From 1 May 2011, agencies subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), including the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), are required by section 11C of the FOI Act to disclose access decisions through a disclosure log on their website.
The NIAA Disclosure Log provides access to information released by NIAA in response to an FOI access request under the FOI Act and is available for public access.
Detailed information about FOI can be found at the website for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
A link is provided on the Agency's FOI Disclosure log if the information can be downloaded from the website or another website. There may be documents in the disclosure log that are currently not available in HTML format. If you are unable to read the format provided please contact the FOI Coordinator at the below address or via email.
The FOI Instrument of Delegation can be found below.
FOI Instrument of Delegation (PDF, 116KB) | (DOCX, 57KB)
FOI requests
Requests to access documents must be in writing and must provide enough information about the documents sought to enable the NIAA to identify them. Requests should be sent to
The FOI Coordinator
National Indigenous Australians Agency
GPO Box 2191
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Email: foi@niaa.gov.au
Fees and charges
There is no fee for making a request but the FOI Act provides that charges may be imposed for processing requests.
Schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019 sets out the charges that an agency can apply in respect of an FOI request. The most common charges are:
| Activity item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Search and retrieval - time we spend searching for or retrieving a document. | $15.00 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 5 hours is nil Subsequent hours are $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. |
Third party consultation
Where documents relate to the personal, professional, business, commercial or financial affairs of external third parties, the NIAA is required under the FOI Act to consult with the effected third parties and provide them an opportunity to make submissions regarding the release of the documents.
If consultation is required, the FOI Act gives the NIAA an additional 30 days to undertake the consultation process. This means the timeframe for processing a request will be extended by 30 days.
COVID-19
The NIAA is currently experiencing extreme demands on its resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a strong focus of resources allocated to assisting remote and Indigenous communities during this pandemic, as well as other Government agencies as part of the APS wide re-deployment.
These impacts may affect the ability of the NIAA to process your FOI request within the statutory timeframes as governed by the FOI Act. In some circumstances, the NIAA may seek your agreement to extend the timeframe to process your request. The NIAA may also seek an extension of time from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to process your request.