Members of the public can also apply to have personal information about themselves contained in documents held by the RPAT amended, if the information is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading.
RPAT is regarded as being part of the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries for the purposes of the FOI Act. All applications requesting access to their documents are processed by the department. The department is also responsible for making decisions about the release of documents.
You can request access to documents one of the following ways:
When you submit your application, you must provide as much information as possible and clearly describe the documents you would like to access, including any additional information relevant to your request, such as information relating to a specific incident, subject matter and date ranges. Your application must also include an address in Australia for the Department to send you notices under the FOI Act.
If you are applying for access to documents containing personal information that is just about you, your application must be accompanied by a copy of a primary identification document, such as a driver’s licence or passport.
If you are requesting access to information that is not just about you, such as information that relates to RPAT’s operations or personal information about other people, please indicate that you are requesting access to non-personal information in your application.
If you need help lodging an application you can contact the FOI Coordinator at the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries by telephone on 61 8 9492 9989 or by email at foi@dlgsc.wa.gov.au.
After you lodge an application and payment of the relevant fee and charges is made, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries will process your application as soon as possible but within 45 calendar days. However, if your application requests access to a significant number of documents or requires consultation with a large number of third parties an extension of time may be necessary.
After the Department processes your application, it will issue you with a notice of decision. The notice will explain the decision in relation to your application and, if the decision is to refuse access to documents in part or in full, why this information cannot be released.
Access may be refused to certain types of information, including information that would reveal personal information about other people or information that would reveal details about a person’s commercial or business affairs or information.
If you disagree with a decision, you can seek a review of that decision under the FOI Act. The Department will provide you with details on how to lodge an application for review in its notice of decision.
There is no fee for requesting access to documents containing personal information about you.
If your application requests access to non-personal information, that is, a document that contains personal information about a third party (other than you), or documents relating to the operations of RPAT, you are required to pay a $30 application fee. Payment is required at the time of lodging the application.
Information about how payment of the application fee can be made.
In some circumstances you may be required to pay additional charges to cover the costs associated with processing your application. These charges will be for administrative tasks such as photocopying, collation of documents, editing, postage etc. If charges are applicable you will be notified and provided with an estimate.
If you need assistance to lodge an application you can contact the FOI Coordinator by telephone on 61 8 9492 9989 or by email foi@dlgsc.wa.gov.au.
For more information about the FOI Act visit the Office of the Information Commissioner (WA) website.