Freedom of Information (FOI)

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives any member of the public a general right of access to information held by Australian Government agencies.

Under the FOI Act you have a legal right to:

• access documents that Centrelink holds, including documents about you
• amend records containing personal information that is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading
• access manuals, rules and guidelines that Centrelink uses to make decisions about the various legislation it administers.

Information access - Online Services

You can use Centrelink's Online Services to view and print a range of your personal information recorded with Centrelink.

Information available from Online Services includes:

• Advance Payment details and eligibility
• application for payment
• bank account details
• Centrelink appointments
• child care details
• Child Care Rebate
• contact details
• employment income
• family income history
• income and assets
• income statement
• money you owe
• online claims
• Online Letters
• other government payments
• previous payments
• Rent Certificate
• reporting dates
• student income bank balance
• study details
• Working Credit
• your assets

Access to documents through Centrelink Customer Service Centres

Many documents are available in full or in part upon request from Centrelink Customer Service Centres. A Centrelink Customer Service Adviser can provide you with a wide range of documents containing your personal information outside the Freedom of Information process.

You do not have to complete an FOI request to have access to the following documents, if you gave them to Centrelink or the Family Assistance Office:

• your claim or review forms
• continuation application or income statements
• letters and advices sent to you
• proof of identity or income documents
• separation certificates
• medical certificates and reports.

Centrelink Customer Service Advisers can also assist you to make an FOI request.

Making an FOI request

If you make an FOI request for access to documents, it must:

• be in writing
• provide enough information for us to identify the documents; and
• specify an address in Australia for us to reply.

Centrelink has started using new SmartForm technology. The SmartForm is interactive and will assist you in completing the form. After you have completed the form you may print or save a copy for your own records.

To use the SmartForm you need to have Adobe Version 8.1 or higher installed on your computer. If you don't have this software you can download it for free from the Adobe website.

There are 2 methods to make a Freedom of Information request:

• online using the SmartForm - Freedom of Information - I want to access or change documents
• download and fill out a normal form - Freedom of Information - I want to access or change documents

You can also make an FOI request by sending a letter or fax, or giving a statement over the counter at any Centrelink Customer Service Centre.

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Application fees and charges

Most requests for your own personal information are free. However, some requests for other documents held by Centrelink may incur a $30 application fee and processing charges.

If you are asked to pay, our staff with tell you how much you need to pay and how to apply to have these charges reduced.

FOI request processing period

We are required to process your request within 30 days of receiving it. If you do not hear from us within 30 days you should contact Centrelink.

Medical documents

Some requests for medical records require us to release this information to you through a doctor of your choice.

Changing your personal information

You may ask Centrelink or the Family Assistance Office to change your personal information if you think the information:

• is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading, and
• has been used, is being used, or is available to be used for an administrative purpose.

Your request must be in writing and give:

• details of the document and the information you believe is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading
• reasons why you are asking for the amendments, and
• an address in Australia for us to reply.

If we decide we will not change our information about you, you can write to us asking us to add a note setting out:

• which information you are concerned about
• why you think the information is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading
• your reasons for the claim
• any other relevant information you think will correct this, and
• give an address in Australia for us to reply.

If your note is not considered to be irrelevant, defamatory or unnecessarily long, we will add it to our information about you.

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Rules and guidelines

Centrelink manuals and instructions are generally available under the FOI Act without a written request. Where copies are requested, there is no charge for the first 25 pages. After that, there is a charge of 10 cents per page.

You can access Relevant legislation for payments from Centrelink including the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and Family Assistance (Administration) Act 1999 on this website or they can be purchased from Australian Government Info shops in all capital cities.

Centrelink's Freedom of Information Section 9 statement

• Centrelink's Freedom of Information Section 9 statement [71 pages, PDF: 293KB]

Who can see your file

Centrelink and the Family Assistance Office operate under strict confidentiality designed to protect the privacy of our customers. Generally, you are the only person who can see your file or documents about you.

You can authorise someone else (e.g. your partner or solicitor) to access documents about you. This must be done in writing.

Executors

An executor or administrator of a deceased customer's estate can ask for access to documents from the deceased person's file. Information required for administration of the estate will generally be provided to the executor without having to make a FOI request.

If you are not satisfied with the decision on your FOI request

You can ask us for a review of our decision if you do not agree with it. To ask for a review, send a letter or complete the Centrelink form - "I want to ask for a Review" available at Centrelink Customer Service Centres. You must do this within 30 days of our decision. Centrelink has a designated FOI Review Officer who will look at your review request. Normally the FOI Review Officer will give you a decision and the reasons for it within 30 days of receiving your review request.

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Further review process

If you are not happy with the internal review decision, you can appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). You can also apply to the AAT if we have taken more than 30 days to make a decision about your request for access or your request for an internal review. For more information view the Administrative Appeals Tribunal website or contact them on 1300 366 700.

You may complain to the Commonwealth Ombudsman at any time if you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled. You can make a complaint to the Ombudsman by phone, in person, or in writing to any Ombudsman's office in each capital city. For more information view the Commonwealth Ombudsman website or contact them on 1300 362 072.

You may call the Ombudsman at any time. However, Centrelink appreciates the opportunity to try and resolve any problems or difficulties you have experienced. You can do this by calling Centrelink’s Customer Relation Line on Freecall™ 1800 050 004.

Publishing FOI Decisions

Any information released as a result of an FOI request for non-personal information may be published on an FOI decisions database on this website. The FOI decisions database would usually contain a summary of the FOI request as well as relevant documents or details of how the documents may be accessed. However, decisions about the release of documents concerning a person's personal, family, business, commercial, financial or professional information will not be published on the database.

Privacy and your personal information

Personal information is protected by laws including the Privacy Act 1988. The authority to collect this information is contained in section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

The information you provide in this form will be used to assess your request for access or changes to documents held by Centrelink or the Family Assistance Office under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Centrelink and the Family Assistance Office provide non-personal statistical information to other government agencies such as the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Centrelink and the Family Assistance Office can give your information to other persons, bodies or agencies without your permission in circumstances where Commonwealth legislation requires or authorises the disclosure. Centrelink (and the Family Assistance Office) may also disclose limited personal information to third parties during the consultation process.

For more information read the Your right to privacy factsheet.

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