The Freedom of Information Act 1992 gives the public a right to apply for access to documents held by the City of Stirling. Find out more about Freedom of Information (FOI) and how to lodge an application.
Rights to access documents
The Freedom of Information Act 1992 gives the public a right to apply for access to documents held by the City of Stirling. An applicant’s right to seek access cannot be affected by their reason for do so, and there is no need to provide a reason.
The City is required to:
• Provide assistance in making an application
• Allow access to documents at a reasonable cost
• Ensure that personal information in documents is accurate, complete, up-to-date and not misleading.
While the Act provides general right of access to documents, it also recognises some documents require a level of protection, specifically those documents that meet the exemption criteria in Schedule 1 of the Act, which includes (but is not limited to):
• Personal information that identifies a third party
• Information concerning trade secrets
• Information of commercial value.
To assist you in your search for information, the Act requires that the City publish an information statement containing important information about the City.
Please download the Information Statement 2011 , which contains:
• Freedom of Information (FOI) Procedures and access arrangements
• Mission Statement of the City of Stirling
• City profile
• An alphabetical list of legislation administered by the City
• Organisational structure as of 2007
• Decision-making functions of the City Council
• Information held by the City
• Access City documents through the FOI process.
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Lodging applications
Freedom of Information (FOI) applications are available from the following:
• Administration Centre (25 Cedric Street, Stirling)
• FOI Coordinator (Tel: 9205 8531)
You can also download the FOI Application Form , which will ask for:
• Your contact information
• The type of request
• Document details
• Whether you want to inspect, copy, or access in some other form
• Payment details.
An FOI application must:
• Be in writing
• Give enough detail so that the documents requested can be identified
• Give an Australian address for notification
• Be lodged with the City (and payment of any applicable fees).
Contact information for lodging FOI applications
Freedom of Information Coordinator
City of Stirling
25 Cedric Street
Stirling WA 6021
Fax: 9205 8822
Time Limits
Once the City has received a valid application, it is required to provide a Notice of Decision within 45 calendar days.
The City aims to respond to all applications as soon as practicable, and will negotiate with the applicant on an extension of the 45-day limit should the application be unusually large or require consultation with a significant number of third parties.
If the applicant is not satisfied with the decision provided in the Notice, they have 30 days in which to lodge an Internal Review application. Once the Internal Review application has been received, the City has 15 days to respond.
Should the applicant still not be satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, there is a 60-day period to lodge an External Review application with the Freedom of Information Commissioner. The Commissioner will then undertake the review and forward a response within 30 days.
Charges
Listed below are the fees and charges set by the FOI Regulations. Apart from the application fee for non-personal information, all charges are discretionary and are set by the Council.
Regulatory charges
| Application fee for personal information (about the applicant) |
Nil |
|---|
| Application fee for non-personal information |
AU$ 30.00 |
|---|
Council charges
| Processing the application (per hour, pro rata) |
AU$ 30.00 |
| Access time supervised by staff (per hour, pro rata) |
AU$ 30.00 |
| Photocopying staff time (per hour, pro rata) |
AU$ 30.00 |
| Photocopying charge (per page) |
AU $ 0.20 |
| Transcribing from tape, film or computer information |
AU$ 30.00 |
| Duplicating a tape, film or computer information |
Actual Cost |
| Delivery, packaging and postage |
Actual Cost |
Advance deposits
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1992, advanced deposits may be required under Sections 18(1) and 18(4). These deposits are expressed as a percentage of the charges in excess of the application fee).
| Advance deposit required under Section 18(1) of the Act |
25% |
|---|
| Further advance deposit required under Section 18(4) of the Act |
75% |
|---|
Concessions
For financially disadvantaged applicants or those issued with pensioner concession cards, the all other fees payable except the application fee maybe reduced by 25%.