Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009

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.