Accessing our information

Find out about accessing information that we hold.

On this page:

Information Publication Scheme

Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), we proactively publish information about what we do and the way we do it. Read more about our Information Publication Scheme.

Requesting information or documents

Most requests for information or copies of documents can be dealt with informally and quickly under our Information Access Policy. A phone call or email may be all that's needed.

We can release documents under the Information Access Policy that relate to your request for assistance, including:

  • documents containing your own personal information (eg. your request for assistance form and supporting documents)
  • evidence we have that relates to your request for assistance (eg. time sheets, pay slips, emails, diary records, statutory declaration or formal statements)
  • notes we've taken during our conversations with you (other than notes made during mediation)
  • letters we've written to other parties about the issues in dispute
  • tribunal, court decisions or authorities we've relied on when making a decision
  • call information from our Infoline relating to you (including call summaries and recordings).

Read our Information Access Policy for more information about accessing information we hold.

Making a Freedom of Information (FOI) request

You have the right to:

  • access documents
  • ask for information about you to be changed or added if it's incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading
  • ask for a review of our decision if we refuse you access to a document or change your details.

If the document you want can't be released under our IA Policy, you can apply to access it under the FOI Act.

We can refuse to release some documents, or parts of documents, if the FOI Act allows it. This includes documents that:

  • affect the enforcement of law
  • are given to us in confidence
  • are subject to legal professional privilege.

Documents that have business and personal information in them may not be released unless it is in the public interest.

We will contact you to ask whether you agree to exclude public servants' names and contact details, where this information does not appear to be specifically relevant to the scope of an FOI request.

To make an FOI request you need to put your request in writing with the following information:

  • stating that you're making an application under the FOI Act
  • provide detailed information about the document you want, so we can identify it quickly
  • provide contact details so we can send you notices under the FOI Act (eg. email, postal, address or fax number).

Send your request to us by:

  • email to foi@fwo.gov.au
  • post to Information Governance Team, Fair Work Ombudsman, GPO Box 9887 Melbourne VIC 3001.

We will always aim to send you a decision within the statutory timeframes allowed under the FOI Act. This generally means within 30 days from the day after we receive your request, but this timeframe will be extended if we have to consult with any third parties or for other reasons including the complexity of a request or the volume of documents sought. Like many government agencies, our staff’s ability to process FOI requests may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we may seek applicants’ agreement to extend processing timeframes connected to some requests.

Fees and charges

There's no application fee to make an FOI request.

There are no processing charges for documents containing your own personal information.

Processing charges may apply to other requests.

Read our FOI charges fact sheet to find out more about these charges.

If you disagree with our decision

When we've made a decision on your FOI request, we'll send you a letter explaining our decision and your review and appeal rights.

You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:

  • if we refuse to give you access to all or part of a document or if we defer giving you access
  • if we impose a charge
  • if we refuse to change or add to the information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.

A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that have information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.

The decision will be reviewed internally by another officer in our agency. We'll tell you our decision within 30 days of getting your written request.

Information Commissioner review

You can also ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our decision about your FOI request:

  • within 60 days of the decision or
  • within 30 days after you're notified if you're an affected third party.

The Information Commissioner can:

  • confirm our decision
  • change our decision
  • make a new decision.

More information is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's website.

Complaints

If you’re unhappy with the way we’ve handled your FOI request, let us know. We’ll see if we can address your concerns. If you remain unhappy, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

FOI complaints must be made in writing. You can:

You can find more information about making a complaint on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's website .

    Disclosure log

    The Fair Work Ombudsman is required by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to publish this disclosure log on its website. The disclosure log lists information that has been released in response to an FOI request. The disclosure log requirement does not apply to:

    • personal information about any person if publication of that information would be unreasonable
    • information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person if publication of that information would be unreasonable
    • other information covered by a determination made by the Australian Information Commissioner if publication of that information would be unreasonable
    • any information it is not reasonably practicable to publish because of the extent of modifications needed to be made to remove the information listed above.

    We maintain at least 5 years of disclosure log entries on our website. You can view earlier disclosure log entries on Trove.

    To the extent that copyright in some of this material is owned by a third party, you may need to seek their permission before you can reuse that material.

    Documents are provided in PDF format. We aim to provide documents in an accessible format. If you're having problems accessing a document, please email foi@fwo.gov.au.

    On 6 February 2023, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was abolished and certain functions and responsibilities under the Fair Work Act 2009 transferred to us (the Fair Work Ombudsman).

    If you have a question about the ABCC’s disclosure log or wish to make an information access request for ABCC information, please email foi@fwo.gov.au. You can view earlier ABCC disclosure log entries on Trove.

    Request no Date released Summary of request Document type Supplementary information Document
    IA-1734 09/12/2022

    A copy of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s estimates briefing pack, including back pocket briefs, for the 2022 October and November Budget Estimates.

    		 Brief

    Release in full

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1734
    IA-1693 14/11/2022

    Documents provided by Bupa to the Fair Work Ombudsman (self reporting) that pertain to the entitlements of persons employed by Bupa as registered nurses, enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing in the state of NSW.

    Emails

    Letters

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    IA-1693 – FOI

    IA-1693 – FOI 2
    IA-1458 28/02/2022

    Documents in relation to the FWO's investigation into Austal Ships in 2020-2021.

    Emails

    Reports

    Letters

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1458
    IA-1507 18/01/2022

    Correspondence from the FWO to security companies based in NSW as referenced in the FWO media release dated 1 October 2021 "More than $300,000 recovered for security staff". This advises FWO contacted 16 security companies in Sydney, of which 4 were found to be non-compliant.

    		 Emails

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1507
    IA-1506 18/01/2022

    Correspondence from the FWO to security companies based in VIC as referenced in the FWO media release dated 1 October 2021 "More than $300,000 recovered for security staff".

    		 Emails

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1506
    IA-1505 29/10/2021

    Details on the number of FWO staff based in WA.

    Details on the number of FWO inspectors based in WA and a breakdown of their activity in the state in 2020-21, 2019-20 and 2018-19.

    		 Report

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1505
    IA-1390 09/04/2021

    A summary report containing the completion date of the first finalised:

    1. fraud-risk assessment for the purposes of PGPA rule 2014 s10(a), and
    2. fraud/compliance audit implemented for purposes of s109(b/d) of the rule per calendar year from 2016 to 2019 inclusively from the Fair Work Ombudsman.
    		 Report

    Release in full

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1390
    IA-1154 18/03/2020 Documents produced between 18/09/19 and 14/01/20 regarding the processing of the applicant’s previous FOI request about the assistance the FWO has provided to subclass 417 visa holders, who have undertaken three months of regional work for second-year Working Holiday visa purposes. Emails

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1154
    IA-1109 20/12/2019 The final report (or equivalent final review document) that underpins the announcement in the June 2019 media release about the FWO’s investigation relating to drivers engaged by Uber Australia. Report

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1109
    IA-1025 08/10/2019 Documents relating to the FWO's opinion that led to the press release about the FWO's investigation into the engagement of drivers engaged by Uber Australia Pty Ltd.

    Emails

    Letters

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 IA-1025
    IA-1013 26/09/2019 Documents relating to the FWO’s investigation into the engagement of drivers by Uber Australia Pty Ltd - including phone contact with Uber representatives and the number of drivers interviewed. Emails

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    IA-1013 FOI package 1

    IA-1013 FOI package 2

    IA-1013 FOI package 3
    FOI-1040 05/04/2019 Correspondence of the then Workplace Authority concerning the certification of the Tindsec Labour Hire Pty Ltd Collective Agreement.

    Emails

    Letters

    Tables

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 FOI-1040
    FOI-1018 03/04/2019 Any documents from the archives of the Workplace Authority held by the FWO which relate to the Djooraminda Cottage Carers' Collective Workplace Agreement.

    Agreement

    Tables

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 FOI-1018
    FOI-000982 17/12/2018 Communications between the office of the Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations and the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman created between 1 and 15 October 2018 relating to the union rallies held in October 2018. Emails

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 FOI-982
    FOI-000933 12/11/2018 Written communications between the FWO and Housing Industry Association Ltd between 15/11/2011 and 29/08/2016 and Pay Rate Guides published in 2014, 2015 and 2016 for the Building Construction General On-Site Award 2010, Plumbing and Fire Sprinkles Award 2010 and the Joinery and Building Trades Award 2010 and any superseded versions. Email

    Release in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    FOI-933 Package 1

    FOI-933 Package 2

    FOI-933 Package 2A

    FOI-933 Package 2C
    FOI-000976 01/11/2018 A copy of FWO's Conflict of Interest Policy. Policy

    Release in full

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 FOI-976
    FOI-000793 13/03/2018 Email correspondence between the Fair Work Ombudsman, Ms Natalie James and the Australian Public Service Commissioner, Mr John Lloyd (in his capacity as Public Service Commissioner or otherwise), between the period of 8 December 2014 to the 31 December 2017. Email

    Released in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    FOI-793 Package 1

    FOI-793 Package 2
    FOI-000770 19/02/2018 Documents relating to the 2013 MOU between the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

    Agreement

    Emails

    Letters

    Released in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    FOI-770 Package 1

    FOI 770 Package 2

    FOI-770 Package 3
    FOI-000772 05/02/2018 Information relating to temporary migrant workers who are working in Australia in breach of their visa. Policy

    Released in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 FOI-772
    FOI-000771 29/01/2018 Documents relating to the sharing of data and information between the DIBP and FWO in relation to Taskforce Cadena. Agreement

    Released in part

    All information released to the applicant has been made publicly available under section 11C

    		 FOI-771

    Source reference: Freedom of Information Act 1982

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