Freedom of Information
Defence Housing Australia (DHA) is required to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
Requests made under the FOI Act must:
- be in writing; and
- state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act; and
- provide sufficient information concerning the document/s to allow its identification; and,
- provide details of how notices provided by DHA in response to the request can be sent to the applicant.
FOI requests should be sent to:
Company Secretary
Defence Housing Australia
26 Brisbane Avenue
BARTON ACT 2600
FOI requests may also be lodged by email to foi@dha.gov.au
Processing of FOI requests
Upon receipt of your FOI request, DHA will provide you with an acknowledgement of receipt within 14 days. In accordance with the FOI Act, a decision must be notified to the FOI applicant within 30 days of receipt.
However, as some documents may be subject to a third party consultation process, the FOI Act provides agencies with the right to extend the applicable timeframe by an additional 30 days. If consultation is required, you will be informed accordingly.
Fees and Charges
FOI requests no longer require an application fee to be provided. The FOI Act provides that some charges may be imposed for processing requests (except where you are seeking documents containing your own personal information).
Should your FOI request incur any charges, you will be provided with an estimate of the applicable charges. Your request will not proceed until a response to the estimate is received by DHA.
DHA may decide to remit, reduce or not impose processing charges under certain circumstances.
Review Rights
Following receipt of the decision on access, you are entitled to seek an internal review of the decision. If you wish to utilise this option, you are required to write to DHA's Company Secretary within 30 days of being notified of the decision.
Alternatively, you may write to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) seeking a review of the decision. This can be done as a result of either the initial decision or the internal review decision.
Subsequent review options after internal review and OAIC review are also available. The complete process for seeking a review on access is provided in the decision letter sent to you at the completion of your request.
Contact
DHA's Company Secretary can be contacted on (02) 6271 8401 to discuss any potential requests.