Your rights
The Freedom of Information Act 1982 gives any person the right to:
- access copies of documents (except exempt documents) we hold
- ask for information we hold about you to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading, and
- seek a review of our decision not to allow you access to a document or not to amend your personal record.
You can ask to see any document that we hold. We can refuse access to some documents, or parts of documents that are exempt. Exempt documents may include those relating to national security, documents containing material obtained in confidence and Cabinet documents, or other matters set out in the Act.
Documents available outside the Act
You can get certain information, including personal information we hold about you, without following a formal process under the Act.
You should also check the information we have published under the Information Publication Scheme and Disclosure log to see if what you are looking for is already available.
How to make a Freedom of Information request
Requests for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 may be directed to:
Freedom of Information Contact Officer
Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Box 7051
CANBERRA BUSINESS CENTRE ACT 2610
Your request must:
- be in writing
- contain enough information concerning the documents sought as is reasonably necessary to enable AFMA to identify them
- provide an address (physical or electronic) where AFMA can send its decision
- state that the request is made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
If you ask a third party to make a request on your behalf, a specific written authority will need to be provided to allow us to send copies of documents to you, care of that person, or to allow that person to inspect copies of documents containing information about you.
If you require assistance with your request, please contact the Freedom of Information officer on 02 6225 5555 or email foi@afma.gov.au.
There is no application fee for a Freedom of Information request.
There are no processing charges for requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. The most common charges are:
| Activity item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Search and retrieval: time we spend searching for or retrieving a document | $15.00 per hour |
| Decision making: time we spend in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, and making deletions | First five hours: Nil |
| Transcript: preparing a transcript from a sound recording, shorthand or similar medium | $4.40 per page of transcript |
| Photocopy | $0.10 per page |
| Inspection: supervision by an agency officer of your inspection of documents or hearing or viewing an audio or visual recording at our premises | $6.25 per half hour (or part thereof) |
| Delivery: posting or delivering a copy of a document at your request | Cost of postage or delivery |
If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. Where the estimated charge is between $20 and $100, we may ask you to pay a deposit of $20, or where the estimated charge exceeds $100, we may ask you to pay a 25 per cent deposit before we process your request.
You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for any reason, including financial hardship or on the grounds of public interest. If you do so, you should explain your reasons and you may need to provide some evidence.
Internal review
You can request in writing that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. An internal review will be conducted by another officer in our agency. We will advise you of our new decision within 30 days of receiving your request.
Information Commissioner review
You can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our original decision or our decision on internal review within 60 days of the date of decision (or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party). The Information Commissioner can affirm or vary the decision or substitute a new decision. The Information Commissioner may decide not to conduct a review in certain circumstances. More information is available at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website at www.oaic.gov.au.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available on the OAIC’s website at www.oaic.gov.au.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.
More information
If you require more information you can contact the AFMA Freedom of Information officer on 02 6225 5555 or via email foi@afma.gov.au.
Some documents that we have released under the Freedom of Information Act can be obtained at the AFMA Disclosure log.