Freedom of Information Act 1982 Annual Report 2010–11

Chapter One: Activity under the FOI Act

Introduction

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) confers upon any person the legal right to access documents held by Australian Government ministers, departments and agencies.

The Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Act 2010 was passed by Parliament in May 2010. That Act was a response to proposals by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Administrative Review Council to reform the FOI Act.[1] The amendments took effect from 1 November 2010, with the exception of the information publication scheme and disclosure log requirements, which commenced on 1 May 2011.

This report has been prepared using data collected from Commonwealth ministers and agencies subject to the FOI Act.

Agencies are required to provide, among other details, information about:

• the number of requests made
• the number of decisions granting, partially granting or refusing access and the number and outcome of applications for internal review under s 54
• the number and outcome of requests to amend personal records under s 48; and
• fees and charges collected.[2]

Detailed statistical information is provided in the appendices to this report.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) assumed responsibility, from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, for the web-based system for the electronic lodgement of statistical information by agencies from 1 November 2010. The OAIC began a redevelopment of the web-based statistical collection system during the reporting period. This redevelopment will allow the collection of information about agencies' use of exemptions and the practical refusal mechanism, and staff resources and other costs associated with compliance with information publication scheme provisions.

Requests received

Types of requests reported

Agencies are encouraged to process routine requests for information outside the FOI Act. This is consistent with the broader objectives of the FOI Act and s 3A which makes it clear that the FOI Act is not intended as the sole means of access to documents held by government agencies. The FOI Act only requires that agencies provide access to documents in response to requests that meet the requirements of s 15 of the FOI Act. Accordingly, the figures reported for requests do not take account of applications that did not satisfy these requirements, or requests processed by agencies outside the FOI Act.

Number of requests received

Appendix A provides details of requests received by ministers and agencies in 2010-11. Appendix M shows the number of FOI requests received from 2001-02 to 2010-11.

Between 1 December 1982 (the date of commencement of the FOI Act) and 30 June 2011, Commonwealth agencies received a total of 906,639 requests. Chart 1.1 shows the total number of requests for each year since the commencement of the Act in 1982. (The FOI Act operated for only seven months of the 1982-83 year.)

Table 1.1 provides a comparison of requests received in the last four years.

TABLE 1.1  TOTAL FOI REQUESTS RECEIVED: 2007-08 to 2010-11

2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
29,019	27,561	21,587	23,605

Although there has been a general decline in the number of FOI requests received by agencies since a peak in 2003-04, the number of requests received in 2010-11 was 9.3% higher than in 2009-10. A breakdown of the types of requests shows a significant increase in the number of non-personal requests received, as discussed below.

Since the commencement of the FOI reforms in November 2010, agencies have reported anecdotally that the number of requests for documents and information, both within and outside of the FOI Act, has increased. This may be due in part to greater awareness of the right of access under the FOI Act and of information rights generally following the commencement of the FOI reforms and the establishment of the OAIC.

Breakdown of statistics: personal information and other information

Since 2000-01, agencies have reported separately the number of FOI access requests received for documents containing personal information and for documents containing ‘other' information. A request for personal information means a request for documents that contain information about a person who can be identified. A request for ‘other' information means a request for all other documents, such as documents concerning policy development and government decision-making. This breakdown in the number of requests received by agencies in 2010-11 is shown in Appendix A. Similarly, Appendix M shows the same breakdown for 2001-02 to 2010-11.

Chart 1.2 shows the total number of personal and other requests received by agencies in 2010-11. Consistent with the results from previous years, the large majority of requests (19,504 or 82.6%) are for documents containing personal information. The percentage of such requests as a total of all requests received has decreased from 87.2% in 2009-10. Some of this decrease can be attributed to system and process improvements in some larger agencies that have led to the release of personal information outside of the FOI Act.

Details of requests received

Centrelink, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) continue to receive the majority of requests (71.0%). Commonly, requests to these agencies are from customers or clients seeking access to documents containing their own personal information. Chart 1.3 shows these agencies' share of the total number of requests received by all agencies in 2010-11.

The top five agencies in terms of number of FOI requests remained the same as those in 2009-10: DIAC, DVA, Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Department of Human Services. Centrelink received 3,780 requests in 2010-11: 743 (16.4%) fewer than in the previous year, and 6,495 (63.2%) fewer than in the year before that. This decline in request numbers can be at least partly attributed to Centrelink's continuing policy commitment to providing customers access to their own personal information outside the processes of the FOI Act, where appropriate.

The 20 agencies that received the greatest number of requests in 2010-11 are shown in Table 1.2, together with a comparison with the number of requests received in the previous year. While the total number of requests received in 2010-11 rose by 9.3%, the number of requests received by some individual agencies has risen significantly more. The most significant increase has been experienced by those agencies that generally receive requests for non-personal information. The number of these other requests rose by 43.4% across the top 20 agencies, and by 48.4% for all agencies, compared to last year.

The following departments reported significant increases in the number of requests for other information compared to the previous year:

• Attorney-General's Department (346% increase)
• Department of the Treasury (179% increase)
• Department of Foreign Affairs (178% increase)
• Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (160% increase)
• Australian Federal Police (148% increase)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (116% increase)
• Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (100% increase)
• Department of Finance and Deregulation (91% increase)
• Department of Defence (67% increase)

The four agencies in the top 20, that were not in the top 20 last year (Treasury, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Department of Finance and Deregulation, and the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency), moved into this list due to the significant increase each department experienced in the number of other requests made in 2010-11.

Two possible reasons for this significant increase in requests for other (non-personal) information are: the abolition of application fees (from 1 November 2010), and a greater awareness of access rights due to the introduction of the FOI reforms.

FOI access requests determined 2010-11

The total number of requests received by agencies in 2010-11 was as follows (previous year figures are in parentheses):

• on hand at the beginning of the year: 1,874 (2,806)[3]
• received: 23,605 (21,587)[4]
• requiring determination: 25,479 (24,393)[5]
• determined: 20,187 (19,583)[6]
• withdrawn: 1,573 (2,235)[7]
• transferred: 861 (695)[8]
• total finalised: 22,621 (22,513)[9]
• on hand at the end of the year: 2,858 (1,880)[10]

There was a 52.0% increase in the number of requests on hand at the end of 2010-11 compared to the previous year. This may be attributable to the significant increase in the number of FOI requests for non-personal information. These generally have a greater level of complexity and require a higher level of analysis and, consequently, more time to process.

The number of requests transferred to other agencies has increased over the last two years: there was a 28.0% increase in 2009-10 and a further 23.9% increase in 2010-11. This trend may result from the increase in non-personal requests and the greater complexity of those requests, which means that applicants may not address requests initially to the agencies that hold the documents requested. Another contributing factor may be that a higher proportion of documents are produced by joint activities of agencies.

TABLE 1.2 TOP 20 AGENCIES: ACCESS  REQUESTS RECEIVED

	2009-10									2010-11								Change
AGENCY	Rank	Personal		Other		Total		%		Rank		Personal	Other		Total		%	Total		Rank
Department of Immigration and Citizenship	1	6,641		280		6,921		32.5%		1		7,783	274		8,057		34.1%	+1,136		-
Department of Veterans' Affairs	2	5,178		13		5,191		24.4%		2		4,916	21		4,937		20.9%	-254		-
Centrelink	3	4,507		16		4,523		21.2%		3		3,744	36		3,780		16.0%	-743		-
Australian Taxation Office	4	164		631		795		3.7%		4		275	577		852		3.6%	+57		-
Department of Human Services	5	489		11		500		2.3%		5		536	6		542		2.3%	+42		-
Migration Review Tribunal	6	342		0		342		1.6%		6		373	0		373		1.6%	+31		-
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations	9	223		67		290		1.4%		7		231	139		370		1.6%	+80		+2
Department of Defence	12	112		95		207		1.0%		8		203	159		362		1.5%	+155		+4
Refugee Review Tribunal	7	331		3		334		1.6%		9		358	1		359		1.5%	+25		-2
Australian Federal Police	10	219		31		250		1.2%		10		267	77		344		1.5%	+94		-
Trade Marks Office	8	0		322		322		1.5%		11		0	302		302		1.3%	-20		-3
Department of Health and Ageing	11	1		219		220		1.0%		12		1	266		267		1.1%	+47		-1
Attorney-General's Department	19	26		41		67		0.3%		13		50	183		233		1.0%	+166		+6
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	14	16		79		95		0.4%		14		23	171		194		0.8%	+99		-
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade	13	78		37		115		0.5%		15		67	103		170		0.7%	+55		-2
Department of the Treasury *	-	-		-		-		-		16		0	148		148		0.6%	-		-
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	18	5		66		71		0.3%		17		7	132		139		0.6%	+68		+1
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service *	-	-		-		-		-		18		37	78		115		0.5%	-		-
Department of Finance and Deregulation *	-	-		-		-		-		19		1	101		102		0.4%	-		-
Department of Climate Change & Energy Efficiency *	-	-		-		-		-		20		5	92		97		0.4%	-		-
Top 20		18547 ^		1998 ^		20545 ^		95.2%				18,877	2,866		21,743		92.1%	N/A
Remaining agencies		276		766		1,042		4.8%				627	1,235		1,862		7.9%	N/A
Total		18,823		2,764		21,587		100.0%				19,504	4,101		23,605		100.0%	N/A

* Denotes an agency not listed in the top 20 agencies in 2009-10.

^ Shows the total for 2009-10 top 20 agencies (i.e. includes totals for four agencies missing from the top 20 for 2010-11).

The increase in the number of transferred requests has the potential to lead to delays in processing FOI requests if transferring agencies fail to quickly action transfers and do not give receiving agencies sufficient time to process requests.

Table 1.3 shows the results of FOI access decision making in 2010-11 compared with the previous year, broken up by requests for personal information and for other information.

TABLE 1.3 FOI ACCESS REQUESTS DETERMINED

DECISION	2009-10			%	2010-11			%
	Personal	Other	Total		Personal	Other	Total
Granted in full	11,592	898	12,490	63.8%	11,460	839	12,299	60.9%
Granted in part	4,490	1,130	5,620	28.7%	4,866	1,127	5,993	29.7%
Refused	1,059	414	1,473	7.5%	1,205	690	1,895	9.4%
Total	17,141	2,442	19,583	100.0%	17,531	2,656	20,187	100.0%

In the last three reporting years there has been a decline in the number of requests granted in full: from 71.0% in 2008-09, to 63.8% in 2009-10, to 60.9% in 2010-11. This pattern applies to requests both for personal and for other information. As agencies release more information outside the FOI process-personal information through other processes, and general information through the Information Publication Scheme-it is likely that a higher proportion of FOI requests will be for other (non-personal) information. Processing FOI requests for this other information is generally more complex, and more likely to result in access being refused or granted only in part. If this is the case, the decline in the proportion of requests granted in full can be expected to rise.

The figure for requests that are "refused" includes cases where the documents sought do not exist or cannot be found, as well as cases where exemptions are applied. The number of requests granted in full or in part, or refused, for each agency is set out in Appendix B. The statistics in Appendix B are shown for requests for personal information, requests for other information, and in total. Table 1.4 lists the top 20 agencies by the number of FOI decisions that they made.

In 2010-11, 90.6% of access requests were granted in full or in part, down from 92.5% in 2009-10. As the majority of requests across Australian Government agencies are for personal information, this proportion of requests granted in full or in part is expectedly high given the presumption that access must be given to a person's own information.

TABLE 1.4 TOP 20 AGENCIES: REQUESTS DETERMINED

AGENCY	Granted in Full	%	Granted in Part	%	Refused	%	Total
Department of Immigration and Citizenship	4152	55.3%	2688	35.8%	671	8.9%	7511
Department of Veterans' Affairs	4180	99.0%	26	0.6%	16	0.4%	4222
Centrelink	2263	61.7%	1132	30.9%	273	7.4%	3668
Refugee Review Tribunal	175	68.6%	77	30.2%	3	1.2%	255
Trade Marks Office	170	64.4%	92	34.8%	2	0.8%	264
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations	157	60.2%	72	27.6%	32	12.3%	261
Australian Taxation Office	148	25.4%	320	55.0%	114	19.6%	582
Department of Human Services	115	22.3%	333	64.7%	67	13.0%	515
ComSuper	87	95.6%	3	3.3%	1	1.1%	91
Department of Defence	85	33.6%	137	54.2%	31	12.3%	253
Migration Review Tribunal	66	60.0%	41	37.3%	3	2.7%	110
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	53	34.2%	32	20.6%	70	45.2%	155
Australian Federal Police	37	15.0%	161	65.2%	49	19.8%	247
Attorney-General's Department	36	20.8%	45	26.0%	92	53.2%	173
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service	34	35.4%	48	50.0%	14	14.6%	96
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade	26	25.0%	57	54.8%	21	20.2%	104
Commonwealth Ombudsman	19	25.3%	42	56.0%	14	18.7%	75
Department of Health and Ageing	18	13.6%	71	53.8%	43	32.6%	132
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	16	21.3%	15	20.0%	44	58.7%	75
Department of the Treasury	6	7.2%	54	65.1%	23	27.7%	83
Top 20	11,843	62.8%	5,446	28.9%	1,583	8.4%	18,872
Remaining agencies	456	34.7%	547	41.6%	312	23.7%	1,315
Total	12,299	60.9%	5,993	29.7%	1,895	9.4%	20,187

Time taken to respond to FOI requests

On 1 November 2010, several new legislative provisions came into effect that can result in an extension of the 30 day statutory timeframe for making decisions under the FOI Act. Agencies can now apply to the Information Commissioner for more time to process a request where the request is complex or voluminous (s 15AB) or where access has been deemed to be refused (s 15AC). An agency may also extend the period of time to make a decision by agreement with the applicant (s15AA). These extension provisions acknowledge that there are circumstances when it is appropriate for an agency to take more than 30 days to process a request.

In previous FOI Annual Reports, agency response times were reported against statutory timeframe provisions that predated the 1 November 2010 changes. Appendix C provides full details of agency response times divided into the 4 month period from 1 July 2010 to 31 October 2010 and the 8 month period after the amendments to the FOI Act came into force on 1 November 2010. The headings of each column are also split between the two periods to reflect the criteria used by agencies to provide information for the two periods. The relationship between the headings used in Appendix C for each column are as follows:

 

New heading (from 1 November 2010)	Old heading (before 1 November 2010)
Within applicable statutory time period	0-30 days
Up to 30 days after applicable statutory time period	31-60 days with consultation
31-60 days after applicable statutory time period	31-60 days without consultation
61-90 days after applicable statutory time period	61-90 days
Over 90 days after applicable statutory time period	Over 90 days

The figures for the last eight months of 2010-11 cannot be compared with the figures for the first four months or 2010-11 (and the figures for earlier years), because of the legislative changes in November 2010.

Table 1.5 shows the response times for all agencies for 2009-10 and for the first four months of 2010-11. The bulk of the requests (86.0% in the first four months of 2010-11) were processed within 30 days. The response time was significantly better when dealing with requests for personal information than when dealing with other requests.

TABLE 1.5 RESPONSE TIMES: FOI ACCESS REQUESTS (1 July 2009-31 October 2010)

RESPONSE TIME	2009-10			%	1 July 2010 - 31 October 2010			%
	Personal	Other	Total		Personal	Other	Total
0-30 days	14,379	1,078	15,457	78.9%	5,396	355	5,751	86.0%
31-60 days with consultation	241	449	690	3.5%	94	138	232	3.5%
31-60 days without consultation	1,575	484	2,059	10.5%	418	65	483	7.2%
61-90 days	625	248	873	4.5%	100	35	135	2.0%
Over 90 days	321	183	504	2.6%	46	36	82	1.2%
Total	17,141	2,442	19,583	100.0%	6,054	629	6,683	100.0%

Table 1.6 shows the response times for all agencies from the commencement of the new provisions to the end of the reporting period. Where an agency obtained an extension of time to deal with a request, and resolved the request within that time, the request is recorded as having been determined within the statutory time period.

The bulk of requests (84.2%) were processed within the applicable statutory time period. The response time was significantly better when dealing with requests for personal information than when dealing with other requests.

If a decision is not made on a request within the statutory timeframe (as extended, if applicable) then s 15AC of the FOI Act provides that a decision refusing access is deemed to have been made. Nonetheless, agencies can-and are encouraged to-continue to process a request that has been deemed to have been refused. However, if the applicant seeks Information Commissioner (IC) review of the deemed decision, s 55G provides that the agency can only make a substituted decision that is more favourable to the applicant while the IC review is under way.

TABLE 1.6 RESPONSE TIMES: FOI ACCESS REQUESTS (1 November 2010-30 June 2011)

RESPONSE TIME	1 November 2010 - 30 June 2011			%
	Personal	Other	Total
Within applicable statutory time period	10,110	1,264	11,374	84.2%
Up to 30 days after the applicable statutory time period	488	345	833	6.2%
31-60 days after applicable statutory time period	454	205	659	4.9%
61-90 days after applicable statutory time period	172	118	290	2.1%
Over 90 days after applicable statutory time period	253	95	348	2.6%
Total	11,477	2,027	13,504	100.0%

Table 1.7 shows those agencies which had one or more requests that took more than 90 days to determine in the last eight months of the reporting period. Of the seven agencies with more than five requests that took more than 90 days to determine, two (the Department of Human Services and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) had more than 10% of their requests in this category.

TABLE 1.7 RESPONSE TIMES: GREATER THAN 90 DAYS (1 November 2010-30 June 2011)

Agency	Total Requests determined	Greater than 90 days	%
Department of Human Services	425	173	40.7%
Department of Immigration and Citizenship	4946	68	1.4%
Australian Taxation Office	431	32	7.4%
Attorney-General's Department	150	12	8.0%
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade	81	12	14.8%
Department of Health and Ageing	101	9	8.9%
Centrelink	2299	9	0.4%
Australian Federal Police	161	5	3.1%
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	58	5	8.6%
Department of Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government	4	3	75.0%
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	24	2	8.3%
Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations	4	2	50.0%
AusAID	10	2	20.0%
Commonwealth Ombudsman	67	2	3.0%
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	115	2	1.7%
Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority	29	1	3.4%
Australian Communications and Media Authority	16	1	6.3%
Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency	34	1	2.9%
ComSuper	65	1	1.5%
Department of Finance and Deregulation	49	1	2.0%
Department of Infrastructure and Transport	25	1	4.0%
Prime Minister	14	1	7.1%
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities	56	1	1.8%
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority	12	1	8.3%
Department of Veterans' Affairs	2710	1	0.0%

Amendment of personal records

Section 48 of the FOI Act confers a right to request an agency or Minister to amend a document to which lawful access has been granted, where the applicant claims that information in the document:

• contains personal information about the applicant
• is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading
• has been used, is being used, or is available for use by the agency or Minister for an administrative purpose.

In 2010-11, 3,702 requests for amendment of personal records were received by agencies (none were received by ministers). This is a decrease of 926 requests (20.0%) from the previous year, and 1,330 (26.4%) from the year before that. Only 10 agencies received requests for amendment in 2010-11, and one department (the Department of Immigration and Citizenship) received 3,667 (99.3%) of those requests.

Appendices F, G and H set out full details of agencies' determination of requests for amendment of records. Appendix I gives details of AAT review of amendment decisions.

A total of 3,692 requests for amendment of personal records were determined in 2010-11.  Table 1.8 compares the pattern of decision-making for amendment of personal records for this reporting year with the previous reporting year. In 2010-11, a decision to alter the personal record was made in 64.1% of requests, a decrease of 12.1% on 2009-10.

Time taken to respond to requests for amendment of personal records

As with the criteria for response times for FOI requests, the criteria for response times for requests to amend personal records has changed to reflect the amendments to the FOI Act that commenced on 1 November 2010. Therefore the figures for the last eight months of 2010-11 cannot be directly compared with the figures for the first four months or 2010-11 (and the figures for earlier years).

An agency is required to notify an applicant of a decision on their request to amend personal records as soon as practicable but in any case not later than 30 days after the date the request is received, or a longer period as extended by the amended provisions of the FOI Act.  In the 4 month period to 31 October 2010, 1,368 (95.6%) of requests were decided within 30 days and in the 8 month period to 30 June 2011, 2,260 (99.5%) of requests were decided within the statutory time period. Full details of agencies' response times are given in Appendix G.

TABLE 1.8 DETERMINATION OF FOI REQUESTS FOR AMENDMENT OF PERSONAL RECORDS

DETERMINATION	2009-10	%	2010-11	%
Requests granted: alter record	3,577	76.2%	2,367	64.1%
Requests granted: notate record	340	7.2%	487	13.2%
Requests granted: alter and notate record	108	2.3%	2	0.1%
Requests refused	669	14.3%	836	22.6%
Total	4,694	100.0%	3,692	100.0%

Fees and charges

From 1 November 2010, the FOI Act and the Freedom of Information (Fees and Charges) Regulations (now called the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982) were amended to abolish fees and some charges. FOI charges apply only to the initial access decision under Part III of the Act. There is now no charge for making an application:

• for access to a document under PartIII
• for amendment or annotation of a personal record under PartV
• for internal review of a decision under PartVI
• for ICreview of a decision under PartVII.

A fee is payable for an application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of a decision under Part VIIA.

Charges that agencies can impose for processing FOI requests include charges for search and retrieval time, decision-making, retrieving and collating electronic information, preparing transcripts and photocopying. An agency or minister has discretion to impose or not impose a charge, or impose a charge that is lower than the applicable charge under reg 3 of the Charges Regulations. Appendix D sets out full details of fees and charges notified and collected by agencies. (Given the abolition of fees, future FOI Annual Reports will report only on charges.)

Table 1.9 shows the amounts collected by the 14 agencies which together collected 85% of all fees and charges revenue in 2010-11.

TABLE 1.9 AGENCIES WHICH TOGETHER COLLECTED 85% OF ALL FEES AND CHARGES

AGENCY	Number of Requests Received	Total Fees Collected ($)	Charges Collected ($)	Total Fees & Charges Collected ($)
Department of Health and Ageing	267	1,660	306,423	308,083
Department of Immigration and Citizenship	8,057	42,510	0	42,510
Department of Defence	362	1,260	18,998	20,258
Australian Taxation Office	852	2,410	16,466	18,876
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations	370	1,244	15,861	17,105
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission	47	690	15,862	16,552
Department of the Treasury	148	900	15,367	16,267
Trade Marks Office	302	3,240	12,291	15,531
Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency	97	240	11,878	12,118
Department of Finance and Deregulation	102	620	10,346	10,966
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	57	490	10,071	10,561
Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism	40	290	10,077	10,367
Australian Federal Police	344	2,895	6,307	9,202
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service	115	620	8,060	8,680
Subtotal	11,160	59,069	458,007	517,076
Remaining Agencies	12,445	13,167	78,311	91,478
Total	23,605	72,236	536,318	608,554

A total of $72,236 was collected in application fees for all initial applications and internal review applications. This amount represents 11.9% of total FOI revenue for 2010-11. In 2009-10, fees represented 40.9% of total revenue. This reduction is, obviously, due to the abolition of fees from 1 November 2010.

Section 29(1) of the FOI Act provides that an applicant must be given notice in writing when an agency or minister decides under the Charges Regulations that the applicant is liable to pay a charge. The notice must specify that the applicant is liable to pay a charge, the preliminary assessment of the charge and the basis of calculation and the applicant's right to contend that the charge is wrongly assessed or should be reduced or waived. The applicant must within 30 days, or such further period allowed by the agency, agree to pay the charge, dispute the charge or seek a waiver or reduction, or withdraw the FOI request. Where an applicant asks that the charge be reduced or not imposed, the agency must consider the applicant's reasons and may decide to reduce the charge or to not impose it.

Agencies notified a total of $3,207,827 in charges, but exercising their discretion under s 29 of the FOI Act, collected only $536,318 (16.7%) of those charges. Charges were notified in respect of 1,456 requests and the total amount of fees and charges collected was $608,554, an increase of 17.8% on the previous year total of $516,790.

This increase of 17.8% in fees and charges collected contrasts with the increase of 9.3% in FOI requests over the same period. Presumably this reflects an increased complexity in requests for non-personal information which, as discussed above, were a greater proportion of all requests in 2010-11 than in 2009-10.

The total amount of fees and charges collected in 2010-11 represented 1.7% of the total cost of the FOI Act.[11] In 2009-10, fees and charges were 1.9% of the total cost.

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[1]  Australian Law Reform Commission and Administrative Review Council, Open Government: A review of the federal Freedom of Information Act 1982, ALRC Report No 77 / ARC Report No 70, 1995.

[2]  Australian Government ministers and agencies, and the Norfolk Island administration, are required, by s 93 of the FOI Act and regulation 5 of the Freedom of Information (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1982, to submit statistical returns to the OAIC every quarter.

[3]   See "On hand 1 July 2010" in Appendix A. The 1,874 figure reported is less than was reported as on hand at the end of the 2009-10 financial year. This reflects revised figures provided by agencies. This discrepancy in the transition between reporting periods occurs each year.

[4]   See "Total requests received" in Appendix A.

[5]   The number of requests requiring determination is the sum of requests on hand at the beginning of the year and requests received.

[6]   See "Total determined" in Appendix B. The number of requests determined is the sum of requests granted in full, requests granted in part, and requests where access was refused.

[7]   See "Withdrawn" in Appendix B.

[8]   See "Transferred" in Appendix B.

[9]   See "Requests finalised" in Appendix A. The number of requests finalised is the sum of requests determined, withdrawn and transferred-see Appendix B.

[10] See "On hand 30 June 2011" in Appendix A. The number of requests on hand at the end of the year is the number of requests finalised subtracted from the number of requests requiring determination.

[11]  See Chapter 3 and Appendices J and K for further information about the total cost of the FOI Act in 2010-11.