The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPAA) replaced the Freedom of Information Act 1989 (FOI) on 1 July 2010.
It established a comprehensive system for public access to government information.
The objectives of the new Act are to make government information more accessible to the public by:
- requiring government agencies to make certain sorts of information freely available
- encouraging government agencies to release as much other information as possible
- giving the public an enforceable right to make access applications for government information and
- restricting access to information only when there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.
The GIPAA public access to government information system is overseen by the Office of the Information Commissioner.
You can get more detail about the Office of the Information Commissioner on its website.
Under GIPAA, certain information is required by law to be available on our website, free of charge. This is called "open access information" and includes our:
Check the links above to see if the information you are looking for is already available.
GIPAA also allows you to make informal requests for information, and to make formal access applications. Formal applications under GIPAA carry with them legal rights of internal and external review. The GIPAA application process has replaced the application process under FOI.
The Department's GIPAA policy is in its Public Access to information Procedures.