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HREOC - Annual Report 2001 - 2002: Appendix 3: Freedom of Information

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Annual Report 2001-2002

Appendix 3:
Freedom of Information

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

Freedom of Information
statistics

During 2001-02,
the Commission received the following 12 requests for access to documents
under the Freedom of Information Act:

  • 10 access
    requests to documents relating to complaints
  • two related
    to administrative matters.

A total of 12
applications were processed, including the resolution of applications
from 2000-01.

Categories of documents

Documents held
by the Commission 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 inquiries
about access to Commission 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 1042

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
  • Specify the
    documents to be accessed
  • Be processed
    within 30 days of receipt.