Freedom of Information

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update – Impact on Freedom of Information Requests

The department is actively processing FOI requests and is aiming to finalise all requests as quickly as possible. However, the department is experiencing a significant call on resources to manage Australia’s response. This is having an impact on the department’s ability to process requests.

During this time, we may require additional time to process your request and seek your agreement to an extension of time, or seek this agreement from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. We encourage all applicants to use self-service or administrative access schemes (obtaining information outside of the FOI Act) on our website to access information where possible.

Please send an email to the FOI mailbox (foi@awe.gov.au) if you would like to contact the department regarding your FOI request.

Access your documents

Some information is available to you without an FOI request. For example, documents containing your personal information.

Contact us to request a copy of your documents.

Publicly available documents

Before you make an FOI request, check what is already publicly available. Check what we publish:

Make an FOI request

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives you a legal right to request access to material held by the government.

Our department was established on 1 February 2020. Before this, we were the:

  • Department of Agriculture
  • Department of the Environment and Energy (Environment portfolio)

Visit the relevant website to access FOI logs and make a request.

Agriculture

Access FOI advice on the Agriculture website.

You can also browse the old website in the NLA archive. See past Agriculture web pages.

Environment

Access FOI advice on the Environment website.

You can also browse the old website in the NLA archive. See past Environment web pages.