Freedom of Information Act/ Public Interest

ITSA clearly attempts to restrict FOI  requests  that  are in the public interest exposing the systemic corrupt conduct by senior management by requesting ridiculous fees.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman is protecting this conduct. Unfortunately  most people are not aware the Commonwealth Ombudsman has no investigation policy or no investigation standards  contrary to  popular belief.

Senior Management at ITSA and the Commonwealth Ombudsman all need a hard fucking up their arse.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 11A

Access to documents on request

Scope

             (1)  This section applies if:

                     (a)  a request is made by a person, in accordance with subsection 15(2), to an agency or Minister for access to:

                              (i)  a document of the agency; or

                             (ii)  an official document of the Minister; and

                     (b)  any charge that, under the regulations, is required to be paid before access is given has been paid.

             (2)  This section applies subject to this Act.

Note:          Other provisions of this Act are relevant to decisions about access to documents, for example the following:

(a)    section 12 (documents otherwise available);

(b)    section 13 (documents in national institutions);

(c)    section 15A (personnel records);

(d)    section 22 (access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted).

Mandatory access--general rule

             (3)  The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document in accordance with this Act, subject to this section.

Exemptions and conditional exemptions

             (4)  The agency or Minister is not required by this Act to give the person access to the document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is an exempt document.

Note:          Access may be given to an exempt document apart from under this Act, whether or not in response to a request (see section 3A
(objects--information or documents otherwise accessible)).

             (5)  The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.

Note 1:       Division 3 of Part IV provides for when a document is conditionally exempt.

Note 2:       A conditionally exempt document is an exempt document if access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest (see section 31B (exempt documents for the purposes of Part IV)).

Note 3:       Section 11B deals with when it is contrary to the public interest to give a person access to the document.

             (6)  Despite subsection (5), the agency or Minister is not required to give access to the document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is both:

                     (a)  a conditionally exempt document; and

                     (b)  an exempt document:

                              (i)  under Division 2 of Part IV (exemptions); or

                             (ii)  within the meaning of paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of exempt document in subsection 4(1).

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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 11B

Public interest exemptions--factors

Scope

             (1)  This section applies for the purposes of working out whether access to a conditionally exempt document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest under subsection 11A(5).

             (2)  This section does not limit subsection 11A(5).

Factors favouring access

             (3)  Factors favouring access to the document in the public interest include whether access to the document would do any of the following:

                     (a)  promote the objects of this Act (including all the matters set out in sections 3 and 3A);

                     (b)  inform debate on a matter of public importance;

                     (c)  promote effective oversight of public expenditure;

                     (d)  allow a person to access his or her own personal information.

Irrelevant factors

             (4)  The following factors must not be taken into account in deciding whether access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest:

                     (a)  access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government;

                    (aa)  access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Government of Norfolk Island or cause a loss of confidence in the Government of Norfolk Island;

                     (b)  access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or misunderstanding the document;

                     (c)  the author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the request for access to the document was made;

                     (d)  access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.

Guidelines

             (5)  In working out whether access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest, an agency or Minister must have regard to any guidelines issued by the InformationCommissioner for the purposes of this subsection under section 93A.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 31A

Access to exempt and conditionally exempt documents

                   The following table summarises how this Act applies to exempt documents and documents that are conditionally exempt:

How this Act applies to exempt and conditionally exempt documents
Item	If ...	then ...	because of ...
1	a document is anexempt documentunder Division 2 (exemptions) or under paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition ofexempt document in subsection 4(1)	access to the documentis not required to be given	subsection 11A(4).
2	a document is aconditionally exemptdocument under Division 3 (public interest conditional exemptions)	access to the documentis required to be given, unless it would be contrary to the public interest	subsection 11A(5) (see also section 11B (public interest factors)).
3	a document is anexempt document as mentioned in item 1, and also a conditionally exempt documentunder Division 3	access to the documentis not required to be given	subsections 11A(4) and (6), and section 32 (interpretation) .
4	access to a documentis refused because it contains exemptmatter, and the exempt matter can be deleted	(a) an edited copydeleting the exempt matter must be prepared (if practicable); and (b) access to the edited copy must be given;	section 22.
5	a document is anexempt documentbecause of any provision of this Act	access to the documentmay be given apart from under this Act	section 3A (objects--information ordocuments otherwise accessible).