Commonwealth Numbered Acts

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 No. 3 of 1982 - SECT 4

4. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears -

"agency" means a Department or a prescribed authority;

"applicant" means a person who has made a request;

"Department" means a Department of the Australian Public Service other than
the Department of the Senate, the Department of the House of Representatives,
the Department of the Parliamentary Library, the Department of the
Parliamentary Reporting Staff and the Joint House Department;

"document" includes any written or printed matter, any map, plan or
photograph, and any article or thing that has been so treated in relation to
any sounds or visual images that those sounds or visual images are capable,
with or without the aid of some other device, of being reproduced from the
article or thing, and includes a copy of any such matter, map, plan,
photograph, article or thing, but does not include library material maintained
for reference purposes;

"document of an agency" or "document of the agency" means a document in the
possession of an agency, or in the possession of the agency concerned, as the
case requires, whether created in the agency or received in the agency;

"Document Review Tribunal" means the Tribunal of that name established under
Part VII;

"enactment" means -

   (a)  an Act;

   (b)  an Ordinance of the Australian Capital Territory; or

   (c)  an instrument (including rules, regulations or by-laws) made under an
        Act or under such an Ordinance;

"exempt document" means -

   (a)  a document which, by virtue of a provision of Part IV, is an
exempt document;

   (b)  a document in respect of which, by virtue of section 7 or
regulations
made in accordance with that section, an agency is exempt
from the operation of this Act; or

   (c)  an official document of a Minister that contains some matter that does
        not relate to the affairs of an agency or of a Department of State;

"exempt matter" means matter the inclusion of which in a document causes
the document to be an exempt document;

"officer", in relation to an agency, includes a member of the agency or a
member of the staff of the agency;

"official document of a Minister" or "official document of the Minister" means
a document in the possession of a Minister, or in the possession of the
Minister concerned, as the case requires, that relates to the affairs of an
agency or of a Department of State and, for the purposes of this definition, a
Minister shall be deemed to be in possession of a document that has passed
from his possession if he is entitled to access to the document and the
document is not a document of an agency;

"Ombudsman" means the Commonwealth Ombudsman;

"Ordinance", in relation to the Australian Capital Territory, includes a law
of a State that applies, or the provisions of a law of a State that apply,
in the Territory by virtue of an enactment;

"prescribed authority" means -

   (a)  a body corporate, or an unincorporated body, established for a public
        purpose by, or in accordance with the provisions of, an enactment,
        other than -

        (i)    an incorporated company or association;

        (ii)   a body that, under sub-section (2), is not to be taken to be
a prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act;

        (iii)  the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly;

        (iv)   the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory or
the Executive Council of the Northern Territory;

        (v)    the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Norfolk
Island; or

        (vi)   a Royal Commission;

   (b)  any other body, whether incorporated or unincorporated, declared by
        the regulations to be a prescribed authority for the purposes of this
        Act, being -

        (i)    a body established by the Governor-General or by a Minister; or

        (ii)   an incorporated company or association over which the
               Commonwealth is in a position to exercise control;

   (c)  subject to sub-section (3), the person holding, or performing
the duties of, an office established by an enactment; or

   (d)  the person holding, or performing the duties of, an appointment
        declared by the regulations to be an appointment the holder of which
        is a prescribed authority for the purposes of this Act, being an
        appointment made by the Governor-General, or by a Minister, otherwise
        than under an enactment;

"principal officer" means -

   (a)  in relation to a Department - the person holding, or performing the
        duties of, the office of Permanent Head of the Department; and

   (b)  in relation to a prescribed authority -

        (i)    if the regulations declare an office to be the principal
office in respect of the authority - the person holding,
or performing the duties of, that office; or

        (ii)   in any other case - the person who constitutes that authority
               or, if the authority is constituted by 2 or more persons, the
               person who is entitled to preside at any meeting of the
               authority at which he is present;

"request" means a request made in accordance with sub-section 15 (1);

"responsible Minister" means -

   (a)  in relation to a Department - the Minister administering the
relevant Department of State;

   (b)  in relation to a prescribed authority referred to in paragraph (a)
    of the definition of "prescribed authority" - the Minister

administering the enactment by which, or in accordance with
the provisions of which, the prescribed authority is established;

   (c)  in relation to a prescribed authority referred to in paragraph (c)
of that definition - the Minister administering the enactment
by which the office is established; or

   (d)  in relation to any other prescribed authority - the Minister declared
        by the regulations to be the responsible Minister in respect of that
        authority,
or another Minister acting for and on behalf of that Minister;

"Tribunal" means the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

(2) An unincorporated body, being a board, council, committee, sub-committee
or other body established by, or in accordance with the provisions of, an
enactment for the purpose of assisting, or performing functions connected
with, a prescribed authority shall not be taken to be a prescribed authority
for the purposes of this Act, but shall be deemed to be comprised within that
prescribed authority.

(3) A person shall not be taken to be a prescribed authority -

   (a)  by virtue of his holding -

        (i)    an office of member of the Australian Capital Territory House
of Assembly;

        (ii)   an office of member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern
Territory or of Administrator or of Minister of the Northern
Territory; or

        (iii)  an office of member of the Legislative Assembly of the
               Territory of Norfolk Island or of Administrator or Deputy
               Administrator of that Territory or an executive office created
               pursuant to section 12 of the Norfolk Island  Act 1979 ; or

   (b)  by virtue of his holding, or performing the duties of -

        (i)    a prescribed office;

        (ii)   an office the duties of which he performs as duties of his
employment
as an officer of a Department or as an officer of or under
a prescribed authority;

        (iii)  an office of member of a body; or

        (iv)   an office established by an enactment for the purposes of a
               prescribed authority.

(4) For the purposes of this Act, the Department of Defence shall be deemed to
include -

   (a)  the Defence Force;

   (b)  the Australian Cadet Corps;

   (c)  the Naval Reserve Cadets; and

   (d)  the Air Training Corps.