What to do today
1. Find the date on the decision letter. More exactly, the day you were notified (usually the day the email arrived). Every deadline below counts from the day after that date.
2. Pick your review. You can choose either:
- Internal review by the same agency. Ask in writing (an email is fine) within 30 days of being notified. Someone other than the original decision maker must make a fresh decision within 30 days of receiving your application (Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) ss 54B(1), 54C(2) and (3)).
- Information Commissioner review (IC review) by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Apply within 60 days if the agency refused access, gave you only part of what you asked for, blacked out (redacted) parts of the documents, or imposed a charge (ss 53A, 54L, 54S(1)). Apply online with the Information Commissioner Review Application form and attach a copy of the decision.
3. If the agency never decided your request, skip internal review. It is not available for a request that was never answered (s 54E(b)), so apply straight to the OAIC.
There is no fee for internal review or IC review (the OAIC's pages on both say so), and the FOI Act has no application fee for the request itself.
The wait: the OAIC does not publish a fixed time for IC review, and it generally waits for any internal review you have started to finish first.
This is legal information about Commonwealth freedom of information law, not legal advice.
Internal review or straight to the OAIC?
The OAIC recommends internal review first, because the agency gets a chance to reconsider and a 30-day limit applies. But the law does not require it. An application to the Information Commissioner can be made whether or not you asked for internal review (s 54L, note 1).
Internal review is not available at all, and you must go to the OAIC, if the decision was made by a minister (or someone the minister authorised), or personally by the head of the agency (s 54(1)).
If you ask for internal review and the agency says nothing within 30 days, the agency head is treated as having confirmed the original decision on the last of those 30 days (s 54D). You can then apply to the OAIC, and the 60 days runs from that day. The agency can ask the OAIC for more time, and if the OAIC agrees, that changes the date.
Missed a deadline? Ask anyway. An agency can allow more time for internal review even after the 30 days has passed (s 54B(2)). The OAIC can extend its 60 days if it is reasonable in all the circumstances (s 54T).
What the agency should have done with your request
A Commonwealth agency or minister must acknowledge your request within 14 days and decide it within 30 days of receiving it (s 15(5)). That period can be extended in only a few ways:
- by 30 days if the agency has to consult a person, business or state government about documents that affect them (s 15(6)), or a foreign government (s 15(8))
- by up to 30 more days if you agree in writing (s 15AA)
- by the Information Commissioner, if the request is complex or voluminous (s 15AB)
If you get no decision by the end of that period, the agency is taken to have refused your request on the last day (s 15AC(3)). That is called a deemed refusal, and it is what lets you go to the OAIC. The agency can still ask the OAIC for more time to decide (s 15AC(4)). A late agency also loses the right to charge you: no charge can be imposed if the agency misses its deadline (Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019 reg 7(2) and (3)).
If you were hit with a charge
Charges are not a fee for applying. They are what the agency says it costs to search for and process the documents. A charge notice must tell you the estimate, how it was worked out, and that you can argue the charge is wrong or should be reduced or waived (s 29(1)).
You have 30 days to reply to a charge notice, or your request is treated as withdrawn (s 29(1)(f) and (2)). In that time, tell the agency in writing that you agree to pay, that you contest the charge (with your reasons), or that you withdraw the request.
When you contest a charge, the agency must consider whether paying would cause you financial hardship, and whether releasing the documents is in the general public interest or the interest of a substantial section of the public (s 29(5)). It must decide within 30 days of your reply, or it is taken to have confirmed its estimate (s 29(6) and (7)). If it refuses to reduce the charge, that is an access refusal decision you can take to internal review or the OAIC within 60 days (s 53A(e)). The clock on your request stops while a charge is unpaid and restarts when you pay or the charge is dropped (s 31).
No charge can be imposed for documents that contain your own personal information (Charges Regulations reg 7(1)).
Your own records: two shortcuts
Ask without FOI first. Many agencies will give you your own records if you simply ask, which the OAIC calls administrative access. It is often faster, but a refusal under administrative access cannot be reviewed on its merits, so if it stalls, make a formal FOI request. See the OAIC's page on administrative access.
Fix wrong records. If a record you have seen contains personal information about you that is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading, you can apply in writing to have it amended or annotated (s 48). The agency must decide within 30 days (s 51D), and a refusal can be reviewed the same way as a refused FOI request (s 53A(g) and (h)). The OAIC also handles privacy complaints, for example about credit reports: see Fix an error on your credit report.
Worked example
On Monday 4 May 2026, Sam emails Home Affairs asking for internal emails and briefing notes about a policy change. The 30 days run out on Wednesday 3 June 2026. The agency tells Sam it needs to consult a third party and extends the time by 30 days (s 15(6)), so the new deadline is Friday 3 July 2026.
On Wednesday 1 July 2026, Sam gets a decision by email. Most pages are blacked out. From that day:
- the last day to ask for internal review is Friday 31 July 2026 (30 days)
- the last day to apply to the OAIC is Sunday 30 August 2026 (60 days); the online form can be lodged any day
Sam asks for internal review on Tuesday 14 July 2026. The agency must decide by Thursday 13 August 2026. Nothing arrives. The original decision is treated as confirmed on 13 August (s 54D), so Sam has until Monday 12 October 2026 (60 days) to apply to the OAIC.
After the OAIC decides
If you disagree with the Information Commissioner's decision, you can apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal (s 57A). The OAIC says you have 28 days. If the OAIC declines to review your case because it thinks the Tribunal should hear it, you can take the agency's decision to the Tribunal directly (s 57A(1)(b)).
Unlike the OAIC, the Tribunal charges an application fee. Its fees page lists the standard fee as $1,195, reduced to $100 if you hold a Commonwealth concession card such as a Health Care Card or pensioner concession card, have legal aid, are under 18, are in prison or detention, or would suffer financial hardship. See ART fees.
State and territory agencies
This guide covers federal agencies and ministers only. State and territory departments, councils and other state bodies are covered by their own right to information laws, such as the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 in NSW, with different deadlines and reviewers. This guide does not cover them.