The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is an independent Australian Government agency established under the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010.
The OAIC has three primary functions:
- privacy functions, conferred by the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and other laws
- freedom of information functions, in particular, oversight of the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and review of decisions made by agencies and ministers under that Act
- government information policy functions, conferred on the Australian Information Commissioner under the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010.
Major changes to federal freedom of information (FOI) law made in 2010 established the OAIC as the body responsible for all three of these functions. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which was the national privacy regulator, was integrated into the OAIC at this time.
For further information on the establishment of the OAIC, please see FOI fact sheet 2 — Freedom of Information: what’s changed.
The OAIC’s responsibilities include:
- conducting investigations
- reviewing decisions made under the FOI Act
- handling complaints
- monitoring agency administration
- providing advice to the public, government agencies and businesses.
The OAIC is headed by the Australian Information Commissioner, who is supported by the Freedom of Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner and staff.
Our ABN is 85 249 230 937.
Find out more
For more information on us, see the pages on Who we are
What we do, how to Contact us, and our Corporate Information.
To find out what information we can provide to you, and how to obtain it, look at our Freedom of information disclosure log, our Information Publication Scheme page, and the Access to Information page.
The OAIC works with a large network of other organisations and committees, both nationally and internationally. If you would like more information about this, you can find it on our Working with others page.
Information on careers with the OAIC can be found on our Careers page.
