Requests to access documents must be in writing. FOI requests should be sent to:

The FOI Contact Officer
Climate Change Authority
GPO Box 2013
Canberra ACT 2601

Requests may also be lodged via email to foi@climatechangeauthority.gov.au

There is no fee for making a request but the Freedom of Information Act 1982(Opens in a new tab/window) provides that charges may be imposed for processing requests.

Requests must provide enough information about the documents sought to enable the Authority to identify them.

The FOI Coordinator can be contacted on (02) 6243 7684 to discuss any prospective request.

Detailed information about FOI can be found at the website for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner(Opens in a new tab/window).

Charges

There is no application fee for submitting an FOI application.

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.
Subsequent hours: $20 per hour

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 a departmental 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

What happens after your application is submitted?

The Authority's FOI Coordinator will process your application in accordance with the requirements under the FOI Act. An authorised decision maker within the Authority will make a decision on access to the documents you have requested.

We will acknowledge receipt of your FOI request.

If you are liable to pay a processing charge we will send you an assessment of the charge as soon as practicable.

When we have made a decision about your FOI request, we will send you a letter explaining our decision and your review and appeal rights.

If you disagree with our decision

You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:

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  • decisions where we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date 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

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 the Authority. We will advise you of the outcome of your internal review application 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 Australian 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(Opens in a new tab/window).

Administrative Appeals Tribunal review

If you are unhappy with the review decision made by the OAIC, then you may apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for review of the decision. Further information about making an application to the AAT is available on the AAT website(Opens in a new tab/window).

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(Opens in a new tab/window).

More information

If you require more information, please contact the Authority's FOI Coordinator:
Phone: (02) 6243 7684
Email: foi@climatechangeauthority.gov.au

Information about documents that we have released under the FOI Act can be obtained at our FOI disclosure log.

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