Access to information

We make a range of information available for public access.

You can formally request access to documents we hold under the:

• Privacy Act 1988
• Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)
• Australian Privacy Principles.

The Australian Privacy Principles outline how we must handle, use and manage personal information. Under these Principles, individuals have a right to access their personal information.

You also have the right to seek information government agencies hold under the FOI Act.

FOI requests

Under the FOI Act, you can ask us:

• for access to any documents we hold (except exempt documents)
• to change information we hold about you that is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading
• to review our decision to restrict access to a document or not amend a personal record.

Exempt documents may include those containing:

• personal information
• national security information
• material obtained in confidence
• Cabinet documents.

To access information under the FOI Act, you can search what we've already published or make a formal FOI request.

To make an FOI request, make sure you:

• specify that you're requesting information under the FOI Act
• provide enough detail about the documents for us to process your request
• let us know whether we should send notices to you by post or email.

When your written request is complete, you can either email it to foi@nema.gov.au or post it to:

FOI Coordinator
National Emergency Management Agency
GPO Box 133
CANBERRA CITY ACT 2601

If you need any help with your FOI request, please contact the FOI Coordinator by emailing foi@nema.gov.au.

Fees and charges

There's no application fee for an FOI request.

There's also no processing charge for requests for access to documents containing only your personal information.

Processing charges may apply to other requests. The list of charges is available in the Federal Register of Legislation - Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019.

If we decide to impose a charge, we'll give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation.

If the estimated charge is between $20 and $100, we may ask you to pay a deposit of $20. If the estimated charge is more than $100, we may ask you to pay a 25% 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, you should explain your reasons and give evidence of financial hardship.

We may decide to remit, reduce or not impose processing charges based on certain circumstances.

Next steps

We'll confirm we've received your FOI request within 14 days and respond within 30 days. We'll also give you an estimate of any charges that apply to your request. We may need to extend our response time by another 30 days if your request is complex or contains information about someone else and we need to consult with them.

When we've decided, we'll send you a letter outlining our reasons and your right to request a review.

If 30 days have passed and we are yet to respond or contact you about an extension, this is deemed a refusal of your request. You can apply to the Australian Information Commissioner seeking a review of the deemed refusal decision (more information below).

If you disagree with our decision

If you disagree with our decision or any charges imposed, you can request a free review. You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed if:

• we refuse to give you access to all or part of a document
• we defer giving you access
• we impose a charge
• we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, outdated or misleading.

A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.

There are two types of reviews available:

• You can request an internal review, which means the decision will be reviewed by another officer within our agency. We'll let you know their decision within 30 days of your request.
• You can request a review by the Australian Information Commissioner (Information Commissioner) on our original or internal review decisions. You have 60 days to request a review by the Information Commissioner or 30 days if you're an affected third party.

Making a complaint

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your request, you can lodge a complaint with:

• the Australian Information Commissioner or
• the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Freedom of Information disclosure log

For full details, see our FOI disclosure log.

More information

If you need more information, please contact the FOI Coordinator by emailing foi@nema.gov.au.

More information about the FOI Act is available at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.