Western Australia · FOI Act 1992 and the PRIS Act 2024

Run WA FOI today, and be ready for privacy in 2026

For WA agencies, local governments, and universities — AccessPoint runs FOI applications on the 45-day clock now, and ships the Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing framework ahead of the IPPs commencing 1 July 2026.

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Australia — Western Australia at a glance

FOI deadline
45 days as the permitted period, extendable by agreement
FOI review
Internal review, then the Information Commissioner
IPPs
Information Privacy Principles commencing 1 July 2026
Breach scheme
Notifiable information breaches from 1 January 2027
Application fee
The statutory fee for non-personal applications; personal applications free
Languages
English

Built for Australia — Western Australia

One platform for the whole access-and-privacy mandate, pre-configured for this regime and running in your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

The 45-day permitted period

Computed on receipt over the WA public-holiday calendar, with extensions by agreement recorded and third-party consultation tracked inside the period rather than alongside it.

Schedule 1 exemptions

The FOI Act's exemption clauses ship as citable grounds applied to specific passages, carried onto the redaction and into the notice of decision.

Ready for the PRIS Act

The Information Privacy Principles commence 1 July 2026. The pack ships the privacy framework now — assessments, a personal information register, and complaint handling — so readiness is built before the date rather than after it.

Notifiable breaches from 2027

The notifiable information breach scheme starts 1 January 2027. The assessment and notification workflows are in place ahead of commencement, ready to switch on.

Third-party consultation

Where a document affects another person's interests, run consultation as a tracked stage with its own deadline and recorded response.

In your own tenant

Documents, applications, and audit history stay inside your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant — no third-party cloud and no vendor access.

Two dates on the horizon

WA agencies have run FOI for thirty years and privacy for none. That changes on 1 July 2026.

Western Australia was the last Australian jurisdiction without comprehensive public sector privacy legislation, and the PRIS Act 2024 ends that in stages: the Information Privacy Principles commence 1 July 2026, and the notifiable information breach scheme follows on 1 January 2027. For agencies whose information governance has been an FOI function, this is a new discipline rather than an extension of an old one — a register of what personal information is held and why, assessments before new collections, a complaints process, and eventually a breach-notification duty on a clock. The agencies that handle it well will be the ones that stood the framework up before the commencement date and used the intervening months to populate it. AccessPoint ships both the FOI regime that applies today and the privacy regime that applies shortly, on one platform.

1 July 2026 Information Privacy Principles commence.
1 January 2027 Notifiable information breach scheme commences.
Built before the date The register and assessments populated in advance.

Configured out of the box

Installing the au-wa jurisdiction pack seeds your tenant with everything this regime needs — a starting point you can adjust, not a lock-in.

Related guide: FOI Workflow Quick Check
  • The WA FOI Act 1992 as the legal-authority spine, with the PRIS Act 2024 framework alongside
  • The 45-day permitted period with WA public holidays and extensions by agreement
  • The Schedule 1 exemption clauses, colour-coded for redaction and citable line by line
  • Third-party consultation as a tracked stage within the permitted period
  • Internal review and Information Commissioner external review tracking
  • The Information Privacy Principles framework ahead of the 1 July 2026 commencement
  • Notifiable information breach assessment and notification ahead of 1 January 2027
  • Application fees and access charges on the statutory basis

Australia — Western Australia Questions

What is the WA FOI deadline?
45 days is the permitted period for dealing with an access application, extendable by agreement with the applicant. AccessPoint computes it over the Western Australian public-holiday calendar and tracks third-party consultation inside the period, with any agreed extension recorded.

When does WA privacy law commence?
The Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Act 2024 phases in — the Information Privacy Principles commence 1 July 2026, and the notifiable information breach scheme commences 1 January 2027. The pack ships the framework now so agencies can populate registers and stand up assessments before the obligations bite.

Can we use the privacy features before commencement?
Yes, and that is the point of shipping them early. A personal information register, privacy assessments for new collections, and a complaints process are all useful practice before they are legal duties — and an agency that arrives at 1 July 2026 with a populated register is in a materially better position than one starting that day.

Where do documents reside?
Entirely within your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant, in the Australian region you choose. Applications, documents, redactions, and audit history never leave your control — no third-party cloud and no cross-border data transfers.

Run WA FOI in Your Own Tenant

Try AccessPoint free for 30 days, configured for Western Australia. No credit card required.

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