Norma made a comment on an earlier post in relation to what Council charges in relation to an official FREEDOM OF INFORMATION request. This sent me on a journey to find out how much is charged, for what information and why we would have to pay for information from our council about what our council is doing. STEP 1: Whyalla Council Web Site I had a little bit of trouble finding any information on Freedom Of Information on the Web Site, I opted to do a search and decided the first document to open would be: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - The Whyalla City Council Information Statement - Prepared 19 December 2013 whyalla.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/freedom%20of%20information%20statement%202013.pdf (NOTE THAT THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER STATEMENT RELEASED THIS MONTH) STEP 2: South Australian Local Government Association Web Site When I was an Elected Member I always sought advice from the LGA because their role is to provide information (including draft documents) that will ensure that Council is not only fully legislatively compliant - the advice and example documents they provide will ensure that Councils operate as BEST PRACTICE MODELS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE. The following link will take you to the page that has a link to the document called Freedom of Information Statement - Model Statement(120 kb) lga.sa.gov.au/manualcodesguidelines The document provided is the 2013 model, so when comparing these documents, If Whyalla was best practice, they should provide the same information and would logically have a similar format. I am sure you will note the differences. STEP 4: Check the Legislation: All Acts, Regulations and Bills are available on this web site legislation.sa.gov.au/ The South Australian Local Government Act 1999 directs us to the Freedom Of Information Act 1991. legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/FREEDOM%20OF%20INFORMATION%20ACT%201991/CURRENT/1991.20.UN.PDF When searching for legislation regarding the fees and charges for FOI Applications we are referred to three documents: (Will post snapshot of the amounts from the regulations in comment below.) legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/R/FREEDOM%20OF%20INFORMATION%20(FEES%20AND%20CHARGES)%20REGULATIONS%202003/CURRENT/2003.182.UN.PDF legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/R/FREEDOM%20OF%20INFORMATION%20(GENERAL)%20REGULATIONS%202002/CURRENT/2002.144.UN.PDF legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/R/FREEDOM%20OF%20INFORMATION%20(EXEMPT%20AGENCY)%20REGULATIONS%202008/CURRENT/2008.19.UN.PDF
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 05:06:30 +0000
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