Notice · Administrative & Public Law
FOI third-party consultation notice: business information or personal information (FOI Act ss 27 and 27A)
Agency notice inviting a person or business to make submissions before documents containing their business or personal information are released under the FOI Act, with the response date, the exemption tests, the processing extension and their review rights.
- Kind
- Notice. A formal notice to serve or publish.
- Where it applies
- Commonwealth, Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for Commonwealth and Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when an agency or minister processing a Commonwealth FOI request considers that a person or organisation might reasonably wish to argue that documents are exempt under s 47 or conditionally exempt under s 47G or s 47F. Send it early, because the consultation extends the processing period by 30 days only if the agency determines this in writing and tells the applicant.
How AI may be used
AI may identify the third parties named in the documents and fill the notice and schedule; the FOI decision-maker decides whom to consult, what to attach and the response date.
AI may
- List the people and organisations named in the documents within scope, with the pages and the kind of information about them
- Fill the notice and the schedule of documents or extracts for each third party from the decision-maker’s instructions
- Calculate the response date and the extended processing date, for the decision-maker to confirm
AI must not
- Must not decide whether a third party might reasonably wish to make an exemption contention
- Must not disclose the applicant’s identity, or one third party’s information to another, in a notice
- Must not process the documents in a tool outside the agency’s approved environment or one that retains or trains on them
The lawyer checks
- Each third party consulted has information of the kind in s 27(2) or personal information, and the s 27(3) or s 27A(2) matters were considered
- Each notice attaches only the third party’s own information, and nothing identifies the applicant unless the applicant agreed
- The 30-day extension has been determined in writing and the applicant told as soon as practicable (s 15(6))
- If access is to be given despite objection, the notice of decision goes to both the third party and the applicant, and nothing is released until review rights have run out
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
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- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Administrative & Public Law
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- Application for extension of time to apply for review (Administrative Review Tribunal): preparation guide
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- Request for a statement of reasons for an administrative decision, with reasons-deficiency table
- Agency submission in response to a Commonwealth Ombudsman draft report or proposed critical opinions (Ombudsman Act s 8(5))
- Request for reasons and review of an automated or AI-assisted government decision
- Request to issue a summons (Administrative Review Tribunal): give evidence, produce documents, or both
- Application to the Administrative Review Tribunal for review: completion guide (including the Generative AI Practice Direction)
- Complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman: preparation guide and complaint summary
- Agency AI transparency statement under the DTA standard: advice note and template for government clients
All precedents for Administrative & Public Law · Tasks and AI use in this area