Freedom of information : report / by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of information bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives bill 1978

Creator
Australia. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs
Call Number
Nq 328.94 AUS
Created/Published
Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service, 1979
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554
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Contents

SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL AFFAIRS Freedom of Information Report on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives Bill 1978 1
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978, and aspects of the Archives Bill 1978 3
Contents 9
Table of Abbreviations 17
Index to Clauses 19
Table of Cases 23
Table of Legislation 25
PART A GENERAL ISSUES Chapter 1 Terms of reference and conduct of inquiry 29
Chapter 2 The background to the Bill: freedom of information in Australia and overseas 33
Chapter 3 The Freedom of Information Bill: the issues summarised 49
Chapter 4 Implications of freedom of information for the Westminster system of government 61
Chapter 5 Implications of the Sankey v. Whitlam judgment for freedom of information 85
Chapter 6 Resource implications 97
PART B ACCESS PROCEDURES Chapter 7 Directories, indexes and manuals 113
Chapter 8 Processing access requests 125
Chapter 9 Making the access decision 139
Chapter 10 Meeting successful requests 155
Chapter 11 Charges and fees 163
PART C EXCEPTIONS AND EXEMPTIONS Chapter 12 Exemptions of agencies and classes of documents (clauses 4 and 5) 177
Chapter 13 Refusal of access on administrative grounds (clause 13) 191
Chapter 14 Prior documents 195
Chapter 15 Part IV Exemptions—general issues 203
Chapter 16 Security, defence and international relations (clause 23) 213
Chapter 17 Commonwealth-State relations (clause 23) 225
Chapter 18 Cabinet and Executive Council documents (clauses 24 and 25) 233
Chapter 19 Internal working documents (clause 26) 241
Chapter 20 Law enforcement documents (clause 27) 253
Chapter 21 Prescribed secrecy provisions (clause 28) 261
Chapter 22 Adverse effect on agency operations (clause 29) 273
Chapter 23 Privilege and contempt (clauses 31, 35 and 36) 279
Chapter 24 Privacy (clause 30) 287
Chapter 25 Commercially sensitive and other confidential information (clauses 32 and 34) 295
Chapter 26 National economy (clause 33) 305
PART D REVIEW AND APPEAL Chapter 27 Present and proposed review procedures 309
Chapter 28 Internal review 323
Chapter 29 Role of the Ombudsman 327
Chapter 30 Proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal 337
PART E MONITORING THE OPERATION OF THE ACT Chapter 31 Administrative Monitoring 345
Chapter 32 Parliamentary monitoring 353
PART F ARCHIVES Chapter 33 The Scope of the Archives Bill 359
Chapter 34 Procedures under the Archives Bill 377
PART G RECOMMENDATIONS 387
Appendix 1 The Freedom of Information Bill 1978 403
Appendix 2 The Archives Bill 1978 429
Appendix 3 The 'Protective Security Handbook' 459
Appendix 4 Public Service Board summary of responses to the survey conducted on the Committee's behalf on the resource implications for government agencies of the Freedom of Information Bill 479
Appendix 5 Responses received to 35 questions placed on notice by Senator Alan Missen on 5 April 1978, seeking access to reports and documents held by the Commonwealth Government 509
Appendix 6 Provisions of Commonwealth Legislation which restrict access to information* 513
Appendix 7 Witnesses 519
Appendix 8 Individuals and Organisations who made written submissions to the Committee 523
Appendix 9 Committee Documents 527
Bibliography 535
Index 547

Text

SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE  

ON CONSTITUTIONAL AND  

LEGAL AFFAIRS  

Freedom of Information  

Report on the Freedom of  

Information Bill 1978, and aspects  

of the Archives Bill 1978  

The Parliament of the  

Commonwealth of Australia  

Brought up and  

ordered to be printed November 1979  

Parliamentary Paper  

No. 272/1979  

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http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2656889842

APA citation

Australia. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs. (1979). Freedom of information : report Retrieved April 26, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2656889842

MLA citation

Australia. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs. Freedom of information : report Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1979. Web. 26 April 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2656889842>

Harvard/Australian citation

Australia. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs. 1979, Freedom of information : report Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra viewed 26 April 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2656889842

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=Australia. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs.
  | title=Freedom of information : report
  | year=1979
  | section=xxiii, 526 pages ; 25 cm.
  | isbn=0642045240
  | series=Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament) ;
  | issue=PP no. 272 of 1979
  | location=Canberra
  | publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2656889842
  | id=nla.obj-2656889842
  | access-date=26 April 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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