What is Freedom of Information?

Freedom of information refers to commonwealth legislation (FOI Act 1982) that allows the general public to seek access to information held by any commonwealth agency or authority.

The Act was amended in 2010 with the objective of making Commonwealth information more easily accessible at minimal cost to the applicant, with the view that Commonwealth information is a national resource for the Australian public.

These amendments saw the introduction of an Information Publication Scheme (IPS) where organisations are required to publish organisational information (structure, decision making delegations, executive appointments etc). As part of the IPS there is now a requirement to publish documents released under FOI, on the web in a Disclosure Log.

More detailed information is available on the ANU FOI website