The Museum of Australian Democracy acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the elders past, present and emerging.

The museum respectfully acknowledges the role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to play in shaping Australia’s democracy.

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Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
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Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
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    Freedom of information

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      • FOI Disclosure Log
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    Your rights

    The two main objectives of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 are to provide members of the public access to official documents of the Commonwealth Government and its agencies, and enhance the transparency and accountability of policy making, administrative decision making and government service delivery.

    The Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) is committed to transparency and accountability. Under the FOI Act, you can request access to Agency documents by making a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

    The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act):

    • request access copies of government documents (subject to some exemptions)  
    • allows you to request access of information held about you , as well as requesting correction if that information is wrong or misleading
    • establishes an information publication scheme requiring agencies to publish online details about their functions and structure, and
    • allows agencies and ministers to release documents that would be exempt under the FOI Act, unless prevented by a secrecy requirement in another law.

    What are Documents covered by the FOI Act

    You have a right of access under the FOI Act to a document held by government unless the document:

    • is held by an agency exempt from the FOI Act
    • falls under one of the exemptions in the FOI Act
    • falls under one of the conditional exemptions in the FOI Act, and releasing the document would be contrary to the public interest, and
    • is accessible to the public under other arrangements, whether at no cost or for a fee or charge.

    You can ask to see any document that we hold. We can refuse access to some documents, or parts of documents that are exempt. Exempt documents may include those relating to national security, documents containing material obtained in confidence (such as documents including secret/sacred material) and certain material placed in the national historical collection

    Documents available outside the FOI Act

    You may be able to get certain information, including personal information we hold about you, without following a formal process under the FOI Act.

    Please ensure before lodging a FOPI request, that the information that has been published under the Agency Plan and FOI disclosure log to check if the information are seeking has already been made available.

    How to make an FOI request:

    Your request must:

    • be in writing  
    • state that the request is an application for the purpose of the FOI Act;
    • provide enough information about the requested document(s) to assist us to process your request; and
    • provide an address for reply (postal or email address).

    No reasons are required for why you want the information.

    Requests can be sent:

    By post

    FOI Contact Officer
    Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
    GPO Box 3934
    Manuka ACT 2603

    By email

    governance@moadoph.gov.au

    If you require assistance with your request, please contact the FOI Contact Officer on Telephone – (02) 6270 8269.

    Requests to access personal information

    If your request is for documents that contain personal information (either yours, or another person’s, on their behalf), you must include sufficient evidence of your identity with your application. If your request is for documents containing personal information on behalf of another person, both you and the other person must provide evidence of identity.

    FOI requests made on behalf of another person

    If you ask a third party to make an FOI request on your behalf, you need to provide a specific, written authority to send copies of documents to you, care of that person, or to allow that person to inspect copies of documents containing information about you.

    Fees and charges

    There is no application fee for an FOI request.

    There are no processing charges for requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. The most common charges are:

    ACTIVITY ITEM

    CHARGE

    Search and retrieval: time we spend searching for or retrieving a document

    $15 per hour

    Decision making: time we spend in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, and making deletions

    First five hours: Nil
    Subsequent hours: $20 per hour

    Transcript: preparing a transcript from a sound recording, shorthand or similar medium

    $4.40 per page of transcript

    Photocopy

    $0.10 per page

    Inspection: supervision by an agency officer of your inspection of documents or hearing or viewing an audio or visual recording at our premises

    $6.25 per half hour (or part thereof)

    Delivery: posting or delivering a copy of a document at your request

    Cost of postage or delivery

     If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. Where the estimated charge is between $20 and $100, we may ask you to pay a deposit of $20, or where the estimated charge exceeds $100, we may ask you to pay a 25% deposit before we process your request. We will not process your request until we receive a response to the charges estimate.

    We may cancel, reduce or not impose processing charges for any reason.

    Response time

    We will tell you within 14 days that we have received your request. We will also give you an estimate of the charges that apply to your request. We will give you our decision within 30 days unless that time has been extended. If a document contains information about a third party, we will need to consult them and may need to extend the time to give you our decision by another 30 days. We may also seek your agreement to extend the time by up to 30 days if your request is complex.

    Information you will receive with the decision

    You will receive a notice including the following in writing:

    • the name and designation of the person making the decision
    • a statement of reasons for the decision and the facts used in making that decision
    • the public interest factors that were taken into account if the decision concerned a conditionally exempt document, and
    • information about your rights to have the decision reviewed.

    If a decision is not given to you within the required timeframe, this is called a ‘deemed refusal’. You then have the right to ask for a review (discussed in the next section). 

    If you disagree with our decision

    If you have a ‘deemed refusal’ or you disagree with the decision, you can ask for an internal review in writing. This means that a different officer will reconsider your request and make a fresh decision within 30 days.

    Please note: these do not apply if the principal officer of the agency, or the minister made the decision personally.

     You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:

    • if we refuse access to all or part of a document or if we defer giving you access
    • if  a charge is imposed
    • if we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.

    A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.

    Complaints

    If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available on the OAIC’s website. The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.

    Additional information

    If you require more information, please contact the FOI Contact Officer on 02 6270 8269 or by email at  governance@moadoph.gov.au

    Certain documents that we have released under the FOI Act can be obtained at our FOI disclosure log page.

    Information about our Information Publication Scheme can be obtained on the OAIC website.

    Office of the Australian Information Commissioner FOI Guidelines
    FOI Disclosure Log icon
    Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

    18 King George Terrace, Parkes, ACT 2600, Australia

    PO Box 3934
    Manuka ACT 2603

    9am to 5pm daily 
    Closed Christmas Day

    ABN: 30 620 774 963

    Telephone: 02 6270 8222

    Enquiries:
    info@moadoph.gov.au

    Please note: video surveillance is used 24 hours a day around and throughout the building and may be used for research purposes

    Visiting

    • Planning your visit
    • Families at MoAD
    • Access
    • Group bookings
    • Cafe
    • MoAD Shop
    • UNSW Canberra Howard Library

    What's On

    • Events
    • Exhibitions

    Collection

    • The building
    • Objects and rooms
    • Highlights
    • Oral histories

    Learning

    • Teachers
    • Students
    • Parents

    Democracy

    • Exploring democracy
    • Documenting a democracy
    • Australian democracy
    • Defining democracy
    • Democracy 2025

    About

    • OPH Board
    • Annual Reports
    • Budget
    • Corporate documents
    • Disability Inclusion Action Plan
    • Employment
    • Freedom of information
    • Public Interest Disclosure
    • Media
    • Newsletter
    • Support us
    • Partnerships
    • Our prime minister patrons
    • Donate to our collection
    • eCommerce terms and conditions
    • Online house rules

    Blog

    Prime Ministers

    Websites

    Further information

    View our recruitment opportunities.

    View our copyright policy.

    View our privacy statement.

    View our ticketing terms and conditions.

    Questions about the website:
    website@moadoph.gov.au

    The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House is a Corporate Commonwealth Entity within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts