Introduction to FOI

This section contains the following topics:

Who is the Information Commissioner?

What can be applied for under the FOI Act?

When is a FOI application necessary?

Who is the Information Commissioner?

The Office of the Information Commissioner is established by the FOI Act.  The Information Commissioner reports directly to Parliament and has responsibility for conducting independent reviews of decisions made by agencies under the FOI Act.  Other functions of the Information Commissioner include: 

• ensuring agencies are aware of their responsibilities under the FOI Act;
• ensuring that members of the public are aware of the FOI Act, and of their rights;
• providing assistance to members of the public and agencies on matters relevant to the FOI Act; and
• recommending legislative or administrative changes to Parliament that would help achieve the objects of the FOI Act.

Further information about the Information Commissioner and FOI generally, is available from the Information Commissioner’s website at http://www.foi.wa.gov.au.  Contact details of the Office of the Information Commissioner are as follows:

What can be applied for under the FOI Act?

Individuals can make an application under the FOI Act to:

• apply for access to a document held by the University of Western Australia (‘UWA’); and/or
• amend personal information about themselves contained in a document of UWA.

A document will be a ‘document of UWA’ if:

• it is in the possession or under the control of UWA (including documents that UWA is entitled to access); and/or
• it is in the possession or under the control of a UWA staff member in their official capacity. 

This includes documents that are held by UWA but were created by, or received from, another person or body – for instance, another university or government agency.  In some circumstances UWA may transfer a FOI application to another agency for processing.

Many different types of records are considered to be ‘documents’ under the FOI Act, including:

When is a FOI application necessary?

UWA embraces the principle of ‘openness’ and seeks to provide maximum access to its records. Therefore, a formal application under the FOI Act is only required if you encounter difficulties in obtaining access to the document(s) you seek.

In general, UWA will meet reasonable requests for access to information, or for amendment of information, without the need for an FOI application. Reference to UWA's Access Policy may assist in determining if a document is readily available or not.

Access procedures under the FOI Act (section 6) do not apply to documents that are:

• already available for purchase and/or freely distributed to the public;
• available for inspection (whether for a fee or charge or not);
• State archives to which a person has a right to be given access under Part 6 of the State Records Act 2000;
• publicly available library material held by agencies for reference purposes; or
• made or aquired by an art gallery, museum or library and preserved for public reference or exhibition purposes.

The FOI Act is not intended to prevent or discourage agencies from giving access to documents or amending personal information outside the FOI process, where it is appropriate to do so.

If you require assistance in determining whether a FOI application is necessary, you can contact UWA's FOI Coordinator, Laurence Shepherd on 6488 4759 or by email laurence.shepherd@uwa.edu.au.