Information Requests
Access to information
On 9 May 2012, the Australian Information Commissioner amended the guidelines issued under s. 93A of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 to state that the Department of the House of Representatives, the Department of the Senate and the Department of Parliamentary Services were subject to the FOI Act. Prior to this, the guidelines stated that the FOI Act did not apply to the departments of the Parliament. This stated change did not result from an amendment to the FOI Act or any other legislation.
The three parliamentary departments have sought to comply with the spirit of the FOI Act in responding to requests for documents on a case by case basis, and they are continuing to respond to requests as they are received. In relation to other obligations arising under the FOI Act, the three parliamentary departments are developing an appropriate framework to deal with them. It has not been possible to have in place immediately administrative arrangements to satisfy all FOI Act requirements. However, the departments are committed to progressively implementing any measures necessary to establish appropriate arrangements.
The Department of Finance and Deregulation (which is part of government) administers a number of parliamentary entitlements and provides services to members of parliament and their staff, see http://www.finance.gov.au/
The Remuneration Tribunal (which is an independent government authority) makes determinations in relation to members of parliament, including ministers, concerning salary or other allowances and matters that are significantly related, see http://www.remtribunal.gov.au/
The Parliamentary Budget Office is exempted expressly from the application of the FOI Act, under s. 7(1) and Division 1 of Part I of Schedule 2 of the Act.