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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 January 2025
Victoria was the first and, to date, the only Australian State to enact freedom of information legislation. The Freedom of Information Act (“FOI Act”) was passed by the Victorian Parliament in late 1982 and came into operation on 5 July 1983. The legislation was a major part of the Australian Labor Party's 1982 Victorian election platform and an early law reform initiative of the new Government.
Before examining the exemptions in the Act, I will outline the background of the Victorian legislation. This will indicate the various influences on the final form of the legislation and explain both the similarities and divergences between the Commonwealth and Victorian Acts.
1 Membership of the Committee included Mr John Cain MP, Mr Robert Miller MP, Ms Jackie Fristachy, Mr Colin Hay, Mr Kevin O'Connor and Ms Elizabeth Proust (the author).
2 Vic Parl Deb, Vol 347, 4721 (20 November 1979).
3 Report of Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration (Chairman: Dr HC Coombs), Appendix Vol 2, 23-56, Parl Paper 187 /1976.
4 Freedom of Information — Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978 and Aspects of the Archives Bill 1978, Part Paper No 272/1979.
5 The Bill was first made public at an Australian Institute of Political Science Seminar, University of Melbourne, 12 April 1981.
6 Attached to this paper as an appendix. This Code had been drafted by a sub-committee of the drafting committee.
7 The Committee was originally chaired by Mr Alec Owen, Law Department, and also involved public servants from the Public Service Board and the Public Records Office. The Committee is now chaired by Mr Kevin O'Connor, Director of Policy and Research, Law Department. He was a member of the original drafting committee.
8 Implementation of Proposed Freedom of Information Legislation — Report No I of Inter-departmental Committee (1982).
9 Victorian Freedom of Information Handbook (1983). The handbook contains the Act. Regulations. Guidelines. Freedom of Information Code and Code Memoranda.
10 For details of the freedom of information debate in the Victorian Parliament. see.Vic Parl Deb, 924 (13 October 1982). 1061-1066 (14 October 1982). 2890-2911 (15 December 1982) for the Legislative Assembly; and 1632-1639 ( 15 December 1982) for the Legislative Council.
11 See below p 147.
12 Freedom of Information, supra n 4, 205-209.
13 The Victorian Act confers jurisdiction upon the County Court, s 50(1).
14 Section 16 provides that:
(1) Ministers and agencies shall administer this Act with a view to making the maximum amount of government information promptly and inexpensively available to the public.
(2) Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent or discourage Ministers and agencies from publishing or giving access to documents (including exempt documents), otherwise than as required by this Act, where they can properly do so or are required by law to do so.
15 See above p 146.
16 Supra n 3,45, 135-138.
17 Bayne, P, “Exemptions Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982” (1983) 14 FL Rev 67, 112-114Google Scholar.
18 S 34, below pp 150-152.
19 Section 33(5) contains a drafting error: the reference to sub-s (3) (twice occurring) should read “sub-section (4)”.
20 P Bayne, supra n 17, 109-112.
21 Ibid 98-101.