Managing the public’s
rights to government
information
Agency Module 2c
supplement for local councils
Instructions for using this package
1.
It is expected the following modules will have been will have been completed
prior to participating in this module:
Agency Module 1 – GIPA introduction
Agency Module 2a – Managing the public’s new rights to government information
Agency Module 2b – Contract register and contract disclosures
2.
To make best use of this e-package, view it in slide show mode.
3.
At times there will be extra text or examples shown by highlighted and
underlined text. Just click your mouse on the underlined word to see the extra
information that is of interest to you. Then click on return < to go back to the
original slide.
4.
There will be review questions to consider throughout the package and a quiz
at the end.
5.
If your staff do not have access to the Internet, you may save and post this
package to your own intranet with appropriate acknowledgement to the
Information and Privacy Commission (IPC).
Purpose
This module has been designed to provide more specific,
practical information and support for local councils to meet the
new rights to information requirements of the GIPA Act.
The GIPA Act is designed to meet community expectations for
more open and transparent government.
Topics covered
1. Open access information or mandatory release
2. Tools to assist and where to from here
3. Quiz
4. Feedback
Section 1
Open access information or
mandatory release
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Council documents available to the public
• Section 12 of the Local Government Act 1993 (LGA)
specified the council documents that had to be made
available free of charge for people to inspect at council
offices
• Section 12 of the LGA has now been repealed by the GIPA
Consequential Amendments and Repeals Act.
• The GIPA Act and Regulations now sets out what information
must be made available as open access information
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What is open access information?
The GIPA Act requires proactive information disclosure by all
NSW government agencies including local councils and county
councils.
Open access information is the information that agencies must
publish and make otherwise publicly available free of charge, or
at the lowest reasonable cost to the agency provided one form
of access is free.
The open access information that all agencies, including local
councils, must publish is detailed in e-learning Agency Module
2a
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Additional open access information for
local councils
The GIPA Regulations provides a tailored and detailed list of
additional open access information that local councils must
release. Local councils must also publish information about:
• Your local authority such as your codes, management
plans, financial plans and policies
• Development applications and associated documentation
such as home warranty insurance documents, construction
certificates etc; records of decisions on development
applications (including decisions made on appeal)
• Approvals, orders and other documents
See the Schedule 1 to the GIPA Regulations
and Section 18 of the GIPA Act for full details.
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A possible query
“A large amount of open access information is prescribed in
the GIPA Regulations. My council has very limited staff and
resources. What if we don’t have the capacity to put
everything on our website? ”
Review your ideas here!
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Review question
“We maintain a register of companion animals at my council.
Do we have to release this? It contains the owner’s contact
name and number so we can contact them if there is a
problem with their animal.”
What would you think about in deciding whether to release this document,
and if so, in what format?
Review your ideas here!
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Exceptions
The exceptions to these open access information requirements
for local government are outlined in the GIPA Regulations
Schedule 1 [3] (2) and summarised as:
• The plans and specifications for any residential parts of a
proposed building (other than plans merely showing its height
and external configuration)
• Commercial information, if the information would prejudice the
commercial position of the person who supplied it or reveal a
trade secret.
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Review question
“The GIPA Regulations require information about development
applications to be made publicly available. My council is concerned
that DAs and supporting documents contain personal information,
and we are worried that publishing this on the internet may breach
people’s privacy. What should we do?”
What part/s of the GIPA Act could guide you in your decision making?
Review your ideas here!
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Remember the public interest test
The public interest test involves three steps:
1. Identifying the relevant public interest factors for disclosure
2. Identifying any relevant public interest factors against
disclosure
3. Assessing whether the public interest against disclosure
outweighs the public interest in favour of disclosure
There is a presumption in favour of the disclosure of
government information unless there is an overriding public
interest against disclosure (Section 5).
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Section 2
Tools to assist and where to from here
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Additional tools to assist
See IPC web resources:
• Commercial arrangements for local government
knowledge update
• GIPA Act guidelines 1: local councils
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Review question
“My council maintains a register of interests of councillors and
designated persons. It is prescribed in the GIPA Regulations as open
access information. Should we publish the register in the internet?”
What could guide you in your decision making?
Review your ideas here!
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Something practical for you to do now!
• Use the checklist for local councils
• After you have completed this e-package, print out
a copy of the checklist and use it as a tool to
review with key responsibility areas in your
agency. It has suggested questions to ask to
assess your responsiveness to the responsibilities
of the GIPA Act.
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Section 3
Quiz
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Quiz
1. My council has received a formal access
application seeking information about orders
made under the Local Government Act 1993
(NSW) regarding a particular property in the last
15 years. Should we cash the cheque and
process the application?
Yes or No
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Answer to quiz question 1
Answer: No
The GIPA Regulations state that information about
orders, whenever created, is open access
information.
The correct thing to do would be to contact the
applicant and advise him or her that the information
is available without needing to lodge a formal access
application and direct them to that information.
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Quiz
2. You have been contacted by a journalist from your local
newspaper questioning the integrity of recent decisions made
by councilors and requesting access to minutes from the last
council meeting. You have delegated authority from the
general manager to respond to informal requests and
proactively release information. Do you:
a) Advise the journalist to make a formal access application
b) Refer the request to your general manager
c) Refer the journalist to your website where minutes of any
meeting of local council are available as open access
information (except for any part of the meeting that is
closed to the public)
d) Consider the request as an informal request for
information and apply the public interest test.
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Answer to quiz question 2
Answer: c)
Minutes of any meeting (except those parts closed to
the public) come under additional open access
information requirements of local authorities.
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Feedback
Thank you for completing this e-learning package. We welcome
your feedback. Our resources will continue to be tailored to
respond to issues and needs identified through this feedback.
If you would like to tell us what you thought of this e-learning
exploring some of the specific local government responsibilities
under the new rights to government information legislation,
please ring the IPC on 1800 IPC NSW (1800 472 769) or email
us on ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au.
Or open and save this evaluation form. After you have
completed it, please email it back to us as an attachment to:
ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au.
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