The NIAA provides access to our information and documents on our website. You may request access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to other documents we hold.
Right of access under the FOI Act
The FOI Act gives any person the right to:
- access copies of documents (except exempt documents) we hold
- ask for information we hold about you to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading
- seek a review of our decision not to allow you access to a document or not to amend your personal record.
You can ask to access any document we hold. We can refuse access to some documents, or parts of documents, that are exempt. This may include documents:
- containing an unreasonable disclosure of personal information
- containing material obtain in confidence or Cabinet documents
- that are subject to legal professional privilege
- that are internal working documents and not in the public’s interest.
Make a FOI request to NIAA
Your request must:
- be in writing
- state that the request is made under the FOI Act
- provide information about the document(s) you wish to access so that we can identify them
- provide an address for reply (for example, an email or postal address)
Email your request to foi@niaa.gov.au or post it to:
The FOI Coordinator
National Indigenous Australians Agency
GPO Box 2191
CANBERRA ACT 2600
What you can expect from us
We will acknowledge your request within 14 days.
If you must pay a processing charge, we will send you an assessment of the charge.
When we have made a decision about your FOI request, we will send you a letter explaining our decision and your review rights.
We will give you our decision within 30 days unless that time has been extended. The time may be extended if:
- you agree to an extension. We may write to you and ask to extend the processing time by up to 30 days.
- a document contains information about a third party. If a document contains a third party’s information, we will need to consult them. The processing time is extended by another 30 days.
- your request is complex and the Australian Information Commissioner (Information Commissioner) agrees to an extension.
Fees and charges
There is no FOI application fee.
There are no processing charges for requests for documents containing only personal information about you.
Processing charges may apply to other requests. We will advise you of any charges and wait for your confirmation before processing the request. You will have a right to reply to agree or contend the estimate, or withdraw the request.
The most common charges are:
| Activity item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Search and retrieval - time we spend searching for or retrieving a document. | $15.00 per hour. |
| Decision making - time we spend in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, and making deletions. | First 5 hours is nil Subsequent hours are $20 per hour. |
| Transcript - preparing a transcript from a sound recording, shorthand or similar medium. | $4.40 per page of transcript. |
| Photocopy. | $0.10 per page. |
| Inspection -supervision by an agency officer of your inspection of documents or hearing or viewing an audio or visual recording at our premises. | $6.25 per half hour or part thereof. |
| Delivery - posting or delivering a copy of a document at your request. | Cost of postage or delivery. |
If you disagree with our decision
When we have made a decision, we will give you information about your review rights.
You can ask for review of:
- a decision to refuse to give you access to all or part of a document, or if we defer giving you access
- a decision to impose a charge
- a decision to refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.
A third party who disagrees with a decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for a review.
Internal review
You can request in writing that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. An internal review will be conducted by another officer in our agency. We will advise you of our new decision within 30 days of receiving your request.
If you wish to apply for an internal review, you must do so in writing within 30 days of receiving notice of our decision. There is no application fee for internal review.
Information Commissioner review
You can request an external review, before or after internal review. The Information Commissioner conducts external reviews. If you wish to apply for an external review, you must apply to the Information Commissioner in writing within 60 days of receiving notice of our decision. More information is available at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website.
FOI Disclosure Log
Our FOI Disclosure Log lists documents we have released since 1 July 2019 in response to requests made under the FOI Act.
Document format
We release and publish documents in PDF format.
We can release documents in other formats. There may be a charge for this depending on the format and number of documents you request.
If you experience issues with a PDF file we publish on our disclosure logs, please contact FOI@niaa.gov.au and we’ll try to provide the document in an alternate format (for example, in Microsoft Word). We don’t charge for providing access to information on our disclosure logs.
Complaints
If you believe we could have done better, you can let us know at FOI@niaa.gov.au.
Or you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. More information is available at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website.