Proactive release of government information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
The purpose of this policy is to promote proactive public release of Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport (‘the Department’) information in compliance with the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA Act) and provide a governance framework for the proactive release of government information.
Scope
The GIPA Act authorises and encourages the proactive release of government information by agencies. This policy provides details of the Department’s legislative obligations, as well as the steps involved in proactively releasing government information in accordance with sections 6 (Mandatory Proactive Release) and 7 (Authorised Proactive Release) of the GIPA Act.
This policy applies to all corporate policies and staff of DCITHS including:
- senior executives, managers, and supervisors
- permanent, part-time, or temporary employees
- volunteers
- any employees of another public sector agency on secondment to DCITHS
- independent contractors, sub-contractors, or consultants.
Responsibilities
DCITHS General Counsel
- To annually review and update the Policy on the Proactive release of government information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009.
DCITHS Senior Executives
- Make government information held by the Department publicly available unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.
- Annually review their business unit’s program for the release of government information to identify the kinds of government information held by the Department that should in the public interest be made publicly available and that can be made publicly available.
The Proactive Release of Government Information Policy
1. Guiding Principles
- The object of the GIPA Act is to promote fair, transparent and accountable government by opening government information to the public.
- The Department is authorised to make any government information held by the Department publicly available unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.
- The Department is committed to proactively releasing its information unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.
- The information released should be available to members of the public for free (or at the lowest reasonable cost).
2. Procedure
This procedure outlines the process for identifying, reviewing and obtaining approval to proactively release information.
All staff are responsible for identifying government information held by the Department for proactive release.
Examples of information that may be considered for proactive release include:
- fact sheets, factual information and reports
- Department publications
- internal manuals
- discussion/research papers
- guidelines that relate to employment conditions and managing staff.
Open access information
Agencies must publish certain information on their website, free of charge. This includes:
- a register of government contracts
- documents tabled in Parliament
- policies that affect members of the public
- a disclosure log of information released following a GIPA decision
- an Agency Information Guide
- a record of any open access information that is not made publicly available due to an overriding public interest against disclosure.
- the Department’s code of conduct (if any)
- the Department’s guarantee of service (if any)
- a list of the Department’s major assets, other than land holdings, appropriately classified and highlighting major acquisitions during the previous financial year
- the total number and total value of properties disposed of by the Department during the previous financial year,
- any standard, code or other publication that has been applied, adopted or incorporated by reference in any Act or statutory rule that is administered by the Department.
The Department’s compliance with its open access information obligations is coordinated by the Department’s Legal branch.
Procurement is responsible for the contracts register, ensuring all Government contracts with the private sector to the value of $150,000 or more have mandatory information disclosed on the e-Tendering website within 45 days after the contract becomes effective.
Information identified for proactive release is to be reviewed for any public interest considerations against disclosure of the information; see Schedule 1 and the section 14 Table of the GIPA Act. The Department’s legal branch can provide advice to the business area in conducting the review if necessary.
For more information about public interest considerations, you may wish to refer to the Information and Privacy Commission factsheet.
All Senior Executives and certain members of the Department’s legal team are authorised under section 7 of the GIPA Act to proactively release information under the GIPA Act.
Business areas will review their information holdings with a recommendation for their ELT members on whether documents should be proactively released.
Once approved by the relevant ELT member or the Departments Legal Unit, the Communications team will publish the information on the Department website or elsewhere as appropriate.
3. Key Stakeholders
Business areas from across the Department have responsibilities including:
- promoting the Department’s compliance with relevant open government instruments
- actively identifying documents and datasets within the Department that could be of public interest and proactively released
- monitoring proactive release efforts of the Department.
DCITHS Legal, is responsible for:
- providing expert advice regarding the statutory obligations under the GIPA Act as they relate to the proactive release of information
- monitoring the Department’s proactive release of government information, and maintaining the proactive release register
- reviewing the Department’s proactive release policy annually
- actively engaging in and providing assistance to Business areas in identifying information for proactive release.
Related documents
Variation
The department may amend this document as appropriate.
| Policy Owner | Last revision | Next review date | Summary of changes |
| General Counsel | August 2024 | September 2025 | Updated to reflect Machinery of government changes and include Open Access requirements under GIPA Regulations |
| General Counsel | October 2023 | July 2024 |