FOI Changes for Victoria

Structural changes to FOI in Victoria - but wait, there's more!

The Special Minister of State, Hon Gavin Jennings MLC, has announced that there will be a change to FOI decision-making structures in Victoria with the merging of the Office of the Freedom of Information Commissioner and the Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection into a single office.   

The new office will be called the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner ("OVIC") so that there will be a single regulator of the FOI and privacy/data protection laws in Victoria.  The proposed structure will look something like this:

The announcement also confirmed that other previously announced changes, including reducing the decision making time from 45 to 30 days, will also be introduced.

Interestingly and for the first time, the Minister also announced that these amendments will only be the "first stage" of improving transparency and access to information.

The Minister also tantalisingly foreshadowed that the "Labor Government will shortly announce details of a comprehensive review of Victoria's FOI legislation."  It is unclear precisely what that means, but clearly indicates that there are interesting times ahead for FOI in Victoria.

We will keep you posted of developments as they come to hand.