ࡱ> PO19(m `/ 0DTimes New Roman(0(:A 0 DArialNew Roman(0(:A 0 @ .  @n?" dd@  @@`` ` X  zq     8 9  0AA 3fff3333f3f@3*7lO ʚ;ʚ;g42d2d@:A 0ppp@  <4!d!dl # 0<4ddddl # 0g4,d,d@:A 0Tp6 p]<4KdKdl$ 0(~ 80___PPT10 pp? %O =K(HTeachers and the Law Conference 2005 Freedom of Information: the agency s point of view Anina Johnson & Christa Ludlow Senior Solicitors, Crown Solicitor s Officeb%$$3f26(33K ZF t Freedom of Information Act 1989 s. 5 Objects: (1) The objects of this Act are to extend, as far as possible, the rights of the public: (a) to obtain access information held by the Government, and (b) to ensure that records held by the Government concerning the personal affairs of members of the public are not incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleadingpu (\3ft  ",  Exempt documents may be refused An agency may refuse access to a document if it is an  exempt document . This is: (a) a document that falls into a specific category (Schedule 1) or (b) a document that relates to functions of an exempt body or office (Schedule 2)d ("T3f  # Other grounds for refusal - if the work involved would substantially and unreasonably divert the agency s resources - if the document is available for inspection or purchase, or available in the agency s library - if the agency does not hold the document - if the document is a  restricted document and the subject of a Ministerial certificate zg (3ff  $ Why is my application taking so long? - if the document is exempt, the agency should consider whether it can give access to the document with exempt parts deleted - if the agency claims the work involved is unreasonable, it must try to assist the applicant to amend the application so that it is smaller in scope - the agency has to research and give reasons for saying documents are exempt - exempt material may have to be blacked out - third parties may need to be consulted d (%D3f  % Drafting your request Make your request: - narrow - clearly worded - a list, rather than one rambling request - use dates, names, locations, file numbers (if you have them) to limit the scope N (3f  &% Examples Anything written by Joanne Brown about discipline OR All documents written by Joanne Brown: - while she was Principal of Bowen Hills High School - addressed to the Bowen Hills High School P & C or the District Office - about the methods of disciplining students in years 7-10d& (`3f%  ' Consider whether you really want that information Some exemptions are common and straight forward e.g. - legal professional privilege - Cabinet documents - personal affairs - commercial and business affairs  (1#J3f  ( Legal professional privilege - clause 10 Can include: - legal advice - extracts or reporting of legal advice - correspondence between lawyer and client - draft legal documents x (( n  . Commercial or business affairs Consider whether you really want to know sensitive business information e.g. tenders, figures or more general information e.g. the contract : * Cabinet documents - documents that have been prepared for submission to Cabinet (whether or not actually submitted, including drafts) - official records of Cabinet - documents that would disclose information concerning Cabinet deliberations or decisions  (b_3f  +: Personal affairs The agency may not release personal information and business information without consulting the third parties concerned. Ways of resolving this: - agree to names, home addresses and identifying information being blacked out - agree to numbers, sensitive information being blacked out n; (2Q>3f:  / Exempt bodies  Schedule 2 Some parts of agencies are exempt from the operation of the FOI Act The Department of Training and Education Co-ordination - functions relating to the storing of, reporting on or analysis of information with respect to the ranking or assessment of students who have completed the Higher School Certificate for entrance into tertiary institutionsD{F8z , Applications to amend records  s.39 A person to whom access to an agency s document has been given may apply for the amendment of the agency s records concerning his or her personal affairs if it is available for use by the agency and it is in the person s opinion, incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading BA (2%3f@  0 What you need to do - Provide evidence to indicate why the information in the records is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading - Do you really need the information to be amended/destroyed or is a notation sufficient? . -, Amendment of records An agency may refuse to amend its records (s.44). However if an agency refuses the applicant the applicant may, by notice in writing require the agency to add a notation to the record. The agency must comply and inform the applicant of the nature of the notation in writing B- (23f,  1 Matters of opinion Where the record consists of an opinion, such as a medical opinion, even if different opinions are held or recorded, this will not make the opinion  incorrect . Deleting such a record would be to falsify the records and attempt to rewrite history (Crewdson v Central Sydney AHS [2002] NSWCA 345 at [35])8D.   / P d ` ` ̙33` 333MMM` ff3333f` f` f` 3>?" dd@,|?" dd@   " @ ` n?" dd@   @@``PR    @ ` ` p>>-K0 z (  $  0c~  "   RClick to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level!     S2  s *h~ " T Crown Solicitor s Office New South Wales Z(* $   0po~ "  HCrown Copyright 2005 2    08s~ "3 Hwww.cso.nsw.gov.au(2 H  0޽h ? ̙33  CSO_Presentation 0 $*(  $ $ 0䳞  @9    X*  $ 0  z 9   Z* d $ c $ ?Ay    $ 0-   ;   RClick to edit Master text styles Second level Third level Fourth level Fifth level!     S $ 6lО  4@m    X*  $ 6Ԟ  4z m   Z* H $ 09g ? ̙3380___PPT10.@Z6% (    0  @9    X*   00  z 9   Z*   64  4@m    X*   6L  4z m   Z* H  09g ? ̙3380___PPT10.0;% -K0 ,$08(  8 8 0pT     H 8 0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 @8@(    0  `    H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2P(    0     H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2`(    0D     xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2p(    0    ~  xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2 (    0    ~  H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    0 V P0  ~  H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    0V 00  ~  xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    08y    ~  xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 6(    0T~  P  ~  r  S ~  ~  H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    0OK 00  ~  xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    0y_ @  ~  xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0  6(    0`8  P   r  S 49    H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    0E  p   xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 06(    0$  P   r  S *    H  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 :2(    0TS  0   xH  0޽h ? ̙33 -K0 @6(    0\  P   r  S \    H  0޽h ? ̙33rp 99GAOLM"pOEQRTCVWY*W]_bfA[`kd+hmAj1 Oh+'0 hp   , 8DLOverview of the PPIP Acti Jenny Vuof 3V:\TEMPLATE\Clients_Marketing\CSO_Presentation.potidixonPL205Microsoft PowerPointark@؃@pq~@~gG;  <R  Y!-- @ !Y!--'-- @ !~!--'@Arial-. +2 ;{Crown Solicitors Office       . "Systempi-@Arial-. 2 b"New South Wales   .-@Arial-. %2 NCrown Copyright 2005   .-@Arial-. "2 Qwww.cso.nsw.gov.au  .-@Times New Roman-. =2 B$Teachers and the Law Conference 2005     .-@Times New Roman-. R2 P2Freedom of Information: the agencys point of view            .-@Times New Roman-. 2 mAnina .-@Times New Roman-. +2 mJohnson & Christa Ludlow      .-@Times New Roman-. H2 c+Senior Solicitors, Crown Solicitors Office             .-՜.+,0    $ On-screen Show Crown Solicitor's Officecj{ Times New RomanArialCSO_PresentationTeachers and the Law Conference 2005 Freedom of Information: the agencys point of view Anina Johnson & Christa Ludlow Senior Solicitors, Crown Solicitors Officeu Freedom of Information Act 1989 s. 5 Objects: (1) The objects of this Act are to extend, as far as possible, the rights of the public: (a) to obtain access information held by the Government, and (b) to ensure that records held by the Government concerning the personal affairs of members of the public are not incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading Exempt documents may be refused An agency may refuse access to a document if it is an exempt document. This is: (a) a document that falls into a specific category (Schedule 1) or (b) a document that relates to functions of an exempt body or office (Schedule 2)g Other grounds for refusal - if the work involved would substantially and unreasonably divert the agencys resources - if the document is available for inspection or purchase, or available in the agencys library - if the agency does not hold the document - if the document is a restricted document and the subject of a Ministerial certificate  Why is my application taking so long? - if the document is exempt, the agency should consider whether it can give access to the document with exempt parts deleted - if the agency claims the work involved is unreasonable, it must try to assist the applicant to amend the application so that it is smaller in scope - the agency has to research and give reasons for saying documents are exempt - exempt material may have to be blacked out - third parties may need to be consulted Drafting your request Make your request: - narrow - clearly worded - a list, rather than one rambling request - use dates, names, locations, file numbers (if you have them) to limit the scope & Examples Anything written by Joanne Brown about discipline OR All documents written by Joanne Brown: - while she was Principal of Bowen Hills High School - addressed to the Bowen Hills High School P & C or the District Office - about the methods of disciplining students in years 7-10 Consider whether you really want that information Some exemptions are common and straight forward e.g. - legal professional privilege - Cabinet documents - personal affairs - commercial and business affairs Legal professional privilege - clause 10 Can include: - legal advice - extracts or reporting of legal advice - correspondence between lawyer and client - draft legal documents Slide 10 Cabinet documents - documents that have been prepared for submission to Cabinet (whether or not actually submitted, including drafts) - official records of Cabinet - documents that would disclose information concerning Cabinet deliberations or decisions ; Personal affairs The agency may not release personal information and business information without consulting the third parties concerned. Ways of resolving this: - agree to names, home addresses and identifying information being blacked out - agree to numbers, sensitive information being blacked out Slide 13A Applications to amend records s.39 A person to whom access to an agencys document has been given may apply for the amendment of the agencys records concerning his or her personal affairs if it is available for use by the agency and it is in the persons opinion, incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading Slide 15- Amendment of records An agency may refuse to amend its records (s.44). However if an agency refuses the applicant the applicant may, by notice in writing require the agency to add a notation to the record. The agency must comply and inform the applicant of the nature of the notation in writing Slide 17  Fonts UsedDesign Template Slide Titles_j dixondixon  !"#$%&'()*+,-./012345789:;<=?@ABCDEFHIJKLMNQRoot EntrydO)Current UserGSummaryInformation(6PowerPoint Document(jDocumentSummaryInformation8>,