Last updated 20 April 2019

The legislation governing access to information held at the Commonwealth level is the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (Freedom of  Information Act). It applies to federal government agencies and ministers.

The Freedom of Information Act creates a:

  • right of access to documents
  • right to request the amendment of records containing personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading
  • presumption of openness and maximum disclosure.

The Queensland legislation is the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) (Right to Information Act) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) (Information Privacy Act). The Right to Information Act and the Information Privacy Act have different functions. The Right to Information Act creates a right of access to documents, and the Information Privacy Act provides for a right to request the amendment of records containing personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading. Both Acts apply to Queensland government ministers and agencies. The Right to Information Act also applies to all Queensland local governments and to corporations owned by the Queensland government or Queensland local governments.

Other similar legislation

There are two other kinds of legislation that complement access to information legislation.

Archives legislation

Archives legislation regulates the retention and storage in special places (federal and state archives) of official public records, especially material of historical value. Archives legislation establishes a system of public access to these records. Commonwealth records are regulated by the Archives Act 1983 (Cth), and Queensland records are regulated by the Public Records Act 2002 (Qld).

Privacy legislation

Privacy legislation establishes a system to protect documents containing information about the private or personal affairs of individuals.

At the federal level, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) establishes a set of information privacy principles (IPPs) and a system for investigating complaints about violations of privacy. The Privacy Act applies to Commonwealth government agencies, private sector credit reporting agencies holding personal credit information and private sector businesses of a certain size.

In Queensland, the Information Privacy Act has a broad privacy protection function. The Information Privacy Act also establishes IPPs and a system for investigating complaints about violations of privacy. The privacy protections provided by the Information Privacy Act apply to Queensland government ministers and agencies including government departments and public authorities. However, they do not apply to government-owned corporations (sch 2 pt 1 Information Privacy Act).