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through all of their files to discover whether there is a record of the applicant. Nor willthey recreate the applicant’s life and family history from the various records held.… when people put in an application for freedom of information they have to be specific aboutwhat document they want and be very clear. Freedom of Information covers documents notcollections or records as a larger record. So it is very restrictive for anyone applying and in fact itis not at all an easy process under FoI (Jennie Carter, WA Aboriginal Affairs Department,evidence).The 1995 review of the Commonwealth’s FoI Act found considerable resistanceamong bureaucrats to the release of government records in accordance with the letter andthe spirit of FoI (Open government pages 35-6, 81). Nevertheless the existence of FoIlaws ‘does reinforce a culture of open government’ (Families on File 1996 page 28).In the Northern Territory, where FOI laws are absent, Indigenous organisations have reported thatdepartments more often than not refuse to release personal information and have declined tonegotiate access principles (Families on File 1996 page 28).In most States Indigenous people removed from their families as children can seetheir major personal records without going through the Freedom of Information process.Records kept by Aborigines protection and welfare boards, departments of native welfareand their equivalents are now the responsibility of State and Territory welfare and/orAboriginal and Islander affairs departments. Where the Commonwealth had legislativeresponsibility (in the NT and ACT) or where responsibility for Indigenous affairs wastransferred to the Commonwealth (in Victoria from 1975) most of the relevant recordsare held by Australian Archives.Most Indigenous affairs and welfare departments now have specific (non-FoI)access procedures for Indigenous families in general or specifically for children takeninto State care or guardianship. These procedures are less formal than FoI, discretionaryand designed specifically for Indigenous searchers. While they are often slower than anFoI application, they are usually free of charge and research assistance may be available(see the table above).By not requiring people to lodge FOI requests agencies are not bound by restrictive provisions inFOI legislation and have more flexibility to handle each case in a way best suited to the applicant,including using their discretion to release third party information (Families on File 1996 page27).Exceptions to this special provision are Victoria and the NT. In Victoria theFreedom of Information legislation must be used. The only Victorian records that areavailable without going through FoI are files on adults which were created more than 75years ago and files on children created more than 99 years ago, under archives legislationwhich has equivalents in most States and Territories. In the NT there is ‘no automaticentitlement of clients to information or records’ (NT Government interim submission page 31).