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Ask for your own file

An access application to a WA agency for the documents about you. Police, the DPP, Communities, a hospital.

Subject: Access application (personal information) — Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA), section 12 — [your full name], DOB [your date of birth]

To the Freedom of Information Coordinator
[the agency]

Applicant: [your full name]
Date of birth: [your date of birth]
Address for notices: [your postal address]
Email: [your email]
Identification: attached

1. Documents sought

Every document that contains my personal information, held by [the agency], including: [the documents you want].

“Document” includes running sheets, case notes, file notes, emails, text and instant messages, memoranda, forms, audio, video and body-worn footage, and the metadata and audit logs for each.

2. If a document no longer exists

Where a document cannot be found or has been destroyed, please give notice under section 26 for that document and provide the records that show what happened to it: the retention period that applied, the disposal authority relied on, the date, and who decided.

3. Third parties

I do not seek the personal details of other members of the public. Where a document includes them, I ask for an edited copy under section 24. The names and registered numbers of officers acting in their official capacity are not third-party personal information for this purpose (Schedule 1, clause 3(3)).

4. Charges

These are documents containing my own personal information. No charge may be made for giving me access to them (section 16(1)(d)).

5. Form of access and time

PDF for documents, native format for audio and video. I ask for a decision within the 45-day period in section 13(3). I do not agree to an extension.

Please acknowledge receipt and give me the file reference.

Yours faithfully,
[your full name]
today

Which body

Any Western Australian agency. Send it to its FOI coordinator. Police: Freedom.Of.Information@police.wa.gov.au. The DPP: admin@dpp.wa.gov.au. Others list theirs under “Freedom of Information” on their site.

Which clock

45 days

FOI Act 1992 (WA) s 13(3)

Which document

A copy of your ID. Nothing else. Reasons are not required (s 10(2)).

The receipts
(3) For the purposes of this section the permitted period is 45 days after the access application is received or such other period as is agreed between the agency and the applicant or allowed by the Information CommissionerFOI Act 1992 (WA) s 13(3)
(d) no charge may be made for providing an applicant with access to personal information that relates to the applicantFOI Act 1992 (WA) s 16(1)(d)
(2) Subject to this Act, a person's right to be given access is not affected by — (a) any reasons the person gives for wishing to obtain accessFOI Act 1992 (WA) s 10(2)
If the applicant has requested access to a document containing personal information that relates to the applicant, the fact that matter is personal information that relates to the applicant must be considered as a factor in favour of disclosureFOI Act 1992 (WA) s 21