6.
staff[1]. The Official Secretary is required to prepare and furnish an annual report on the performance of the functions and duties of the Official Secretary, which is ultimately laid before both Houses of Parliament[2]. The Official Secretary also has statutory responsibilities under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (Cth). The evidence showed that the Governor-General is assisted and supported by the Office of the Official Secretary in two ways. First, the Office assists and supports the Governor-General in respect of all aspects of the Governor-General's role, which includes assisting and supporting the Governor-General's discharge of substantive powers and functions in respect of the Order. Secondly, the Governor-General is assisted and supported by the management and administration of office resources, such as financial and human resources and information technology. The distinction between the two forms of support will need to be borne in mind when approaching the task of construing s 6A(1).
The FOI Act
14 The general objects of the FOI Act are to give the Australian community access to information held by the Commonwealth Government, thereby "promoting better-informed decision-making" and permitting "increasing scrutiny" of the Government's activities[3]. Those objects are to be achieved by requiring "agencies" which are subject to the operation of the FOI Act[4] to "publish … information" and to "provid[e] … access to documents."[5] The powers and functions given by the FOI Act to achieve its objects are to be performed and exercised, as far as possible, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost[6].
15 Relevantly, "agency" is defined to include "a Department" or "a prescribed authority", which latter term is defined, in turn, to include the person
