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Item 11.5
- Attachment 1 |
Access
to Information Policy |
1.1 Policy Background
On 1 July 2010In 1998, Section 12 of the Local
Government Act 1993 (LGA) and Freedom of Information Act 1989 (FOI) were replacedamended with the Government
Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA) to provide a general right of
access to information held by Councilthat, in
addition to documents listed in Section 12(1) of the Act, Council must allow
inspection to documents free of charge subject to a number of exemptions.
The
introduction of the GIPA Local
Government Act, 1993 brings local authorities fully under
the provisions of open government information accessthe
Freedom of Information Act 1989 (FOI) and Privacy and Personal
Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIPA).
1.2 Purpose of this Policy
The purpose of this policy is
to facilitate public access to Council information held in documents in
accordance with the provisions of:
§ Section
12 - Local Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009(LGA)
§Freedom
of Government Information (Public Access) Regulation 2009Act (FOI)
§
§ Privacy and Personal
Information Protection Act 1998
1.3
The Scope of this Policy
This policy
applies to all members of the public wishing to access Council information,
Councillors and Council employees of
Parramatta City Council.
Information in
the context of this policy refers to Council documents as defined
in Section 1.7 of this policy.
1.4 Policy
Principles
Parramatta
City Council is committed to the following principles regarding
public access to documents and information:
§ open and transparent government
§ public access to information held by Council, having
regard for LGA, PPIPA and the FOI GIPA
Acts
§ consideration of ‘public interest’ in the assessment
of all requests
§ a supportive, safe and trusting workplace
§ a co-operative
teamwork approach
§ community
focus and customer service
§ improving
our results
§ providing
value for money
§ respect
for the privacy of individuals
§ proactive
disclosure and dissemination of information
1.5
Objectives of this Policy
The objective of
this policy is to explain Council’s principles regarding access to Council held
information and to facilitate Council documents
together with facilitiating the timely processing of requests for such
access. This policy is to be read in
conjunction with the Guidelines for Access to Information and Council’s Privacy
Management Plan.
1.6 Context
1.6.1 Relationship
to Parramatta City Council - Strategic Plans and Other Documents
Core IT Systems
Replacement (CITSR) ParraKey Project
This is a major project including the reviewing of the
interoperability between core business systems, indexing of documents in TRIM,
searching and retrieval of information and business process improvement.
Guiding
PrinciplesCorporate Strategy – ‘Customer Servicedelivering the best possible services to our
community’ and ‘CommunicationGood
Governance’
It is Council’s commitment to understand and meet our customers’ needs
whilst communicating openly, honestly and clearlyof
providing leadership and good governance, focusing on the delivery of services
to our community
Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct and associated
Procedures provide a sound framework for ethical decision-making in the
day-to-day activities of Council employees.
See Section 8 – Access to Council Information and Resources.
Policy for
Interaction between Councillors and Staff
This policy provides a process on how
Councillors can access Council information necessary for them to exercise their
statutory role and how, Councillors and staff interact.
Use of Electronic
Mail and Internet
Council’s has provisions
on requirements that relate to the use of email and internet, by
its employees, for the purpose of identifying the obligations and standards
that must be observed whilst using Council systems. See Section 8.3 – Use of Council Resources
(Code of Conduct) and Internet & Email Policy & Guidelines (20100).
Privacy
Management Plan
This plan protects the privacy of Council’s customers and officers, in
particular the personal information held by Council. The plan complies with the 12 Information
Protection Principles in relation to the handling of personal information
prescribed under the PPIPA..
Complaints and
Compliments Policy
This policy relates to how Council manages the complaints and
compliments it receives. See the section
“How should Complaints be treated”.
Whistleblowers
Protection Policy
This policy establishes an internal reporting system for the reporting
of disclosures of corrupt conduct, maladministration or serious and substantial
waste of public money by Council’s staff and its Councillors. See Section 9 – Rights of Persons the Subject
of Disclosure; Section 10.3 – Confidentiality and Section 10.4 – Freedom of
Information Exemption.
1.6.2 Legislation
and References
1.6.2.1 Commonwealth Acts and Australian Standards
Privacy Act 1988
Copyright Act 1968
1.6.2.2 N.S.W. Acts, Codes and Practice Notes
Privacy and Personal
Information Protection Act 1998
Privacy and Personal
Information Protection Regulation 2000
Health Records and Personal
Protection Act 2000 (HRIPA)
Local Government Act 1993 (Section 12)
Government Freedom
of IInformation (Public Access) Act 2001989
(Sections 915 and 106)
Practice Note No. 7 – Freedom ofGovernment Information (Public
Access) Regulation 2009(LGSA)
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977
State Records Act 1998
Workplace Surveillance Act
2005
Protected
Disclosures Act 1994
Environmental
Planning and Assessment Act 1979
1.6.3 Implementation
The ‘Guidelines for Access to Information’ associated with this policy,
specifies the documents and types of information that are available for public
access and any restrictions that may apply.
Parramatta City Council will assess
all requests for access to documents and information in a timely manner and in
accordance with the ‘Guidelines for Access to Information’ and relevant
legislation.
Depending upon the nature of the request and the form of access
requested, charges may be applicable in accordance with Council’s Schedule of
Fees and Charges and any relevant legislation.
1.7 Definition
RecordDocument has the meaning given to that term in GIPA
beingdefined in accordance with the definition contained
in the Freedom
of Information Act 1989 ie.:
any paper or
other material on which there is writing or in or on which there are marks,
symbols or perforations having a meaning, whether or not that meaning is
ascertainable only by persons qualified to interpret them, and
(b) any disc, tape or other article from
which sounds, images or messages are capable of being reproducedocument
or other source of information compiled, recorded or stored in written form or
by electronic process, or in any other manner or by any other means.
Documents in the context of
this policy refer to any document information
held on an official Council file or database, as well as informal files or
databases maintained by Council Officers or Councillors.
Personal information has the meaning given to that term in
PPIPA beingdefined in Section 4 of PPIPA as:
Personal
information is defined to mean information or an opinion about an individual
whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the
information or opinion. This information can be on a database and does not
necessarily have to be recorded in a material form.
Personal information does not "include
information about an individual that is contained in a publicly available
publication”. Personal information, once
it is contained in a publicly available publication, ceases to be covered by
PPIPA.
1.8 What Documents are freely available?
Council will
promote disclosure and dissemination of information about its operations, plans
and decisions and information that promotes community advancement. There are 4 ways to access government
information as they are described as mandatory, proactive, informal and formal
release.
Members of the
public may inspect, free of charge, the current version of a document(s) listed
in Sectionchedule 5 Part 2 12(1) LGIPA
Regulations – Open access information of
local authoritieWhat information is publicly avails. The public may also inspect, free of charge,
preceding versions of these documents, if those versions are reasonably
accessible. Other Council held documents
are also accessible, free of charge, other than except
for tthose that are exempt from disclosure under Section 14 of the
GIPA Act, which may include the following:
(a) where access to the information
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest
(b) any part of a document
dealing with personnel matters concerning particular individuals (other than Councillors)
(c) any part of a document that
can reveal an individual’s personal information dealing
with the personal hardship of any resident, ratepayer or other person
(d) any part of a document dealing with trade secretsthat could
diminish the competitive commercial value of any information
(e) information which would,
if disclosed, prejudice the maintenance of law
(f) matters affecting the
security of the Council, Councillors, Council staff or property
(g) that part of a draft or
adopted Plan of Management which applies to the location of places and items of
Aboriginal significance and is the subject of a resolution of confidentiality
(h) a matter the disclosure
of which would constitute an offence against an Act or found an action for breach
of confidence
(i) plans and
specifications contained in development applications for any residential parts
of a proposed building, other than plans that merely show its height and its
external configurations in relation to the site on which it is erected, except
where the applicant is the owner or the owner’s consent has been obtained to
view the plans and specifications
(j) commercial information of a confidential nature which would,
if the information would be disclosed,
be likely to prejudice the commercial position of the person who
supplied it , confer a commercial advantage on a competitor of
the Council or to reveal a trade secret
(k) information which would,
if disclosed, confer a commercial advantage on a person with whom Council is
conducting or proposes to conduct business
(l) any part of a document
that contains advice concerning litigation or advice that would otherwise be
privileged from production in legal proceedings on the grounds of legal
professional privilege
1.9 What Documents are not freely available?
For
the purposes of this policy, Council has determined that it would be contrary
to the public interest to allow access to the following categories of
documents:
(a) name and address of a
person who has made a complaint to Council regarding the activities of another
person or organisation (in this case, only the nature of the complaint will be
made available)
(b) tenders and expressions
of interest lodged with Council except so much of the tender as is required to
be made available under the Local Government (Tendering) Regulation 1993 ie.
the name and amount of the successful tenderer and the names of the
unsuccessful tenderers and register of government contracts that are
established and maintained under Section 27 of the GIPA Act.
(c) Documents containing
financial or commercial information regarding a person or organisation,
including Council, the disclosure of which, in the opinion of Council’s Public
Officer, if released could have an unreasonable adverse effect on the person or
organisation, may jeopardise Council’s position in any future negotiations or could
jeopardise Council’s ability to obtain such information in the future
(e) The name and address of
property owners and property sales information except where:
- the property owner is the person requesting the information
- an adjoining owner is requesting the information for fencing or
other purposes allowed by statute
- the information is contained on a public register which Council
is required to maintain and make available for inspection in accordance with
PPIPA
- the information is provided in accordance with Section 603 of
the LGA (rating information)
- the information is given out in the course of processing an
application before Council
- the information is required by another government agency to
carry out a legitimate function of that agency
- the information is obtained by inspecting a Council document
under this policy
(f) Other documents, the
release of which, in the opinion of Council’s Public Officer, would, on
balance, be contrary to the public interest or would cause an unreasonable
diversion of Council resources.
None of the documents defined in this
policy requires Council to retain documents for any period beyond that
specified in the General Records Disposal Schedule for Local Government under
the State Records Act.
1.10 How will Council protect Access to
Information?
Information
which is exempt, will be removed from the file prior to viewing. The applicant
will be advised of the nature of the documents removed and the reason for
removal. Where the document has been
removed, the reason why release of the document is not considered to be in the
public interest will be provided.
1.11 What Documents will not be Copied
Copies
of documents are available on request for a fee, except for the following
documents, which cannot be copied:
§ residential roll of
electors
§ resumes of candidates for
election
§building certificates, unless the consent of the
owner of the building is obtained
§ plans of buildings and
developments, unless the approval of the copyright owner has been obtained, or
where the plans of a proposed building show only its height and external
configuration in relation to the site
§ bulk property information
such as development consent registers, sales registers etc unless the
information is required by a government agency for statistical or other
purposes consistent with the legitimate functions of that agency
Documents
defined in this policy eg. complaints, tenders and legal advice, which are more
than 15 years old may be released at the discretion of the Public Officer.
1.12 Handling of Personal Information
Where
Council invites or requests any person or organisation to provide information
to Council including applications, submissions, comments or objections, the
person or organisation must be advised of the existence of this policy, the
purpose for which the information is being collected by Council and the
possibility that the information they provide to Council may be made available
to a third party, subject to the public interest.
Applicants
may not alter documents in any way. However, an applicant may request that a
document containing their personal information be altered in accordance with Section
15 of the PPIPA or Division 4 of the HRIPA.
In
addition to the exemptions contained within Section 14 of GIPA Act, 2,
Council has determined that it is not in the public interest to supply the
personal information of complainants and will
not make available personal details of complainants, (as defined
under Council’s Privacy Management Plan), however, the subject of the complaint
will be released unless such release would breach Section 142
of the LGIPA
Act subject to:
(a) this exemption relates to
‘complainants’ only and does not cover submissions to applications
for development applications
(b) this is intended to
protect the identity of complainants but allow access to the nature of the
complaint. Where release of the nature
of the complaint may also provide information, which would be protected under
the Privacy Act, the details of the complaint will not be released.
Applications for access
to personal information in accordance with Sections 13 and 14 of the PPIPA,
shall be dealt with as applications under this policy.
The
name and address of a person who has lodged an objection or submission to a
development application is available for access under this policy.
1.13 Processing - Time, Fees and Charges
Fees
applicable to this policy shall be determined and form part of as part of the Scheduled Fees and Charges
for each yearannually adopted by
Council.
The
processing time for access to information under Section
12 the LGIPA
Act will be:
§ made
available within 48 hours (acknowledgement of an application within
48 hours
§ informal access
applications being made within and 20
working1 days or longer depending if information
is store doff-site
§ for formal
FOI Aaccess
applications within 20 working days (statutory requirement).
The
Service Audit & Review Unit will develop and maintain procedures for
dealing with and determining applications for access to information under this policy.
These procedures will include but are not limited to matters such as the length
of appointments and method of contacting applicants.
Where
information is released to an applicant under a formal access application and Council considers that it will be of
interest to other members of the public, Council will provide details of the
information in a Disclosure Log for inspection by the public.
1.14 Refusal of Applications
Applications
for access to Council held information will generally be limited to 2
applications per matter in any 6 month period.
The Public Officer has the right to refuse access to information, should
the quantity of applications exceed the quantity specified or no new
information has been received and placed on the file since the previous
application. Any rejection of subsequent
applications in the period may be subject of an appeal to the General ManagerChief Executive Officer.
Broad
requests for access to a large number of unspecified documents which, if
processed, would divert substantial Council resources from dealing with other
requests or performing other Council functions, may be refused on the grounds
that such a diversion of resources is contrary to the public interest. Council will endeavour to assist in defining
the request to a more manageable one.
The
refusal of access to a document record
in accordance with informal access under the Section
12 LGIPA Act, does not prevent the applicant from applying for formal
access to the document record under the Freedom of Information Government
Information (Public Access) Act 2010989.
Where access to
information is restricted in accordance with this policy, the applicant will be
advised in writing of the nature of the restricted information and the reason
for the restriction. In accordance with GIPAFOI, Council may review reasons for
any restrictions imposed on access to information, every 3 months.
1.15 Review Date
This Policy will
be reviewed annually from the date of Council resolution.
1.16 Document Owner
The Owner of the
Policy is the Manager Service Audit & Review and has been developed in
consultation with the:
§ Policy Review Officer
§Manager
Development Services
§Corporate
Librarian
§Service
Manager Records
§Manager
Information Systems
§Section
12 Clerk
§Manager
Human Resources
§Service
Manager Customer Contact Centre
§ Website DeveloperGeneral Counsel
1.17 Policy
Register and File Number
The Policy
Register number for this Policy is 225
The File Reference
for this Policy is G:/Docs/Policies/Access to Information.
1.18 Authorisation
This Policy was
adopted by Council resolution on Monday, 18 October26 June
20106 (Min. No. XXXX5519).