Commonwealth Numbered Acts

Freedom of Information Amendment Act 1983 No. 81 of 1983 - SECT 3

3. Section 4 of the Principal Act is amended-

   (a)  by omitting from sub-section (1) the definition of
''Department'' and substituting the following definition:

'' 'Department' means a Department of the Australian Public Service that
corresponds to a Department of State of the Commonwealth;'';

   (b)  by omitting from sub-section (1) the definition of ''Document Review
        Tribunal'';

   (c)  by omitting ''or regulations made in accordance with that section''
        from paragraph (b) of the definition of ''exempt document'' in
        sub-section (1);

   (d)  by omitting ''in the possession of a Minister, or in the
possession of the Minister concerned, as the case requires,'' from the
definition of ''official document of a Minister'' or ''official document of
the Minister'' in sub-section (1) and substituting ''that is in the possession
of a Minister, or that is in the possession of the Minister concerned, as the
case requires, in his capacity as a Minister, being a document'';

   (e)  by inserting after the definition of ''responsible Minister'' in
        sub-section (1) the following definition:

'' 'State' includes the Northern Territory;''; and

   (f)  by adding at the end thereof the following sub-sections:

''(5) Without limiting the generality of the expression 'security of the
Commonwealth', that expression shall be taken to extend to-

   (a)  matters relating to the detection, prevention or suppression of
        activities, whether within Australia or outside Australia, subversive
        of, or hostile to, the interests of the Commonwealth or of any country
        allied or associated with the Commonwealth; and

   (b)  the security of any communications system or cryptographic system of
        the Commonwealth or of another country used for-

        (i)    the defence of the Commonwealth or of any country allied or
               associated with the Commonwealth; or

        (ii)   the conduct of the international relations of the Commonwealth.

''(6) Where an agency is abolished, then, for the purposes of this Act-

   (a)  if the functions of the agency are acquired by another agency-any
        request made to the first-mentioned agency shall be deemed to have
        been made to, and any decision made by the first-mentioned agency in
        respect of a request made to it shall be deemed to have been made by,
        the other agency;

   (b)  if the functions of the agency are acquired by more than one other
        agency-any request made to the first-mentioned agency shall be deemed
        to have been made to, and any decision made by the first-mentioned
        agency in respect of a request made to it shall be deemed to have been
        made by, whichever of those other agencies has acquired the functions
        of the first-mentioned agency to which the document the subject of the
        request most closely relates; and

   (c)  if the documents of the agency are deposited with the Australian
        Archives-any request made to the agency shall be deemed to have been
        made to, and any decision made by the agency in respect of a request
        made by it shall be deemed to have been made by, the agency to the
        functions of which the document the subject of the request most
        closely relates.

''(7) If the agency to which a request is so deemed to have been made, or by
which a decision upon a request is so deemed to have been made, was not itself
in existence at the time when the request or decision was deemed so to have
been made, then, for the purposes only of dealing with that request or
decision under this Act, that agency shall be deemed to have been in existence
at that time.''.