to be provided with access to the information in accordance with Part 4 (Access applications) unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.

An agency is not subject to the direction or control of any Minister in the exercise of the agency’s functions in dealing with a particular access application.

The function of making a reviewable decision in connection with an access application made to an agency may only be exercised by or with the authority (given either generally or in a particular case) of the principal officer of the agency.

This Act is not intended to prevent or discourage the publication or giving of access to government information as permitted or required by or under any other Act or law that enables a member of the public to obtain access to government information.

This Act does not affect the operation of any other Act or law that requires government information to be made available to the public or that enables a member of the public to obtain access to government information.

This Act overrides a provision of any other Act or statutory rule that prohibits the disclosure of information (whether or not the prohibition is subject to specified qualifications or exceptions), other than a provision of a law listed in Schedule 1 as an overriding secrecy law.

Note.

For overriding secrecy laws it is conclusively presumed that there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information. Other secrecy laws are to be taken into account as considerations against disclosure in determining whether there is an overriding public interest against disclosure. See section 14.

There is a general public interest in favour of the disclosure of government information.

Nothing in this Act limits any other public interest considerations in favour of the disclosure of government information that may be taken into account for the purpose of determining whether there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of government information.

Note.

The following are examples of public interest considerations in favour of disclosure of information—

Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to promote open discussion of public affairs, enhance Government accountability or contribute to positive and informed debate on issues of public importance.

Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to inform the public about the operations of agencies and, in particular, their policies and practices for dealing with members of the public.

Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to ensure effective oversight of the expenditure of public funds.

The information is personal information of the person to whom it is to be disclosed.

Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to reveal or substantiate that an agency (or a member of an agency) has engaged in misconduct or negligent, improper or unlawful conduct.

The Information Commissioner can issue guidelines about public interest considerations in favour of the disclosure of government information, for the assistance of agencies.