ICON alert – edition 30

Message from FOI Commissioner Alice Linacre

Hello and welcome to our latest ICON alert.

In recent weeks, my OAIC colleagues and I have been reflecting earnestly on the Administration of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 by Selected Entities report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).

The report's Recommendation 5, on strengthening the OAIC's guidance by identifying to entities better practice approaches to implementing the principles for good decision-making under the FOI Act has been a matter of principal consideration.

The OAIC has agreed to this recommendation and will be updating the FOI Guidelines and other educational materials to promote compliance with the FOI Act. You will see this borne out already in our updates to the FOI Guidelines - see Part 13 (Information Publication Scheme), and the consultation on draft updates to Part 14 (Disclosure Log) below.

I would also therefore encourage our readers to keep in mind paragraph [3.104] of the FOI Guidelines, which states that decisions made under the FOI Act must be consistent both with the requirements of the Act and with general principles of good decision making. The Administrative Review Council (ARC) has published 5 guides explaining these general principles, which you will find on the Administrative Review Council's publications website.

Read on for news of the OAIC's Disclosure Log Desktop Review, an update on our new statistics portal which is planned to launch in the coming months, as well as information on EOT requests and OAIC contacts to help you in your work.

And please make room in your calendars on 21 September for our International Access to Information Day event, hosted at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra and broadcast online as a hybrid event.

We'll be sharing more information about that event in a special upcoming ICON alert.

Save the date: International Access to Information Day event on 21 September 2026

International Access to Information Day (IAID) is celebrated annually on 28 September. This global event celebrates and recognises the importance of the community’s right to know and access information from governments around the world.

This year’s IAID UNESCO theme is Upholding Information Integrity in the Digital Age: The Role of Access to Information in Addressing Information Disorder. Complementing this theme, the OAIC’s campaign will focus on Transparency + Access = Information Integrity, highlighting the important role that transparency and access to information play in promoting information integrity, strengthening good governance and building public trust.

To mark IAID 2026, the OAIC will host a hybrid event at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra on Monday 21 September 2026 from 9am–12.30pm AEST.

The event program will bring together Australian Government FOI practitioners and senior leaders to explore the role of information access and share practical approaches to effective FOI administration.

Look out for our upcoming Special ICON alert containing more details and a link to register your attendance.

Disclosure Log Desktop Review highlights opportunities to improve transparency

The OAIC examined the disclosure logs of 30 agencies to assess compliance with s 11C of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and OAIC FOI guidelines. The report is now available online: Disclosure Log Desktop Review – 2026.

The review found that agencies’ disclosure logs were largely compliant overall. However, 20 agencies (~67%) had not published all disclosure log entries in the 2024-25 financial year within the legislatively required timeframe. 

The FOI Act generally requires agencies to publish information released under FOI on their disclosure log within 10 working days of giving access to an applicant. This ensures that the wider community have access to eligible government information in a timely manner.

FOI Commissioner Alice Linacre said disclosure logs play an important role in supporting open government and public access to information.

'Disclosure logs help ensure information released through the FOI process is available to everyone, not just the original applicant.'

‘While overall compliance was strong, agencies can improve the timeliness, accessibility and usability of information published on their disclosure logs.'

Most agencies had adopted several better-practice features recommended in the FOI Guidelines. For example, making disclosure logs easy to find, providing embedded search functionality, offering filtering and sorting options, publishing clear descriptions of released information, and making documents available in more than one accessible format.

The review identified several opportunities for agencies to further strengthen their compliance with the FOI Act and improve public access to information.

The OAIC recommends agencies:

• improve accessibility and searchability of disclosure logs
• ensure disclosure logs remain up to date, including after review processes
• strengthen reporting and governance arrangements to support compliance.

Consultation on draft updates to FOI Guidelines – Part 14 (Disclosure Log)

The OAIC is consulting agencies and other interested stakeholders on updates to Part 14 (Disclosure Log) of the FOI Guidelines.

Part 14 of the FOI Guidelines assists Australian Government agencies and ministers subject to the FOI Act to establish and maintain a Disclosure Log as required by s 11C of the FOI Act.

The updated Part 14 (v 1.8), and information about the key updates, is published on the OAIC’s consultation page Consultation on Part 14 of the FOI Guidelines — Disclosure Log | OAIC. The closing date for comments will be Friday 4 September 2026.

The proposed revisions update content and give effect to recommendations made in the Freedom of Information Commissioner’s report ‘Disclosure Log Desktop Review – 2026 | OAIC’ which was published on 7 August 2026.

Updates to FOI Guidelines – Part 13 (IPS)

Updates have been made Part 13 of the FOI Guidelines, which provides guidance on the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) that applies to all Australian Government agencies subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

The updates to Part 13 address issues raised by agencies in the OAIC’s 2023 Information Publication Scheme Review survey as well as incorporating insights from the 2024 FOI Practitioners Survey. Further, the updates operationalise the recommendations made in the OAIC’s report Automated decision-making and public reporting under the Freedom of Information Act which was published in January 2026.

We consulted stakeholders in April and May and the updated version (1.6) was published on 27 July 2026. We extend our thanks to those stakeholders who took the time to consider the proposed updates and to make submissions. The final version has been informed by the helpful suggestions we received.

Part 13 relates to all aspects of planning, structuring and publishing an agency’s IPS.

Content updates include:

• Clarification that an IPS register is an internal document designed to promote awareness of open by design principles within agencies and to enable identification of documents the agency has already published.
• A template information access register has been added at Appendix B.
• The section on overlapping publication requirements has been updated to clarify that an agency may link to their privacy policy to satisfy the obligation to publish information about the use of automated decision-making in relation to personal information.
• Similarly, the updates clarify that information required to be published on an agency’s IPS can be linked to if it is already published elsewhere on an agency’s website.
• References the Australian Privacy Principles have been updated to reflect changes which come into effect on 10 December 2026.
• The definition of ‘information assets’ in [13.37] has been expanded with reference to guidance issued by the National Archives of Australia.
• Paragraph 13.95 includes a suggestion that agencies can use AI to identify information that is routinely provided in response to FOI requests.
• Paragraph 13.116 advises that when deciding how much operational information an agency must publish it should consider whether a member of the public would be prejudiced by not having access to the information (s 10).
• The updated Part 13 makes it clear that instruments authorising officers within an agency to make certain decisions or take certain actions may fall within the definition of ‘operational information’ in s 8A(1) of the FOI Act and so should be included on the agency’s IPS entry. This only applies to instruments that affect members of the public in current use (not archived versions).
• A new section on automated decision-making systems and artificial intelligence has been added at [13.128]–[13.134]. This section implements the recommendations made in the Automated decision-making and public reporting under the Freedom of Information Act’ report and provides additional guidance to agencies.
• Paragraph 13.148 includes examples of ‘other’ information agencies may consider adding to their IPS – including Senate Estimates briefs and, for relevant regulators, the Ministerial Statement of Expectations and the responding Statement of Intent.

Other updates include deletion of references to specific versions of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) (agencies should comply with the latest applicable version) and updated legislative references/links to resources (including OAIC guidance for SES staff and their role in setting the standard for their agency’s IPS compliance).

Next steps

Agencies should familiarise themselves with v 1.6 of Part 13 and ensure their processes and procedures are consistent with the updated guidance.

We have published a summary of the revisions that v 1.6 makes to the previous version of Part 13 on our Summary of version changes to s93A guidelines webpage.

New OAIC portal for agency FOI statistical returns

The OAIC is developing a new portal for agencies submitting FOI statistical returns to the OAIC.

The new portal will replace the existing FOI Statistical Returns portal for all agencies that provide quarterly and annual statistical returns for freedom of information matters.

What is changing?

The new portal will not change the types of data that agencies are required to submit to the OAIC.

However, it will introduce a number of new features in relation to account administration and user access, including:

• a more seamless user experience, including accessing and editing past statistical returns
• new account creation and sign-in processes for users, including new access verification processes
• the provision of an ‘administration account’ for reporting agencies that will provide greater flexibility in managing individual accounts for staff that are responsible for statistical report submissions
• enabling online submissions for agencies currently making manual statistical returns
• more clearly defined pathway for submitting statistical returns to the OAIC
• a capacity to grant third parties with ‘view-only’ profiles on the platform

Agency staff requiring access to the new portal, either as agency administrators or as officers responsible for submitting FOI statistical returns, will also need to apply to the OAIC to set up new account profiles in the new system.

What do agencies need to do?

Reporting agencies are not required to do anything at this time.

The OAIC will reach out directly to all reporting agencies from late August and early September to provide further information on the new portal, including advice on how to set up accounts for the new portal and the details of the timing for its launch.

If you do not hear from us by 21 September 2026, please get in touch by contacting us on 1300 363 992.

The OAIC will run an information session and showcase for interested agencies in early September and will also provide training material and portal guides to support agency onboarding to the new platform.

The OAIC will also provide further advice to all agencies using the contact details for the current FOI Statistical Returns portal in early September on when agencies can commence registering for access to the new portal.

Timeframe for applying for extension of time

We have received feedback from agencies regarding the interpretation of the timeframe for applying for an extension of time (EOT) as described in paragraph [3.247] and in footnote [171]. We agree that the interpretation is incorrect and thank the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing in particular, for bringing this issue to our attention.

In consideration of the feedback, the Information Commissioner intends to include an update about the timeframe for applying for an EOT in the next update to Part 3 of the FOI Guidelines. We will publicly consult on that draft update – watch this space.

In the meantime, agencies may interpret s 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act such that if the last day for notifying a decision falls on a weekend or public holiday, they may give notice of a decision, or apply for an extension of time on the first business day following that day.

In the Freedom of Information processing period calculator, agencies may also disregard the calculation of ‘final day of processing period’ and only have regard to the calculation of ‘final day to notify applicant of decision’.

IC reviews – Operational mailboxes

The OAIC has been receiving and sending all FOI casework-related correspondence from foidr@oaic.gov.au

To assist with the management of correspondence across different functions, please note the following operational mailboxes or web forms to contact the OAIC or respond to requests for information:

The OAIC reminds agencies to provide the OAIC with up-to-date contact details including names, email addresses and phone numbers of individual agency contacts for communicating about IC reviews, complaints and other matters.

The OAIC recognises some contact information may not be appropriate to include in messages to both the OAIC and applicants but asks that agencies provide updated contact information separately to the OAIC to facilitate the efficient progression of IC reviews, complaints and other matters.

Recent IC review decisions

Information Commissioner decisions made under s 55K of the FOI Act are published on AustLII. Recent decisions include:

Muslim Legal Network NSW and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Freedom of information) [2026] AICmr 65 (31 July 2026)

Key Points: This decision discusses ss 24A and 33 of the FOI Act. The decision finds that s 33 applies to the relevant documents which contains sensitive advice, assessments and talking points provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Minister for Foreign Affairs ahead of confidential meetings with foreign governments and international organisations.

Winfried Paschke and Commonwealth Ombudsman (Freedom of information) [2026] AICmr 64 (29 July 2026)

Key Points: During the IC review, the Commonwealth Ombudsman withdrew all of its exemption claims (ss 47 and 47G) over the documents at issue. The relevant third party had previously objected to the disclosure of material contained in the documents. Given this, the Commonwealth Ombudsman attempted to consult further with the third party, but they did not provide any particulars in support of their objection to the information being disclosed. Accordingly, the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s decision was set aside.

‘BBI’ and Australian Federal Police (Freedom of information) [2026] AICmr 63 (27 July 2026)

Key Points: This decision discusses the application of ss 22, 24A, 47E(c) and 47E(d) of the FOI Act to documents related to the applicant’s Comcare matter. This IC review provides an example of a circumstance where the OAIC required an agency to conduct further searches during the IC review, but the further searches undertaken were particularly broad and did not specifically identify the documents that were responsive to the applicant’s request.

'BBG' and Department of Home Affairs (Freedom of information) [2026] AICmr 61 (24 July 2026)

Key Points: This decision discusses the application of ss 22, 26(2), 47C, 47E(d) and 47F of the FOI Act to documents pertaining to the assessment of allegations that the applicant had made against a third party. This decision finds that Department was not entitled to rely on s 26(2) in the circumstances and sets out the steps the Agency is required to take in response to this finding.