Important mandatory requirement information

There is a range of information that Australian Government agencies are required to publish online.

Why must I?

Government agencies must publish a range of information on their websites, including information that is required to be published as part of  the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. The IPS came into effect on 1 May 2011.

You must consider the IPS and the Online Content Requirements when publishing information on your website.

The Online Content Requirements have been updated to reflect the changes under the IPS. They supersede the Online Information Service Obligations (OISOs) released in 2001. The OISOs were originally published as part of the 2000 Government Online Strategy.

What must I do?

The following information must be available on Government agency websites:

• Identification of the Australian Government agency(s) responsible for managing the website.
• Contact details for the responsible agency.
• Publishing requirements under the IPS, including an agency plan showing how the agency will comply with the IPS requirements, specified categories of information such as organisational structure, annual reports, parliamentary information (such as file and contracts lists), operational information etc, and a disclosure log.
• Documents tabled in Parliament.
• Information on individual grants as required under the Commonwealth Grant Guidelines.
• Online forms.
• Agency media releases and speeches, and other public information such as public notices, warnings and advice. (Ministerial media releases should be published on the agency-funded minister’s site which should be linked from the agency site). A ministerial media release or speech is one that relates to the portfolio responsibility of the minister and should not contain material of a party political nature. For more information refer to the Guidelines on Ministerial & Departmental websites.
• Non-commercial agency publications, including reports released in print or other formats.

The following information must be available for Government Program websites:

• Identification of the Australian Government agency(s) responsible for managing the website.
• Contact details for the responsible agency.

How do I?

• Follow the Freedom of Information Guidelines and the Agency Resources from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on the Information Publication Scheme and disclosure log.
• Follow the guidance in the Web Guide on online forms, contract reporting, file lists, documents tabled in Parliament.
• Follow the guidance on grants reporting from the Department of Finance and Deregulation.
• Provide information about ordering arrangements where an agency publication is not available online, for example, a commercial publication.

Subjects:

• content
• OISO
• obligations
• information