foi & governance officer

About your new role

As a Freedom of Information and Governance Officer for a local council in Melbourne, you will be responsible for administering end-to-end statutory FOI processes in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), from liaising with internal departments to scope and retrieve documents, to reviewing files, applying exemptions, and drafting formal decision notices.

South Eastern Location

What you will need to exceed

• Be able to proactively pick up the phone to negotiate with applicants (journalists, lawyers, residents), narrowing the scope down to what they actually need.
• Possess the diplomacy needed to nudge senior directors, managers, and planning officers to locate and submit records promptly without escalating every delay to executive leadership.
• Knowledge on how to rigorously apply exemptions (such as legal professional privilege or commercial confidentiality) in a way that is legally defensible under scrutiny from OVIC or VCAT, avoiding unnecessary appeals and reputational damage.
• Be able to drive modern document management workflows, automating FOI tracking, leveraging redaction software efficiency, and making public registers self-serve on council’s website.
• Confident to push for frequently requested categories of council information to be published publicly online to reduce FOI volume overall.
• Adept to train staff across departments on effective record-keeping, privacy compliance, and transparency preventing compliance issues before they occur.

Desirable

• Experience in working for local government

Next steps

If you are a FOI expert with a commitment to inclusivity, collaboration, and transformative change, we invite you to apply and be part of this inspiring journey.

At Randstad, we are passionate about providing equal employment opportunities and embracing diversity to the benefit of all. We actively encourage applications from any background.