10.1.1 — Under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA), Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) Act 1975, or the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977, a person may request the reasons for a decision which adversely affects their interests from an officer who made the decision. A person may also exercise a right under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982 to access certain information held by the Department.
10.1.2 — The objectives of the FOI Act are:
10.1.3 — The Act requires that a request must:
10.1.4 — Departmental procedures require requests under the Act to be forwarded to the FOI Section in National or State Offices for processing as soon as possible after receipt.
10.1.5 — All requests in writing, seeking access to information that is in documentary form or can be produced in documentary form, should be treated as possible FOI requests, and should be forwarded to the relevant FOI Section. The client is not required to specify that a request is made under the Act.
Note:Access may be refused to some documents. For information regarding exemptions, contact your local FOI section.
Any decision refusing access must be substantiated as the case may be reviewed by the AAT. Further information regarding appeals to the AAT is contained in this manual's Section 9.2.3 Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) in Chapter 9 Clients Right of Review.
10.2.1.1 — The Act has three spheres of operation:
10.2.2.1 — The Information Privacy Principles deal with the following matters:
10.2.3.1 — The TFN Guidelines cover a range of matters. In particular they:
The Department must not collect personal information unless:
The Department must ensure that people from whom they solicit personal information are generally aware, before collection, or as soon as practicable thereafter, of:
Where the Department solicits personal information (whether from the person that the information is about or otherwise), it must take reasonable steps to ensure:
The Department must protect personal information by reasonable security safeguards against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and against other misuse. If it is necessary for the record to be given to a person who is providing a service to the Department, the Department must do everything within its power to prevent unauthorised use or disclosure of the information.
The Department is required to maintain an accessible record in the form of a register, of the kind of information held, the purposes for which the information is used, the controls which apply to its handling and details of how individuals may access their own files. A copy of the Register must be sent to the Privacy Commissioner in June of each year for publication as part of the Personal Information Digest.
A person has a right of access to personal information held by the Department, subject to exceptions provided in the Freedom of Information Act 1982 or any other law.
The Department must make corrections, deletions and additions to personal information to ensure that it is:
The Department must take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is accurate, up-to-date and complete (given the purpose of collection and related purposes) before using it.
The Department may only use personal information for purposes to which it is relevant.
The Department may not use personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except:
a)with the consent of the person; or
b)to prevent a serious and imminent threat to a person's life or health; or
c)as required or authorised by law; or
d)where reasonably necessary for the enforcement of criminal or revenue laws; or
e)for a directly related purpose.
If the Department uses information for another purpose under exception (d) the use must be logged on the individual's record.
The Department may not disclose to anyone else personal information except:
a)the subject of the information is reasonably likely to be aware of the practice of disclosure, or reasonably likely to have been made aware of the disclosure under IPP2; or
b)with the consent of the person; or
c)to prevent a serious and imminent threat to a person's life or health; or
d)as required or authorised by law; or
e)where reasonably necessary for the enforcement of criminal or revenue laws.
If the Department discloses information for the purpose of enforcement of criminal or revenue laws under exceptions (e), disclosure must be logged on the individual's record.
The recipient of information under one of these exceptions may only use it for the purpose for which it was disclosed.
Note:The information provided above is a 'plain English' explanation of the 11 IPPs, rather than a verbatim transcript of each of the principals. For further information about the IPPs or any other issue relating to Privacy or FOI contact the Privacy Section in National Office.
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