"The Governor-General has proclaimed 1 November 2010 as the day the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 commences. The new Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will be established from that date and the majority of measures in the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Act 2010 will also commence on 1 November 2010. Different commencement times apply for:
· the Information Publication Scheme (new Part II of the FOI Act) which will commence on 1 May 2011,
· a requirement for agencies to publish information where access has been given under Part III of the FOI Act (new section 11C FOI Act) which will commence on 1 May 2011;
· changes to bring forward the ‘open access period’ in the Archives Act 1983 for most records from 30 years to 20 years which will begin on 1 January 2011 (records created in 1980 or 1981) and will be phased in over a ten year period so that a record created in 2000 will be in the open access period on 1 January 2021; and
· changes to bring forward the ‘open access period’ in the Archives Act for Cabinet notebooks from 50 years to 30 years which will begin on 1 January 2011 and will be phased in over a ten year period so that a Cabinet notebook created in 1990 will be in the open access period on 1 January 2021.
Professor John McMillan AO, who is the Information Commissioner Designate, will start as the first Australian Information Commissioner on 1 November 2010."
That's a lot of lead up time for the proactive publication requirements to kick in- agencies have been on notice something like this was coming since March 2009, and commencement is still 11 months away. Not sure of the practical effect and he is sure to be persuasive in the lead up in any event, but Information Commissioner Designate, Professor McMillan will have no statutory powers until 1 November.(Update: The Minister's announcement has Professor McMillan happy with arrangements, and indicating "Cultural change is under way.")
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