Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) provides a general right of access to documents in IHACPA’s possession.
You can ask to see any document that we hold. We can refuse access to some documents that are exempt. Exempt documents may include those relating to national security, documents containing material obtained in confidence, material that is commercial-in-confidence, or other matters set out in the FOI Act.
How to make a request
Your request must:
- be in writing (email requests are acceptable);
- state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act;
- provide sufficient information about the document(s) sought as is reasonably necessary to allow us to process your request; and
- provide an address for reply.
You can use the application form or send your FOI request:
By post
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Officer
Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
PO Box 483
DARLINGHURST NSW 1300
Or
By Email
FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au
Or
By phone
+61 2 8215 1100
If you wish to use a third party to make a Freedom of Information request on your behalf, you need to provide a specific, written authority advising that this third party can receive documents on your behalf, or allows that person to inspect copies of documents containing information about you, on your behalf.
If access is granted to documents you have requested under the FOI Act, you will be provided with either a copy of the document(s) or the opportunity to inspect them at our Sydney office.
Fees and charges
There is no application fee for a Freedom of Information request.
There are no processing charges for requests to access documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. Applicable charges are:
| Request | Charge |
|---|---|
| Search and retrieval: time spent searching for or retrieving a document | $15.00 per hour |
| Decision making: time spent in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, making deletions, or notifying any interim or final decision on the request |
First five hours: Nil Subsequent hours: $20 per hour |
| Electronic production: provision of information not available in a discrete form in a document by using a computer or other equipment ordinarily used for retrieving or collating stored information | An amount not exceeding the actual cost incurred in producing a document or copy |
| Transcript: preparing a transcript from a sound recording, a document written in shorthand or similar codified form | $4.40 per page of transcript |
| Photocopy: a photocopy of a written document | $0.10 per page |
| Other copies: a copy of a written document other than a photocopy | $4.40 per page |
| Replay: replaying a sound or film tape | Actual cost incurred in replaying |
| Inspection: supervision by an agency officer of an applicant’s inspection of documents or hearing or viewing an audio or visual recording | $6.25 per half hour (or part thereof) |
| Delivery: posting or delivering a copy of a document at the applicant’s request | Cost of postage or delivery |
If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. We may ask you to pay a 25 per cent deposit of the total (or $20 if the estimate is less than $100) before we process your request.
You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for reasons such as financial hardship, or on the grounds of public interest. If you do so, you should explain your reasons and you may need to provide some evidence.
What you can expect from us
We will advise you within 14 days of receipt of your request that it has been received and give you an estimate of the charges that apply to your request. We will give you our decision within 30 days unless that time is extended. We may seek your agreement to extend the time by up to 30 days if your request is complex. If a document contains information about a third party and we need to consult, the time to give you our decision may be extended.
Unless the information is personal or is about the commercial, financial or professional affairs of a person and publication would be ‘unreasonable’, any information provided to you in response to your request will be listed in the Freedom of Information Disclosure Log and published on our website.
Your right to appeal our decision
When we have made a decision about your Freedom of Information request, we will send you a letter explaining our decision and your review and appeal rights.
You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:
- if we refuse to give you access to all or part of a document or if we defer giving you access:
- if we impose a charge; or
- if we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.
A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision about that information to be reviewed.
You can request that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. That request must be in writing. An internal review will be conducted by another officer within our agency who was not involved in the initial decision. We will advise you of our new decision within 30 days of receiving your request for review.
You can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our original decision or our decision on internal review within 60 days of the date of decision (or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party). The Information Commissioner can affirm or vary the decision or substitute a new decision. The Information Commissioner may decide not to conduct a review in certain circumstances. More information is available at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available from the OAIC. The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.
Freedom of Information Disclosure Log
The IHACPA Freedom of Information Disclosure Log is a list of documents disclosed in response to Freedom of Information requests. IHACPA is required to publish details of materials released under the FOI Act within 10 working days of an applicant being given access to the document.
There are certain exceptions for publishing documents. These are:
- personal information or information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person if publication would be unreasonable;
- information determined by the Australian Information Commissioner not to be disclosed;
- information that cannot reasonably practicably be published because of required deletions to the document.
Please see IHACPA's Disclosure Log for the names and descriptions of documents that IHACPA has released under the FOI Act.
If you wish to obtain copies of these documents, please email: FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au
| FOI reference number | Date of Access | Name of document | Description of document | Availability of document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FOI 1/2014 | 28 August 2014 | 'Treatment of Private Patients in the 2013–14 National Efficient Price Determination' | Document released in response to Freedom of Information request FOI 1/2014 - document relating to the executive summary, options and recommendations from a KPMG review of options and the relative merits for the treatment of private patients in the 2013–2014 National Efficient Price. | This document is available on request. Please email the Freedom of Information Officer at FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au. |
More information
If you require further information, please contact the Freedom of Information Officer by emailing FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au or phoning IHACPA on 02 8215 1100. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website provides useful information about the FOI process, publications and resources.