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Annual Report 06-07: Appendix 3

Appendix
3

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act gives the general public
legal access to government documents.

Freedom of Information
statistics

During 2006–07, HREOC received 18 initial requests for access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act. HREOC was also asked to conduct
an internal review of two of those decisions.

Of the 18 initial requests for information, nine were brought by individuals
seeking access to documents relating to themselves.

A total of 18 applications and two internal reviews were processed in this
financial year.

Categories of
documents

Documents held by the HREOC relate to:

  • administration matters, including personnel, recruitment, accounts,
    purchasing, registers, registry, library records and indices;
  • complaint handling matters, including the investigation, clarification and
    resolution of complaints;
  • legal matters, including legal documents, opinion, advice and
    representations;
  • research matters, including research papers in relation to complaints,
    existing or proposed legislative practices, public education, national inquiries
    and other relevant issues;
  • policy matters, including minutes of Commission meetings, administrative and
    operational guidelines;
  • operational matters, including files on formal inquiries; and
  • reference materials, including press clippings, survey and research
    materials, documents relating to conferences, seminars and those contained in
    the library.

Freedom of Information
procedures

Initial enquiries about access to HREOC documents should be directed to the
Freedom of Information Officer by either telephoning (02) 9284 9600 or by
writing to:

Freedom of Information Officer
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission
GPO Box 5218
Sydney, NSW 2001

Procedures for dealing with Freedom of Information requests are detailed in
section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act. A valid request must:

  • Be in writing;
  • Be accompanied by a payment of $30 application fee;
  • Include the name and address of the person requesting the information; and
  • Specify the documents to be accessed.