Transparency & accountability · The Barayamal case files
Two Acts. One job: daylight.
Decisions about First Nations people are made in Canberra one day and in Sydney the next — so since 2023 Barayamal has worked both freedom-of-information laws, filing 35 information-access requests with 18 agencies. The Commonwealth ones run in public on Right to Know; the NSW ones go direct to the agency. Different clocks, different fees, different umpires. The same presumption: information belongs to the public.
The Commonwealth wing
Freedom of Information Act 1982
Ministers and agencies of the Australian Government — Treasury, the ILSC, the NIAA, DFAT, Indigenous Business Australia.
The NSW wing
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
NSW agencies, ministers, councils, universities, state-owned corporations — and the land rights system.
Which law opens your file?
One question decides it: who holds the document?
Know both laws
The rights are similar; the machinery isn’t. Here’s the working difference.
| FOI Act 1982 · Commonwealth | GIPA Act 2009 · NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it covers | Australian Government ministers and agencies | NSW agencies, ministers, local councils, universities and state-owned corporations |
| To apply | Free, in writing | $30 formal access application, in writing |
| The clock | 30 days, extendable — silence becomes a deemed refusal you can appeal | 20 working days, extendable |
| Charges | Processing charges can apply — contestable, as our NIAA round proved | $30 an hour can apply — halved for hardship or special public benefit |
| If they refuse | Internal review, free | Internal review, $40, within 20 working days |
| The umpire | OAIC — free Information Commissioner review | IPC — free review — or NCAT, which can order release |
| Extra teeth | Disclosure logs of released documents | A statutory presumption in favour of disclosure plus mandatory proactive publication — including the agency’s own disclosure log |
Beyond our files · the wider record
Search the public record
Explore First Nations–related information-access requests and government disclosure logs beyond Barayamal’s own case files.
Official directory · Commonwealth
Federal FOI disclosure logs
Australian Government agencies generally publish information released under FOI, subject to statutory exceptions, in disclosure logs. The OAIC keeps the central agency directory — find logs from the NIAA to Treasury.
Browse the OAIC agency directory ↗Official logs · New South Wales
NSW GIPA disclosure logs
NSW keeps no central register: each agency maintains its own disclosure log on its own website, as the Information and Privacy Commission confirms. Start with the agency that holds the file.
Browse NSW GIPA sources →Community platform · both Acts
Search public requests
Search public requests containing Aboriginal, Indigenous, First Nations or Torres Strait Islander terms. Right to Know covers requests made through its platform, and keyword matches require review.
Run the First Nations search ↗These sources contain publicly available requests and releases, but they are not complete records of every FOI or GIPA application.
The FOI case files
18 requests · 10 agencies · umpire: OAIC4 released · 7 refused · 5 at review · 2 open / otherFour investigations run under the Commonwealth Act: a resort sold without explanation, agencies marking their own integrity homework, money labelled “Indigenous” that may never reach Indigenous hands and an economic agency that let the clock run out twice.
The Ayers Rock Resort sale
Bought for around $300 million in 2011, sold to Journey Beyond in 2025 — with the valuations, approvals and FIRB conditions all withheld. Refusals nearly across the board; the FIRB file now sits with the Information Commissioner.
Integrity inside the agencies
How the agencies that decide First Nations outcomes handle their own nepotism, conflict-of-interest and discrimination complaints. NIAA and DFAT released binders with redactions after a contested charges estimate. Creative Australia refused outright.
What came outThe NIAA integrity binder, the NIAA COI templates and the DFAT release — read them yourself.
Who gets the money?
Whether “Indigenous” funding reaches Indigenous-owned and community-controlled organisations. One clean win — Education released the HELP-debt tables in full on internal review. Three files are contested; a new fifth asks who applied to the Community Language Schools round.
What came outRefused at first, released in full on internal review: the HELP tables (XLSX) — figures that weren’t public before.
Inside Indigenous Business Australia
The agency built to grow First Nations business let both statutory clocks expire without a decision — deemed refusals on its workplace-culture records and on the procurement file behind its TDi and Investible accelerator arrangements. Statements of reasons arrived 25 June 2026. The review round is next.
The GIPA case files
17 requests · 8 agencies · umpire: IPC / NCAT4 refused · 4 at review · 9 open / otherThe round that started everything. In 2023 our founder asked NSW agencies to explain the administration imposed on his own land council — Red Chief LALC in Gunnedah — under the GIPA Act. Refused or “not held” at nearly every turn. It taught us to ask in public, so the refusals themselves became the record. In 2026 we went back at scale: twelve fresh applications across six NSW agencies, reaching well past the land councils into Closing the Gap money, grant probity, land claims and public housing contracts.
The land council round
Who ordered the administration, on what evidence, at what cost — and how healthy is the democratic base of the land rights system? The paper answers so far: one report “not held”, one list refused, one contract refused, membership figures “not held”.
The 2026 NSW round
Twelve formal access applications filed between March and May 2026 with six NSW agencies. They ask who governs Closing the Gap money, how grant rounds are judged, how Aboriginal land claims are prioritised, how land dealings and s 66A directions get approved, and who wins the contracts in Aboriginal housing. These were lodged directly with each agency by email rather than through Right to Know, so there is no public page to link to — the status below is our own record, updated as decisions land.
Where it standsOne file is already before the Information and Privacy Commission on external review. One ran past the statutory clock into deemed refusal and two more reviews are running past their deadlines. One was refused outright under s 60, and two agencies have asked for processing charges or an advance deposit before releasing anything.
The four doors of GIPA
The NSW Act opens more than one way in — a formal application is the last resort, not the first.
Where GIPA reaches next
The NSW Act covers far more than departments. Anywhere public money moves in the name of First Nations people, GIPA can follow — tell us where to look.
The wider record · partial weekly check · 11 August 2026
First Nations FOI & GIPA source directory
A curated discovery gateway to official Australian Government FOI and NSW GIPA sources that materially concern First Nations peoples, organisations, Country, programs, funding and public decisions.
Last complete source check: 9 August 2026. The 11 August check was partial: 34 of 37 established sources were reconfirmed, 3 were unavailable and the focused Right to Know search was blocked. One newly established official source was verified and added.
Latest change summary: 1 source added · 0 request or release records verified for addition · directory now 38 sources (22 Australian Government, 16 NSW).
Browse the First Nations FOI & GIPA source directory →36 indexed requests and releases · 38 agency source pages in the directory. This is a curated discovery service, not a complete register of every request, decision or released document.
What came out
Every document the fights have forced into the open — published the day it lands.
“Public money spent in the name of First Nations people deserves First Nations scrutiny.”
Follow the files
Every Commonwealth request lives on Right to Know — follow to see documents the moment they land. The 2026 NSW files were lodged direct with each agency; their status is tracked above.
righttoknow.org.au ↗Make your own request
Both Acts belong to everyone. The chooser above picks your law; Right to Know handles agencies in both jurisdictions.
Start a request ↗Tip the desk
Know a decision that deserves daylight? Tell us what to ask for next — quietly if you need to.
Contact Barayamal →About these requests. Every case file was made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) or the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW), by or on behalf of Barayamal Limited — an ACNC-registered charity (ABN 13 618 487 139). Commonwealth requests were lodged through the public Right to Know platform, where the full correspondence is published. The 2026 NSW applications were lodged directly with each agency by email, so they have no Right to Know page; we track their status here and publish documents as they are released. Where access is refused, we use the review rights each Act provides: internal review, then the OAIC federally or the IPC and NCAT in NSW. If anything here is out of date or incorrect, contact us and we will fix it.
Statuses sourced from Right to Know · snapshot taken 9 August 2026 · the live record updates there first