Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts[Section 9]
In this Act,
unless the contrary intention appears —
agency means —
(a) a
Minister; or
(b) a
public body or office,
and the agency means the agency to which an access
application or application for amendment of personal information has been made
or to which such an application has been transferred or partly transferred;
applicant or access applicant means the person by
whom or on whose behalf an access application has been made;
applicant for amendment means the person by whom
or on whose behalf an application for amendment of personal information has
been made;
contractor means a contractor as defined in the
Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999 or the Prisons
Act 1981 , as is relevant to the case;
Corrective Services means the division concerned
with corrective services in the department of the Public Service principally
assisting the Minister administering the Prisons Act 1981 in the
administration of that Act;
court includes a tribunal;
document means —
(a) any
record;
(b) any
part of a record;
(c) any
copy, reproduction or duplicate of a record; or
(d) any
part of a copy, reproduction or duplicate of a record;
edited copy , in relation to a document, means a
copy from which exempt matter has been deleted under section 24;
exempt agency means a person or body mentioned in
Schedule 2 and includes staff under the control of the person or body;
exempt document means a document that contains
exempt matter;
exempt matter means matter that is exempt matter
under Schedule 1;
exemption certificate means a certificate under
section 36;
officer of an agency includes —
(a) a
member of the agency;
(b) the
principal officer of the agency;
(c) any
person employed in, by, or for the purposes of, the agency; and
(d) if
the agency is a contractor or subcontractor, a director of the contractor
or subcontractor (in addition to the persons referred to in
paragraphs (a), (b) and (c));
personal information means information or an
opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not,
about an individual, whether living or dead —
(a)
whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the
information or opinion; or
(b) who
can be identified by reference to an identification number or other
identifying particular such as a fingerprint, retina print or body sample;
principal officer of an agency means —
(a) in
relation to a department of the Public Service or an organization specified in
column 2 of Schedule 2 to the Public Sector Management Act 1994
— the chief executive officer of that department or
organization;
(b) in
relation to the Police Force of Western Australia — the
Commissioner of Police;
(c) in
relation to a local government — the chief executive officer
of the local government;
(d) in
relation to a regional local government — the chief executive
officer of the regional local government;
(e) in
relation to an agency that consists of one person (not being an incorporated
body) — that person;
(f) in
relation to an agency for which the regulations declare an officer to be the
principal officer of the agency — that officer;
(fa) in
relation to a contractor or to any subcontractor under the relevant
contract — the holder of the office specified in the relevant
contract to be the principal officer for the purposes of this Act;
(g) in
relation to any other agency —
(i)
if it is an incorporated body that has no
members — the person who manages the affairs of the body; or
(ii)
if it is a body (whether incorporated or not) that is
constituted by 2 or more persons — the person who is entitled
to preside at any meeting of the body at which he or she is present;
public body or office means —
(a) a
department of the Public Service;
(b) an
organization specified in column 2 of Schedule 2 to the
Public Sector Management Act 1994 ;
(c) the
Police Force of Western Australia;
(d) a
local government or a regional local government;
(e) a
body or office that is established for a public purpose under a written law;
(f) a
body or office that is established by the Governor or a Minister;
(g) any
other body or office that is declared by the regulations to be a public body
or office being —
(i)
a body or office established under a written law; or
(ii)
a corporation or association over which control can be
exercised by the State, a Minister, a body referred to in paragraph (a),
(b), (e), (f) or (g)(i), or the holder of an office referred to in
paragraph (f) or (g)(i);
or
(h) a
contractor or subcontractor;
record means any record of information however
recorded and includes the following —
(a) any
paper or other material, including affixed papers on which there is writing;
(b) any
map, plan, diagram or graph;
(c) any
drawing, pictorial or graphic work, or photograph;
(d) any
paper or other material on which there are marks, figures, symbols or
perforations having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them;
(e) any
article or material from which sounds, images or writing can be reproduced
whether or not with the aid of some other article or device;
(f) any
article on which information has been stored or recorded, either mechanically,
magnetically or electronically;
relative , in relation to a person, includes a de
facto partner of a person;
requested documents means the document or
documents requested in an access application;
State archive has the same definition as in the
State Records Act 2000 ;
subcontractor means a subcontractor as defined in
the Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999 or the Prisons
Act 1981 , as is relevant to the case;
third party means a third party referred to in
section 32 or 33.
[Clause 1 amended by No. 31 of 1993
s. 45(a); No. 32 of 1994 s. 19; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4;
No. 43 of 1999 s. 20; No. 47 of 1999 s. 15; No. 53 of 2000
s. 10(1); No. 28 of 2003 s. 67.]
(1) A person is not to
be regarded as a separate agency by reason of —
(a)
holding office as a member or other officer of an agency; or
(b)
holding an office established for the purposes of an agency.
(2) The Bureau of
Criminal Intelligence, Protective Services Unit, Witness Security Unit and
Internal Affairs Unit of the Police Force of Western Australia are to be
regarded as separate agencies and are not to be regarded as part of the Police
Force of Western Australia.
(3) The Internal
Investigations Unit of Corrective Services is to be regarded as a separate
agency and is not to be regarded as part of the department in which it is
established.
(4) The regulations
may declare that a specified office or body is not to be regarded as a
separate agency but is to be regarded as part of a specified agency.
[Clause 2 amended by No. 31 of 1993
s. 45(b); No. 11 of 1996 s. 41.]
3 .
Courts are agencies but judges etc. are not
For the purposes of
this Act —
(a) a
court is an agency;
(b) a
registry or other office of a court and the staff of such a registry or other
office are part of the court;
(c) a
person holding a judicial office or other office pertaining to a court, being
an office established by the written law establishing the court, is not an
agency and is not included in an agency.
(1) Subject to
subclause (2), a reference to a document of an agency is a reference to a
document in the possession or under the control of the agency including a
document to which the agency is entitled to access and a document that is in
the possession or under the control of an officer of the agency in his or her
capacity as such an officer.
(2) Where the agency
is a Minister a reference to a document of an agency is a reference to a
document that —
(a) is
in the possession or under the control of the Minister in the Minister’s
official capacity; and
(b)
relates to the affairs of another agency (not being another Minister),
and includes a
document to which the Minister is entitled to access and a document in the
possession or under the control of a member of the staff of the Minister as
such a member, but does not include a document of an agency for which the
Minister is responsible.
(3) A document in the
possession or under the control of an agency on behalf of or as an agent
for —
(a) the
Commonwealth, another State or a Territory; or
(b) an
agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth, another State or a Territory,
is not a document of
the agency.
A document relating to
a court is not to be regarded as a document of the court unless it relates to
matters of an administrative nature.
6 .
Documents of Police and Corrective Services units
(1) A document of the
Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, Protective Services Unit, Witness Security
Unit or Internal Affairs Unit of the Police Force of Western Australia is not
to be regarded as a document of the Police Force of Western Australia.
(2) A document of the
Internal Investigations Unit of Corrective Services is not to be regarded as a
document of the department in which it is established.
[Clause 6 amended by No. 31 of 1993
s. 45(b); No. 11 of 1996 s. 41.]
[ 7. Deleted by No. 53
of 2000 s. 10(2).]
7A . Documents of Authority etc. under gas
pipelines access legislation
(1) In this
clause —
access regulation functions means the functions
given by or under the National Gas Access (WA) Act 2009 ;
arbitrator has the meaning given in
section 61 of the Energy Arbitration and Review Act 1998 ;
Authority means the Economic Regulation Authority
established by the Economic Regulation Authority Act 2003 ;
Board has the meaning given in section 49 of
the Energy Arbitration and Review Act 1998 .
(2) A document —
(a) that
is in the possession or under the control of the Authority (because of its
access regulation functions), the Board or an arbitrator; or
(b) to
which the Authority (because of its access regulation functions), the Board or
an arbitrator is entitled to access,
is not to be regarded
as a document of the Authority, the Board or an arbitrator unless it relates
to a matter of an administrative nature concerning the Authority, the Board or
an arbitrator.
[Clause 7A inserted by No. 65 of 1998
s. 89; amended by No. 67 of 2003 s. 62; No. 16 of 2009
s. 70.]
8 .
Charges for dealing with applications
A reference to charges
imposed or payable for dealing with an access application includes a reference
to charges for giving access to the requested documents or to edited copies of
the requested documents.