Right of review
Internal review
If you are dissatisfied with a statutory decision this agency has made in the course of processing an information access or amendment application under the Right to Information Act 2009 or the Information Privacy Act 2009, you may ask the agency to reconsider the decision. The right to have the decision reviewed is available to:
- the information access or amendment applicant
- anyone who this department has consulted in the course of dealing with an information access or amendment application
- anyone who believes the department should have consulted them in the course of dealing with an information access or amendment application.
An application to have a decision internally reviewed must be made to the department within 20 business days of the date of the letter communicating that decision, or within whatever additional timeframe an internal reviewer for this department allows. A request for internal review must be made in writing. In making that application, it will help to say why you think the decision should be changed or what aspects of the decision concern you.
If the internal reviewer considers the application for internal review to be valid, a fresh decision must be made within 20 business days of the application being lodged with this department.
The internal review decision will be made by an officer of this department more senior than the original decision-maker.
There is no right of internal review if the Minister or the Director-General of the department made the decision.
For further information about internal review please contact Administrative Review.
External review
The Information Commissioner is an independent body responsible for reviewing decisions made under the Right to Information Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Act 2009.
In most instances, you can apply to the Information Commissioner to have a department’s decision on an information access or amendment application reviewed, irrespective of whether the department has internally reviewed that decision. This does not apply to a decision on the amount of a charge stated in a charge estimate notice, which can only be internally reviewed by the department.
If you have not exercised your right to an internal review, you should consider contacting the department before applying to the Information Commissioner for an external review, as internal review by the department is often a quicker and simpler way to have the decision revisited. Also, anyone who applies for an internal review retains the right to subsequently seek to have the Information Commissioner conduct an external review.
An external review application can be made to the Information Commissioner if:
- the agency has failed to make a decision within the time limits
- you are unhappy with the departments initial decision or internal review decision
- the Minister or the Direction-General of the Department made the decision and you are unhappy with that decision
Generally, an application to the Information Commissioner for external review must be made within 20 business days of the date of the department’s initial decision or internal review de decision notice (whichever is relevant in the circumstances).
An application for a review by the Information Commissioner must:
- be in writing
- specify an address of the applicant to which notices may be sent and
- give particulars of the decision for review.
For further information about external review, please contact the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Last reviewed 31 August 2010
Last updated 1 July 2009