Review of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009

The NSW Information Commissioner welcomes the review of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) and encourages contributions to this important review via written submissions to the Department of Justice.

This review fulfils the requirements of section 130 of the GIPA Act to determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing these objectives.

The object of the GIPA Act is to maintain and advance a system of responsible and representative democratic government that is open, accountable, fair and effective by:

a) authorising and encouraging the proactive public release of government information by agencies;

b) giving members of the public an enforceable right to access government information; and

c) providing that access to government information is restricted only when there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.

Submissions to the review should be sent to:

The Director, Justice Policy
Department of Justice
GPO Box 6, Sydney NSW 2001

Or email: justice.policy@agd.nsw.gov.au.

The closing date for submissions is 29 August 2014.