20321ab7_nformation_Commissioner___OAIC_reedom_of_Information_Act_1982_Issue_description
[FOI Act Part] Part I — Preliminary [FOI Act section] 4(1) [Recommended action] The definition of 'document of a Minister or official document of the Minister' should be amended to clarify that special access arrangement applying to documents of a former minister (for example, to facilitate preparation of a minister's memoirs or autobiography), would not bring those documents under the FOI Act. [Issue description] 
The definition of 'document of a Minister or official document of the Minister' provides that 'a Minister shall be deemed to be in possession of a document that has passed from his or her possession if he or she is entitled to access to the document and the document is not a document of an agency'. Under section 52(2) of the Archives Act 1983, special access may be available to former Governors-General, ministers and secretaries who want to refresh their memories of records they personally dealt with while in office. This raises the issue of whether there is an entitlement under the FOI Act for the public to request access to such a document on the grounds that is an official document of a minister.
Review of freedom of information legislation| Office of the Australian Information Commissioner - OAIC
Issue description