The Office of the Information Commissioner, which oversees the implementation of the GIPA Act, has published guidelines regarding when processing charges for access applications should be discounted.
Abolition of planning assessment panels and changes to planning administrator functions
25 May, 2011
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Maintenance of Local Government Development Consent Powers) Bill 2011 (Bill) has been introduced into the Parliament. The Bill proposes to abolish planning assessment panels, amend the functions of planning administrators and create an advisory…
Review of GIPAA Decisions Made by Councils – Planning meetings in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal
10 May, 2011
Under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPAA), a person who is aggrieved by a reviewable decision of a Council, such as a decision not to provide access to information, may apply to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT) for a review…
The Court has confirmed that councils may charge fees for service that exceed the council’s costs of providing the service.
With the public submissions phase of the draft Workplace Health and Safety Regulations and Model Codes of Practice closing on 4 April 2011, we are now entering the final phase of the national health and safety laws harmonisation process.
Public service arrangements under new Government
8 Apr, 2011
The new Government has made a number of changes to the names of Departments and the structure of the NSW public service (Order of the Governor).
Consumer Laws and Councils
8 Apr, 2011
From 1 January 2011 the provisions of various statutes dealing with consumer protection were consolidated into the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which is contained in Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (formerly the Trade Practices Act 1974)….
Increased Protection For Whistleblowers
11 Mar, 2011
A broad range of amendments to the newly named Public Interest Disclosures Act 1994 (Act) (previously the Protected Disclosures Act 1994) have been made which will broaden the scope of protection given to people wishing to make disclosures about conduct in…
Publicly Discriminating: Disability Discrimination Applies To More Areas Than You Think
11 Mar, 2011
One of the aspects of a council’s charter is to exercise its functions in a manner that is consistent with and promotes social justice principles of equity, access, participation and rights (s8 Local Government Act 1993). An essential element of…
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act), has made it easier for a person to access local councils’ agendas, business papers and minutes of closed parts of council meetings. This is because the GIPA Act states that there is…
Councils will soon have the option of participating in a scheme to encourage upgrades of existing commercial and large strata residential buildings which will improve the energy, water and environmental efficiency or sustainability of the buildings. The scheme will be…
Section 193 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1999 (POEO Act) enables an authorised officer to require a person to furnish to the officer with information or records (or both) in connection with any matter within ‘the responsibilities…