The ACNC is required by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 11C to publish a disclosure log on its website. The disclosure log lists information which has been released in response to an FOI access request. This requirement has applied since 1 May 2012. However, since the ACNC came into existence on 3 December 2012, it could only receive FOI requests from that date.

Read more information about making an FOI request.

When will a document not be published in the disclosure log?

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'. As at October 2013, the Australian Information Commissioner had made a determination in relation to the following information: information in a document that was an exempt document at the time that access was given by the agency to the applicant, or information in a document that the agency would have decided was an exempt document at the time that access was given to the applicant, if the request for that document had been received from a person other than the applicant.
  • any information if it is not reasonably practicable to publish the information because of the extent of modifications that would need to be made to delete the information listed in the above dot points.

The information described in the disclosure log has been released by the ACNC under the Freedom of information Act 1982 (Cth) and is available for public access.

Note that a document published on the disclosure log may be an edited version of the document originally provided to an applicant because of an exception listed above.

Access of documents published in the disclosure log

A link is provided if the information can be downloaded from this website or another website.

Information that is not available on a website may be obtained by writing to the FOI Contact Officer. A charge may be imposed to reimburse the ACNC for the cost incurred in copying or reproducing the information or sending it to you. There will be no charge for the time spent by the ACNC in processing the FOI request that led to this information being made available. You will be notified if any charge is payable and required to pay the charge before the information is provided.

Documents in the disclosure log will generally be provided in PDF format. If you are unable to read the format provided please contact the FOI Contact Officer. We will try to meet all reasonable requests for an alternative format of the document in a timely manner and at the lowest reasonable cost to you.

Information attached to, or referred to, in the ACNC’s disclosure log may be removed after 12 months, unless the information has enduring public value.

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 use it. More information on copyright can be found on the ACNC’s copyright page.

ACNC disclosure log

The ACNC's disclosure log is laid out below.

Log entries are divided according to year. Please note entries in the disclosure log are based on financial year, rather than calendar year.

If there is no entry recorded in a particular quarter or year, no information was released in response to an FOI access request.

Quarter 2

FOI Reference: 2013Q2R1

Date of access: 23/12/2013

FOI Request: Certain documents relating to a review undertaken by RTK Consultants.

The documents published here relate to the part of request that sought copies of any document recording communications between the ACNC and RTK Consultants which outline the purpose and reasons for the commencement of the review.

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Partial access was granted for 2 documents with deletions for irrelevant materials.
  • Access was refused for 1 document on the basis of conditional exemptions under ss 47E(c) and 47E(d) of the FOI Act

Other information: Note that 2013Q2R1 - Document 2 was produced by a third party (RTK Consultants).

FOI Reference: 2013Q2R2

Date of access: 9/12/2013

FOI Request: List of Public Benevolent Institutions that have been registered with the ACNC since 1 January 2013

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Full access to 1 document was granted

Other information: Note that information relating to Public Benevolent Institutions that have requested certain information be withheld from the ACNC Register was excluded from the terms of the request with the consent of the applicant.

Quarter 1

FOI Reference: 2014Q1R1

Date of access: 28/7/2014

FOI Request: Electronic copy of ACNC Charity Register database and related data tables (including any annual information statement data)

Information published in disclosure log:

  • The charity register database and annual information statements are now published on www.data.gov.au

Access decision:

  • Full access was granted

Quarter 3

FOI Reference: 2014Q3R2

Date of access: 1/4/2015

FOI Request: Request for access to a charity’s annual information statement

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Full access was granted

FOI Reference: 2014Q3R1

Date of access: 7/5/2015

FOI Request: Request for complaint against Church of Scientology

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Full access was granted

Other information: A complaint made against a charity is generally kept confidential. However, in this case, the complainant had stated publically that he had made a complaint and the details of the letter of complaint had been substantially made public.

Quarter 4

FOI Reference: 2014Q4R2

Date of access: 5/06/2015

FOI Request: Request for correspondence between the ACNC and certain listed entities relating to issues or concerns about charities on the Register of Environmental Organisations (REO)

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Full access granted to 4 documents
  • Partial access granted to16 documents with redactions for protected information
  • Access refused for 6 documents on the basis that the information was protected

FOI Reference: 2014Q4R3

Date of access: 17/06/2014

FOI Request: Request for documents relating to the Canada Revenue Agency’s response to political activities

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Full access granted to 1 document
  • Partial access granted to 1 document with redactions for information not relevant to the request
  • Access refused for 3 documents on the basis that the information was provided in confidence to the ACNC by an authority of an international government

FOI Reference: 2014Q4R5

Date of access: 23/7/2015

FOI Request: Request for the ‘Reasons for Decision’ document for the registration of ‘For the Love of Wildlife'

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Partial access granted to 1 document with redactions for information not publicly available and subject to ACNC secrecy provisions.

Quarter 2

FOI Reference: 2015Q2R2

Date of access: 17/12/2015

FOI Request: Request for the applications of the successful candidates appointed to the EL1 ACNC Legal Counsel positions

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Partial access granted to 2 documents with personal information redacted (s 47F)

Quarter 4

FOI Reference: 2017Q4R4

Date of access: 4/7/2017

FOI Request: Request for policies, directives, rules, guidelines, principles, practices and procedures governing the handling of requests for assistance under s 15(3)(a) of the FOI Act.

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Partial access granted - irrelevant information removed from Documents 1 & 2 (s 22)

Quarter 1

FOI Reference: 2019Q1R8

Date of access: 16/11/2018

FOI Request: Request for documents relating to registered charity ‘Out for Australia Limited’ and ACNC policies, directives, rules, guidelines, principles, procedures and any other document relied upon in assessing any application to register a charity with PBI status.

Information published in disclosure log:

Access decision:

  • Access refused for any documents relating to ‘Out for Australia Limited’ (s 47E(d) FOI Act)
  • Full access granted to documents 1 and 2
  • Partial access granted to documents 3 and 4 with deletions for irrelevant material (s 22)

Quarter 2

FOI Reference: 2019Q2R3

Date of access: 9/1/2019

FOI Request: Request for documents containing details about the ACNC's approach to administering the Information Publication scheme.

Information published in disclosure log:

2019Q2R3 – Document 1 (64.5 KB)
ACNC's Information Publication Scheme agency plan

2019Q2R3 – Document 2 (PDF, 103.53 KB)
Operational Procedure: Identifying documents for the Information Publication Scheme

2019Q2R3 – Document 3 (PDF, 100.47 KB)
Operational Procedure: Review of the Information Publication Scheme

2019Q2R3 – Document 4 (PDF, 92.44 KB)
Operational Procedure: Publishing Information under the Information Publication Scheme

2019Q2R3 – Document 5 (PDF, 43.61 KB)
FOI and IPS contact officer details

2019Q2R3 – Document 6 (PDF, 140.68 KB)
Our leaders

2019Q2R3 – Document 7 (PDF, 71.27 KB)
Commissioner

2019Q2R3 – Document 8 (PDF, 99.66 KB)
Information Publication Scheme

2019Q2R3 – Document 9 (PDF, 45.21 KB)
Public consultation and comment

2019Q2R3 – Document 10 (PDF, 844.46 KB)
Internal memo: Information Publication Scheme annual review

2019Q2R3 – Document 11 (PDF, 203.59 KB)
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission – Full-time Commissioner – Appointment 2017

2019Q2R3 – Document 12 (69.9 KB)
Word file containing copy of the email confirming receipt of IPS Agency Survey (note original email file unable to be uploaded to ACNC website)

2019Q2R3 – Document 13 (326.5 KB)
ACNC IPS Information Register template

2019Q2R3 – Document 14 (PDF, 207.5 KB)
Information Publication Scheme: Agency self-assessment checklist

2019Q2R3 – Document 15 (38.24 KB)
2017 ACNC self-assessment of IPS compliance template

Access decision:

  • Full access granted to 15 documents
  • Access refused to 10 documents (8 documents under s 47C, 2 documents under s 42)

FOI Reference: 2019Q2R4

Date of access: 11/1/2019

FOI Request: Documents detailing the number of registered religions, religious orders, religiously affiliated organisations in Australia, and tax exemption status of such organisations.

Information published in disclosure log:

2019Q2R4 – Document 1 (PDF, 60.92 KB)
Table: Main activity figures of ACNC registered charities in 2017 Annual Information Statement

2019Q2R4 – Document 2 (14.69 KB)
Table: Number of ACNC registered entities approved with each charitable subtype as at 1 December 2018

2019Q2R4 – Document 3 (PDF, 278.02 KB)
ACNC internal email correspondence

2019Q2R4 – Document 4 (5.42 MB)
Information on reported main activity of ACNC registered entities in 2017 Annual Information Statement

Access decision:

  • Full access granted to 2 documents
  • 2 documents released in part with deletions (one under s 47F, one under s 47E(d))
  • Access refused to one document (s 47E(d))