Section 6K - General powers of Information Commissioner and Public Access Deputy Commissioner
Extract of legislation
| 6K | General powers of Information Commissioner and Public Access Deputy Commissioner | |
| (1) | The Information Commissioner has power to do all things that are necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with the performance of the Information Commissioner’s functions. | |
| (2) | The Public Access Deputy Commissioner has power to do all things that are necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with the performance of the Deputy Commissioner’s functions. | |
Guidelines
Power to do all things that are necessary or convenient
The Information Commissioner and Public Access Deputy Commissioner have the power to do ‘all things necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with’ their functions. This power helps to ensure the Commissioners can properly administer their functions under the Act by giving them the power to do what they need to perform their roles.
Northern Land Council v Quall [2020] HCA 33 considered a similar provision in section 203BK(1) of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) regarding the powers of representative bodies to ‘do all things necessary or convenient to be done for in connection with the performance of its functions’. In that case, Chief Justice Kiefel, Justice Gageler, and Justice Keane note:
The power conferred on a representative body by s 203BK(1) in the familiar terms of a power “to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with the performance of its functions”, though “broad”, is “strictly ancillary”, authorising “the provision of subsidiary means of carrying into effect what is enacted in the statute itself” and encompassing “what is incidental to the execution of its specific provisions”. The power does “not support the doing of a thing which departs from the scheme of the enactment by which the power is conferred”.3
This means the Information Commissioner and Public Access Deputy Commissioner may use the power in section 6K to do what they need to carry out their functions under the Act, provided their actions relate to a function under the Act. In practice, this may mean adopting flexibility in carrying out FOI functions.4
Example
For example, in carrying out their FOI education functions under section 6I(2)(a), the Information Commissioner and Public Access Deputy Commissioner may decide how best to promote understanding and acceptance by agencies and the public of the Act and its object.
In support of this function, the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner publishes a suite of guidance materials for agencies and the public, provides free training on the Act to agencies, hosts regular events on a variety of FOI topics, and engages with agencies subject to the Act.
- At [33], citing Palmer v Australian Electoral Commission (2019) 93 ALJR 947 at 955 [44]; 372 ALR 102 at 112; Shanahan v Scott (1957) 96 CLR 245 at 250; Palmer v Australian Electoral Commission (2019) 93 ALJR 947 at 958 [65]; 372 ALR 102 at 115, citing Morton v Union Steamship Co of New Zealand Ltd (1951) 83 CLR 402 at 410.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6K.
- At [33], citing Palmer v Australian Electoral Commission (2019) 93 ALJR 947 at 955 [44]; 372 ALR 102 at 112; Shanahan v Scott (1957) 96 CLR 245 at 250; Palmer v Australian Electoral Commission (2019) 93 ALJR 947 at 958 [65]; 372 ALR 102 at 115, citing Morton v Union Steamship Co of New Zealand Ltd (1951) 83 CLR 402 at 410.
- Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), section 6K.
