FOI
Freedom Of Information (FOI)
The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 1991 (the Act) is to give the public the legal right to gain access to information held by the State Government. This legislation took effect on 1 January 1993 for the State Government and on 1 January 1994 for Local Government.
The spirit of the Act is to increase the accountability of the executive to the Tasmanian people and to increase public participation in State government and democracy.
The public can request any information held by the Government, provided that it is not information which is exempt or excepted under the Act. Specific exemptions are set out in Part 3 of the Act.
A person is entitled to information of any age held by any agency if it related to that person's personal affairs. Otherwise a person is entitled only to information which is incorporated in a record of an agency on or after 1 January 1988.
There are a variety of documents that the TFS produce and sell to the public for a fee, for example, fire investigation reports. The TFS will therefore not approve an FOI request for access to these documents. The TFS also reserve the right to charge a fee to cover the cost of processing documents under an FOI request.
The TFS has two FOI officers:-
Michael Gallagher, Director Corporate Services
Phil Oakley, Manager Administration
Should you wish to contact either of these officers please call (03) 6230 8600 or by post to PO Box 1526, HOBART TAS 7001