Section 6C - Appointment of the Information Commissioner
Extract of legislation
| 6C | Appointment of the Information Commissioner | ||
| (1) | The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister, may appoint an eligible person as the Information Commissioner. | ||
| (2) | The following persons are not eligible to be appointed as the Information Commissioner— | ||
| (a) | a person who is a member of the Parliament of Victoria or of the Commonwealth or of another State or a Territory; | ||
| (b) | a person who is a member of a council. | ||
| (3) | A person may hold office as Information Commissioner for not more than 2 terms (whether consecutive terms or otherwise). | ||
Guidelines
Appointing the Information Commissioner
Section 6C describes how and who may be the Victorian Information Commissioner, and for how long they may hold the role.
To appoint the Information Commissioner, the:
- Minister must recommend an eligible person to the Governor in Council; and then
- Governor in Council may appoint that person.3
The Governor in Council refers to the Governor acting on the advice of the Executive Council.4
Who is an ‘eligible person’?
Only ‘eligible persons’ may be appointed as the Information Commissioner.
The following persons are not eligible and cannot be appointed as the Information Commissioner:
- a Member of Parliament of Victoria or the Commonwealth or another State or Territory; and
- a member of a Council.7
A ‘member of a council’ means a member of any municipal Council (including the Melbourne City Council and the Greater Geelong City Council).8
Length of term
A person appointed as the Information Commissioner may hold office for a maximum of two terms (whether the person serves the terms back-to-back or not).
One term is a maximum of five years.10
This means a person who is appointed as the Information Commissioner may act in that role for a maximum period of 10 years.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6C(1)
- Governor of Victoria, ‘Constitutional responsibilities, Executive Council’, The appointment, responsibilities and powers of the Governor of Victoria, the Hon. Linda Dessau AC.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6C(1)
- Governor of Victoria, ‘Constitutional responsibilities, Executive Council’, The appointment, responsibilities and powers of the Governor of Victoria, the Hon. Linda Dessau AC.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6C(2).
- Local Government Act 2020 (Vic), section 3(1).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6C(2).
- Local Government Act 2020 (Vic), section 3(1).
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6E(1) defines how long a term is, which is a maximum of five years.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6E(1) defines how long a term is, which is a maximum of five years.
