search

openaustralia / righttoknow

Theme for, and issues specific to, Right To Know.
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/
MIT License
21 stars 15 forks source link

Help people overcome being asked for application forms/fees #639

Open henare opened 8 years ago

henare commented 8 years ago

Our research showed that 50% of unsuccessful state/local requests are due to application forms/fees being demanded.

equivalentideas commented 7 years ago

When we do this, we should walk through the process with people who’ve done it, like @henare and user Bruce, to try and identify all the pain points.

katska commented 9 months ago

@benrfairless alrighty this IS a long standing one and was a big problem at least back in 2016.

People are asked to repeat a request they already made via Right to Know using a government form, mostly to facilitate a payment. Seems wrongheaded on multiple levels!

I've clarified the position with OVIC, people are absolutely entitled to make a request via Right to Know and need not fill in a form. This from OVIC by email to our query on this: "Professional standard 2.1 states that states that an agency must provide an applicant with an option to make a request by email and Standard 2.3 states that agency must not refuse to accept a request where an applicant has not utilised an agency’s pro forma application form. Standard 2.2 states that an agency requiring payment of an application fee must take reasonable steps to provide options for payment of that fee in line with accepted payment methods the agency provides for other services of a similar financial sum.

While agencies can make decisions as to how they accept and process FOI applications, and how they accept payments for FOI requests in line with their operational requirements, they must do so within the bounds of the FOI Act and professional standards.

If someone believes that an agency is not adhering to the requirements in the FOI Act or the professional standards, they may make a complaint to OVIC in accordance with section 61A of the FOI Act. For further information about making a complaint, please see our website here."

benrfairless commented 9 months ago

This is a tough one. It's compounded by the fact that application fees really serve as a deterrent (at least this was the commentary made in W.A. the last time we met in person).

As I sit here right now, an option could be to create a custom status for these requests and provide the request email address to the person making the request for them to put in their online form? There are drawbacks to this option, but I don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

katska commented 9 months ago

@benrfairless I was thinking more along the lines of staunchly advocating for the requester in all jurisdictions, and perhaps raising awareness on the issue with information commissioners and see what else is possible to reign this bureaucratic behaviour back in. I doubt there's malice in the form creation, it could just be something they've done to make life easier for themselves to deal with FOIs/GIPAs and they don't know how to deal with things that aren't through the form. We're here to push back on that to help find another way. Yes, you're right, fees are a deterrent, but they're currently allowed to charge fees but not allowed to make people fill in forms or have to duplicate requests. So in this instance I'm only vying for rights people already have, not (albeit necessary) reform.