Data notes and disclaimer

About this dashboard

This dashboard has been prepared using data collected from Australian Government agencies and ministers subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). Australian Government agencies and ministers are required to provide, among other things, information about:

• the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to them
• the number of decisions they made granting, partially granting or refusing access, and the number and outcome of applications for internal review
• the timeliness of the decisions they made in relation to FOI requests made to them
• the number and outcome of requests to them to amend personal records
• charges they collected.

Supporting data are available for download at data.gov.au.

Individual agencies and ministers have custodianship and control over the data entered by them into the FOI agency database and reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and are responsible for the reliability and quality of the data contained in this dashboard. Requests to access case management data in this dashboard should be directed to the agency for which data is sought. Information on how to make such a request should be available on the agency's "right to information" website page. The OAIC does not hold agency case management data.

Disclaimer on the use of agency FOI data

The OAIC is committed to open and transparent access to data about agencies' FOI data. The OAIC makes every attempt to ensure the accuracy, currency and reliability of data contained in this dashboard. The data used in this report has been produced and processed from data provided by each agency and is considered to be reliable, accurate and complete at the point of quarterly extraction. On occasion, data is recorded or re-categorised on activities undertaken for prior reporting periods after the conclusion of those reporting periods, which may result in changes to previously reported historical data. The figures may also differ from those in the OAIC's Annual Report. The OAIC, its employees or agents do not accept responsibility for the use any person makes of the data it provides on this section of its website.

The OAIC does not accept any responsibility or liability for material contained on third party sites that reference the information on this website or for the use any person makes of such third-party information. The OAIC does not monitor these websites and makes no representations in relation to the quality or accuracy of the information on third-party websites.

Notes on the data

Agencies who have changed names, but have materially maintained the same responsibilities, are represented under their most recent name, including for periods where their former names applied. Agencies that have been created because of Machinery of Government changes that combine responsibilities of several superseded agencies or where responsibilities are materially different to the superseded agencies, are represented as new entities.

Data is presented on a quarterly and financial year basis. For example (Q1) represents the July–September financial year quarter, and a year represents the July–June financial year period.

References to "personal information" may include personal information relating to the applicant or personal information of another person.

General enquiries

The OAIC welcomes feedback on the data and its presentation. Contact us on 1300 363 992 (Monday to Thursday, 10 am to 4 pm AEST/AEDT) or submit an enquiry form via our website.

These notes are Bluebird FOI Insights' own, separate from the publisher's notes above.

• Requests received basis. The dashboard's "requests received" figures count requests received from applicants (34,418 for FY2025-26 Q1–Q3). The source workbook's "Total requests received" (34,810) additionally includes 392 requests received on transfer from another agency; the transfer channel is ingested as its own measure and charted on the Requests received page.
• Agency renames. Renamed agencies appear under their most recent name for all periods (e.g. DISR, IHACPA, ASSEA, Health, Disability and Ageing, Net Zero Economy Authority).
• 2021 courts merger. The Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the Family Court of Australia merged in 2021 into the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. The source data reports this as two separate, still-active divisions (Division 1 and Division 2) with no single combined row, and does not indicate which predecessor court maps to which division. The dashboard keeps all four as distinct series (the two predecessor courts to 2020-21, the two divisions from 2021-22) by design, rather than merging them — this matches the publisher's own convention of representing merger-created bodies as new entities.