A research study into the rights of the public to access Government information has provided a broad insight into citizens’ views as well as the experiences they encounter when seeking the information.
Released by four state Information Commissioners and the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the second cross jurisdictional study on citizens’ awareness of their rights has been released as the Information Access Study 2021.
Leading the Information Commissioners from Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia as well as the Commonwealth Ombudsman, NSW Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd said the research provided a broad insight into citizens’ views and experiences of the right to access information.
“The importance of the right to access information is consistently recognised by respondents in each jurisdiction,” Ms Tydd said.
“The majority of respondents in each jurisdiction were aware that they had the right to access information from Government Departments/Agencies,” she said.
“The majority of respondents were aware of their right to access information from State Government Agencies and local Councils.”
Ms Tydd said that on average, three in 10 respondents had contacted at least one Government Agency in the past three years to obtain information.
She said the research found the citizens were generally able to obtain the Government information they sought, with success rates in each jurisdiction ranging from 61 to 88 per cent.
“This year, a number of jurisdictions also took the opportunity to ask respondents two questions regarding Government’s increased use of data, algorithms and other forms of artificial intelligence to inform decisions,” Ms Tydd said.
She said the majority of respondents (75 to 86 per cent) in the surveyed jurisdictions agreed that Agencies should be required to publicly report on artificial intelligence used to inform decisions that impacted individuals.
The majority of respondents (80 to 86 per cent) also agreed that Agencies should publicly report on the information they maintained.
“The research findings published in the Information Access Study 2021 can be accessed at this PS News link.
Commissioners who support the study include Ms Tydd as well as the Information Commissioner of Victoria, Sven Bluemmel; Information Commissioner of Queensland, Rachael Rangihaeata; Information Commissioner for Western Australia, Catherine Fletcher; and Acting ACT and Commonwealth Ombudsman, Penny McKay.”
