Submission to Victorian Integrity and Oversight Committee
This is an inquiry into the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) being conducted by the Integrity and Oversight Committee of the Parliament of Victoria.
OIC notes the inquiry’s terms of reference are relatively extensive. OIC does not propose to comment on each of those terms; our submission instead offers general observations drawn from our experience with a policy model premised on requiring information access applications as a last resort, and which includes mechanisms for proactive and informal release of information.
OIC notes that the Victorian FOI Act is predicated on a ‘pull’ model of information access – where access is based on formal applications for access to information – rather than a 'push' model, under which such applications are regarded as an access avenue of last resort.
