House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

Circulated By Authority of the Cabinet Secretary, Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig

Financial Impact Statement

The amendments in this Bill will have minimal financial impact on Government revenue. While the requirement for FOI application fees is proposed to be removed, the total amount of application fees collected (only $150,771 in 2007-2008) represents a very small fraction of the total cost of administering the FOI Act (approximately 0.5% in 2007-2008).

There will be compliance and resource implications for agencies, such as revising training manuals, providing training for FOI decision makers and making necessary adjustments to comply with the new Information Publication Scheme (see Schedule 2), the level of which will vary from agency to agency. In relation to the proposal to bring forward the open access period for most Commonwealth records from 30 years to 20 years, the greater volume of records which will need to be examined over the transition period will have resource implications for some agencies, especially the National Archives of Australia.

Regulation Impact Statement

No regulation impact statement is required for the measures contained in this Bill.