Freedom of information
We make a range of information available for public access. You can formally request access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents we hold.
Your rights
The FOI Act gives any person the right to:
- access copies of documents we hold (unless they are exempt documents)
- ask for information we hold about you to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading, and
- seek a review of our decision not to allow you access to a document or not to amend your personal record.
We can refuse access to some documents, or parts of documents that are exempt. Exempt documents may include those relating to national security, documents containing material obtained in confidence and Cabinet documents, material that is commercial-in-confidence, or other matters set out in the FOI Act.
Information Publication Scheme
You should also check the information we have published under the Information Publication Scheme to see if what you are seeking is already available.
How to make an FOI request
Your request must:
- be in writing (email requests are acceptable)
- state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act
- provide sufficient information about the document(s) sought as is reasonably necessary to allow us to process your request; and
- provide an address for reply.
You can use the application form or send your FOI request:
By post
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Officer
Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority
PO Box 483
DARLINGHURST NSW 1300
Or
By Email
FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au
Or
By phone
+61 2 8215 1100
If you wish to use a third party to make an FOI request on your behalf, you need to provide a specific, written authority advising that this third party can receive documents on your behalf, or allows that person to inspect copies of documents containing information about you, on your behalf.
If access is granted to documents you have requested under the FOI Act, you will be provided with either a copy of the document(s) or the opportunity to inspect them at our Sydney office.
Fees and charges
There is no application fee for an FOI request.
There are no processing charges for requests to access documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. Applicable charges are:
| Request | Charge |
|---|---|
| Search and retrieval: time spent searching for or retrieving a document | $15.00 per hour |
| Decision making: time spent in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, making deletions, or notifying any interim or final decision on the request |
First five hours: Nil Subsequent hours: $20 per hour |
| Electronic production: provision of information not available in a discrete form in a document by using a computer or other equipment ordinarily used for retrieving or collating stored information | An amount not exceeding the actual cost incurred in producing a document or copy |
| Transcript: preparing a transcript from a sound recording, a document written in shorthand or similar codified form | $4.40 per page of transcript |
| Photocopy: a photocopy of a written document | $0.10 per page |
| Other copies: a copy of a written document other than a photocopy | $4.40 per page |
| Replay: replaying a sound or film tape | Actual cost incurred in replaying |
| Inspection: supervision by an agency officer of an applicant’s inspection of documents or hearing or viewing an audio or visual recording | $6.25 per half hour (or part thereof) |
| Delivery: posting or delivering a copy of a document at the applicant’s request | Cost of postage or delivery |
If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. We may ask you to pay a 25% deposit of the total (or $20 if the estimate is less than $100) before we process your request.
You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for reasons such as financial hardship, or on the grounds of public interest. If you do so, you should explain your reasons and you may need to provide some evidence.
What you can expect from us
We will advise you within 14 days of receipt of your request that it has been received and give you an estimate of the charges that apply to your request. We will give you our decision within 30 days unless that time is extended. We may seek your agreement to extend the time by up to 30 days if your request is complex. If a document contains information about a third party and we need to consult, the time to give you our decision may be extended.
If you disagree with our decision
When we have made a decision about your FOI request, we will send you a letter explaining our decision and your review and appeal rights.
You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:
- if we refuse to give you access to all or part of a document or if we defer giving you access
- if we impose a charge; or
- if we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.
A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision about that information to be reviewed.
Internal review
You can request in writing that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. An internal review will be conducted by another officer within our agency who was not involved in the initial decision. We will advise you of our new decision within 30 days of receiving your request for review.
Information Commissioner review
You can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our original decision or our decision on internal review within 60 days of the date of decision (or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party). The Information Commissioner can affirm or vary the decision or substitute a new decision. The Information Commissioner may decide not to conduct a review in certain circumstances. More information is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way that we have processed your FOI request, you can make a complaint to the OAIC who may investigate our actions. The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.
FOI Disclosure Log
Our FOI Disclosure Log is a list of documents disclosed in response to FOI requests. We are required to publish details of materials released under the FOI Act within 10 working days of an applicant being given access to the document.
The FOI Disclosure Log requirement does not apply to:
- personal information about anymore, if releasing the information would be unreasonable
- information about a person’s business, commercial, financial or professional affairs, if publication would be unreasonable
- other information, covered by a determination made by the Australian Information Commissioner, if publication of that information will be unreasonable
- information that cannot reasonably practicably be published because of required deletions to the document.
Please see our FOI Disclosure Log for the names and descriptions of documents that IHACPA has released under the FOI Act.
If you wish to obtain copies of these documents, please email: FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au
| FOI reference number | Date of Access | Name of document | Description of document | Availability of document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FOI 1/2014 | 28 August 2014 | 'Treatment of Private Patients in the 2013–14 National Efficient Price Determination' | Document released in response to FOI request 1/2014 - document relating to the executive summary, options and recommendations from a KPMG review of options and the relative merits for the treatment of private patients in the 2013–2014 National Efficient Price. | This document is available on request. Please email the FOI Officer at FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au. |
More information
If you require further information, please contact the FOI Officer by emailing FOI_ihacpa@ihacpa.gov.au or phoning IHACPA on +61 2 8215 1100.
The OAIC website provides useful information about the FOI process, publications and resources.