Access to Information - GIPA 2009

On 1 July 2010 new right to information legislation came into effect, the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA), repealing and replacing the Freedom of Information Act 1989 (NSW) (FOI Act).

As part of this reform, the GIPA Act:

• upholds rights to information that are designed to meet community expectations of more open and transparent government;
• maintains there is a presumption in favour of the disclosure of government information unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure;
• authorises and encourages government agencies to proactively release government information;
• makes it possible for government agencies to release information informally, without the need to submit a formal access application;
• requires that a government agency must release information unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure;
• provides applicants with review rights around information access decisions.

Release of information by Council under the GIPA Act will be determined by the public interest test. As provided by section 13 of the Act, there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of information if (and only if) there are public interest considerations against disclosure and, on balance, those considerations outweigh the public interest considerations in favour of disclosure.

You can find out more about right to information, the public interest test and the ways to access government information under the GIPA Act on the NSW Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) website at: https://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au

The IPC is an independent statutory authority responsible for overseeing the provisions of the GIPA Act. Please note the IPC does not and is unable to provide legal advice to stakeholders.