Get information from JACS

The ACT Freedom of Information Act 2016 is a law that provides a public right to access government held information. It is known as the FOI Act.

The FOI Act gives you the legal right to:

• access government information such as policy or decision-making documents
• ask for personal information to be changed if it is incomplete, incorrect, out-of-date or misleading
• appeal a decision we make about your application to access a document or to change your personal information.

The FOI Act also promotes the proactive publication of government information where this is appropriate.

If you are looking for information from the Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS) you may be able search and find the information.

For some information you must complete a Freedom of Information (FOI) application .

Search for information that is already available

Some government information is already available through:

• Open Access Information
• Justice and Community Safety Directorate disclosure log, which has information already released after a Freedom of Information Application. This does not include personal information.
• Justice and Community Safety Directorate annual reports.

We are committed to making as much government information as accessible as possible. Our Open Access Strategy outlines:

• the information that we proactively make available
• the information that will generally be excluded from publishing.

If the information you are seeking is not already publicly available, you can make an FOI application to access documents.

Make a FOI application

An FOI Request can be made:

• Online – complete the ACT Government FOI request form
• Email or posting a paper FOI request form
• Contacting JACSFOI@act.gov.au

Postal address: FOI requests, Justice and Community Safety Directorate, GPO Box 158, Canberra City, ACT, 2601.

What you can ask for:

You can ask for:

• any records or documents that may be held by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate
• personal information.

JACS cannot provide access to:

• court documents
• ACT Policing information
• juvenile justice records
• ACT Fire and Rescue incident reports
• health records head by ACT Ambulance service.

You should contact the relevant organisation about access to these documents.

After you apply

We will write to you within 10 working days to tell you we have your application.

We will include:

• the date we received your application
• confirmation of the details of your application
• the date we will respond by.

We will contact you if we need longer to consult third parties or process your application.

If your application is missing information, we will give you advice on how to finish it. If you do not give us the missing information, we may not be able to process your application. If this happens, we will write to you to explain why.

When we’ve processed your application, we will send you our decision and any documents that have been approved for release. If we are unable to provide access to some or all of the information you have requested, we will explain the reasons why in our decision.

If you disagree with our decision

If we haven’t given you the information you have asked for, we will explain:

• why we haven’t given you certain documents
• your right to a review of our decision.

You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:

• we decide your application is outside the scope of the FOI Act
• we decide your application does not comply with the application requirements
• we decide to release documents contrary to your views (if you are a consulted party)
• you believe we should have taken steps to consult you about the release of documents
• we refuse to deal with the application
• we decide charges are payable (but not the amount of the charge)
• we don’t grant access to the documents either in full or part
• we advise that the documents don’t exist or can’t be found
• we don’t waive processing or access charges
• we don't respond to your application in time.

You can apply for a review of a decision to the ACT Ombudsman in writing:

The ACT Ombudsman
GPO Box 442
Canberra ACT 2601
Email actfoi@ombudsman.gov.au

Fees and charges

It does not cost anything to make an FOI application.

We may charge you a fee if:

• the documents you ask for are more than 50 pages
• it costs us money to give you the information, such as printing, postage, electronic storage or transcribing information.

We will tell you if there will be a fee and why. We will never charge you for your personal information.

You can ask for the fee to be waived if:

• you are asking for information that was publicly available but is not any more
• the information you are asking for is of special benefit to the public
• you are an eligible concession card holder
• the request is from a not-for-profit organisation and is about that organisation
• the applicant is a member of the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Fees and charges are listed as an instrument under the Freedom of Information Act 2016.

Contact us

If you need help to apply, contact the Justice and Community Safety Directorate Freedom of Information team.