Routinely Requested Information and Disclosure Log
Publicly available information released following an FOI access request
From 1 May 2011, every agency is required under section 11C of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to publish a disclosure log on its website. The disclosure log lists information which has been released in response to an FOI access request and is available for public access.
The information must be published within 10 working days after access is granted to the information.
The disclosure log requirement does not apply to:
- personal information about any individual, if it would be unreasonable to publish the information;
- information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person, if it would be unreasonable to publish the information;
- other information of a kind determined by the Information Commissioner, if it would be unreasonable to publish the information;
- any information if it is not reasonably practicable to publish the information because of the extent of modifications that would need to be made to delete information listed in one of the above dot points.
RMA policy in relation to the release of information
Section 196I of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (the VEA) allows the RMA to provide certain information to a range of eligible persons and organisations. The provision requires personal information to be deleted and stipulates that 'reasonable access' be provided. Information is provided under s 196I without charge.
There may be charges associated with the provision of information obtained under the FOI Act, based on the cost of considering and supplying the requested documents. The first 5 hours of decision-making time incurs no cost. A schedule of charges is contained in the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982, which can be accessed here.
The RMA policy is to provide requested information under s 196I of the VEA, without charge, in preference to the FOI Act.
Routinely requested information
Agencies are also required to publish information in documents to which the agency routinely gives access in response to FOI access requests.
In a typical year, the RMA receives a low number of FOI requests, and FOI requests received have not suggested a pattern of inquiry that could be considered routine.
If circumstances change, the RMA will use the disclosure log to publish copies of any documents to which it has routinely provided access under the FOI Act.
The RMA will clearly identify these documents in its disclosure log.
RMA's Disclosure Log Policy
The RMA has decided to publish details of the information released in relation to each FOI access request and provide details of how the information may be obtained.
In particular, this will better enable the RMA to assist veterans and members and the organisations which represent them more directly and identify the types of information which might be routinely disclosed.
The information described in the disclosure log table below has been released by the RMA under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and is available for public access.
A link is provided if the information can be downloaded from this website or another website.
How to request information disclosed on the disclosure log
Information not available online may be obtained by emailing the RMA at info@rma.gov.au or writing to the RMA at GPO Box 1014, Brisbane Qld 4001.
The RMA will provide information requested from the disclosure log as promptly as possible (depending on the size and type of access requested), within five working days.
