DIAC under fire for FoI processing

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Created on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 17:14

Written by Editorial staff

A formal investigation has been launched into the operations of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) after a number of complaints were received in relation to how the body handled Freedom of Information (FoI) requests.

While it has been noted that the DIAC receives a high volume of requests for documents under FoI law, there have been a number of criticisms levelled around how department handles the time frames.

Information commissioner professor John McMillan told Fairfax Media on April 11 that he is opening an investigation into the department after becoming aware of concerns regarding the request review process.

Reporters were told that the inquiry would focus on how well the DIAC stuck to the legal time limits on FoI requests, what measures it took when there were delays and the steps it went to in order to handle complaints.

According to a spokeswoman for the commissioner, Mr McMillan's investigations would be focused on what she called "non-routine FoI requests" that were both "complex and sensitive in nature".

Responding to the Faifax article on the new investigation, the national communications manager for the DIAC Sandi Logan commented that the body had received "almost 12,000" FoI requests in 2010-11.

Mr Logan stated on Twitter: "We're not perfect and we post tonnes material online."

The manager was also quoted by the article in question, saying that the DIAC was able to answer 80 per cent of requests within the legal timeframe.

He went on to say that the department was "certainly not tardy" in its response to official requests but explained that the body was aiming to deliver detailed documents outside of the usual legal channels in order to speed up the dissemination process "in other, simpler ways".

''We're trying to be more transparent by posting statistics, research and updates online to make them readily available, so that people don't feel they need to use a piece of legislation to get access to those reports," said Mr Logan.

Perhaps the biggest problems for migration agents when dealing with matters that require access to information held by the department is time and money, as the processing period can impact on client visas, while the expenses can also be significant.

While non-FoI channels may be faster to operate due to less legislative restrictions, these same barriers may not be applicable to the information provided to the applicants.