About the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) gives you the right to access government information. This is a guide to the information we hold and how to access it.
About the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade
The Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade (DEIT) and DEIT cluster were established to drive the NSW Government’s commitment to economic transformation.
Growing investment and creating new jobs throughout NSW, the DEIT cluster brings together enterprise and trade, tourism and hospitality, sports and the arts and Western Sydney. This will ensure NSW is the best place in the world to live, work, invest, visit, study, grow and play.
The DEIT cluster propels the delivery of investment, business and lifestyle opportunities by attracting and supporting innovative and prosperous industries and helping NSW business go global.
By bringing these agencies and groups together into an ecosystem, there will be more cohesive inter-agency planning, decision-making and implementation at a government level. This positions us to build the state’s economic strength and liveability.
The DEIT cluster will build and promote NSW as a safe and attractive place to do business for domestic and global companies, while creating prosperity and opportunities for the 8 million people who call NSW home.
Our agencies and functions
The DEIT cluster comprises individual agencies, offices, entities and business units which are listed below.
Enterprise, Investment and Trade and Science, Innovation and Technology
This group delivers economic and social benefits for the people of NSW by growing the state’s economy, helping to make NSW a prosperous, inclusive and a thriving global hub for business, innovation, talent and residents:
Investment NSW
Hospitality and Racing
This group ensures a dynamic, fun, safe and responsible hospitality and racing industry:
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Liquor, Gaming and Racing NSW
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Office of Racing
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Office of Responsible Gambling
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Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority
Culture and Tourism
This group creates vibrant and culturally rich communities across NSW, making it the best place to live and visit:
Sport
This group promotes an active and inclusive society through the participation of sport and recreation – from grass roots to elite, high-performing athletes and the management of publicly owned venues:
- NSW Institute of Sport
- Office of Sport
- Venues NSW
Western Parkland Authority
This group will build an economic powerhouse in Western Parklands City, creating jobs and opportunities for future generations:
Our structure
The Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade includes:
- Office of the Secretary (including Cabinet and Ministerial Services)
- Office of the Group Deputy Secretary Arts, Sport and Tourism
- Commercial Transactions
- Engagement, Operations and Governance (including Governance, Audit and Risk; Built Environment; People and Culture; ICT; Legal; Finance; Strategic Communications and Engagement)
- Create NSW
- Hospitality and Racing
- Investment NSW.
Our Code of Ethics and Conduct
As a service provider for the NSW Government, individuals across NSW are affected by how we perform our functions. DEIT employees must act in the public interest bound by the values described in the NSW Public Service Commission’s Code of Ethics and Conduct, being:
- integrity
- service
- accountability
- trust.
How can the public can participate with DEIT
There are many ways in which the public can participate with the formulation of DEIT’s policy and the exercise of its functions. You can make a comment or suggestion, participate in formulating DEIT’s policies or functions, or raise issues you feel are of concern to you or the public at large by contacting us by email or telephone.
Our business areas may, on occasion, provide an opportunity for the public to make submissions on discussion papers, and reports. When we seek submissions, we outline how you can participate on the relevant website or on the NSW Government’s Have Your Say portal.
DEIT invites you to submit your questions, complaints or feedback about any of our programs, policies or reforms.
Open Data Policy
DEIT’s open data practice is aligned to the NSW Government Open Data Policy and seeks to make appropriate government data available to industry and the community. Open data supports the open government principles of transparency, participation, collaboration and innovation. It augments the proactive release of information required under the GIPA Act.
DEIT is committed to embedding open data principles at all levels of the cluster as this can lead to faster, smarter, more responsive service delivery. It promotes the development of new businesses and industries that can make use of government data, facilitates data sharing between government agencies and enhances our own awareness, understanding and use of information.
We embed Open Data principles across the DEIT cluster by:
- engaging with industry and the community to understand their needs for our data
- prioritising for release any high-value datasets, especially those identified through industry and community engagement
- releasing data under open licence wherever possible
- protecting data where required on the grounds of privacy, security, confidentiality legal privilege or public interest.
The kinds of government information we have
Branches within DEIT keep records associated with their core functions in the regulation and the provision of services, business and lifestyle opportunities, funding allocation, policy and planning and other non-service delivery functions, such as human resources, managing suppliers of goods and services and other transactional activities.
These records may include a person's personal information that is collected, stored, used and disclosed in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2022 (NSW) (HRIP Act).
More information about how DEIT handles personal and health information in available in the DEIT Privacy Management Plan .
DEIT records created in the course of its business are kept to support its activities in keeping with community expectations and legal obligations under the State Records Act 1998 (NSW) in how it manages and disposes of records of information.
Information publicly available
Information classified as open access information is the type of information which DEIT must make publicly available unless it is not in the public interest to do so.
DEIT makes available, free of charge on this website, the following open access information:
- DEIT Information Guide (this publication)
- policy documents
- disclosure log of access applications
- DEIT’s code of conduct
- annual reports.
Open access information also includes the following (as prescribed by Schedule 1 of the Government Information (Public Access) Amendment Regulation 2010):
- a list of the agency’s major assets, other than landholdings, appropriately classified and highlighting significant acquisitions during the previous financial year
- the total number and total value of properties disposed of during the previous financial year
- any guarantee of service.
Under the GIPA Act, some information does not need to be available to the public because there is an overriding public interest against disclosure. Some information may not be made publicly available because of one or more of the following reasons:
- disclosing it would compromise DEIT’s safety and security
- risk of breaching copyright
- it is held as commercial-in-confidence
- other legal reasons.
Proactive release of information
The proactive release of information is a discretionary power to release information in any manner considered appropriate, free of charge or at the lowest reasonable cost.
We promote the release of newly published information, which may be of interest to the public and have programs in place within each Division for the proactive release of information. The information we may release in this way includes (and is not limited to):
- guidelines
- internal procedures
- brochures
- bulletins
- fact sheets
- statistical information
- any other information which may be of interest to the public.
If you have difficulties locating information that should be released proactively, or you feel should be made available free of charge, please contact the GIPA team at DEIT by email at information@enterprise.nsw.gov.au
How to access information we hold under the GIPA Act
The GIPA Act provides the public with a right to access government information.
Make an informal request
The GIPA Act authorises the release of government information in response to an informal request unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.
If we haven't freely published the information you seek, we may be able to release it to you without the need for a formal access application.
We generally provide the following types of information in response to an informal request:
- your personal information
- copies of correspondence sent to us by you
- applications and supporting documents sent to us by you
- insolvency information of companies if you are an insolvency practitioner
- documents such as customer transaction database notes that contain only personal information about you
- documents that may have already been made public in some other way
- other reasonable requests for release of information that would not raise any potential public interest or privacy concerns.
This form of release does not require a fee or an application form. Information may be released with deletions, released subject to reasonable conditions, or released in a preferred form. We may impose conditions on the use or disclosure of information that we release in response to an informal request.
Under the GIPA Act a right of review only applies for formal applications.
If you would like to make an informal request for information, please email the GIPA team at DEIT on information@enterprise.nsw.gov.au
Make a formal access application
If the information you are looking for is not published by us or available by informal request, you may wish to make a formal access application in writing under the GIPA Act.
Formal access applications are subject to an application fee which is currently $30. Some formal access applications may also be subject to processing charges of $30 per hour. We will provide you with notice of any processing charges which apply to access the information sought. We will not release information if there is an overriding public interest against its disclosure.
You can make a formal application by completing a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) application form. Then send it to us at the following address:
Attn: Legal Officer (GIPA request)
Office of the General Counsel
Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade
GPO Box 5341
Sydney, NSW, 2000
The GIPA Act says that we are only able to accept access applications that:
- are in writing and sent to us at the address above
- indicate clearly that the applicant is making an access application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW)
- enclose an application fee of $30
- state the name of the applicant, and have a return postal or email address as the address for correspondence
- include as much specific information as reasonably necessary to enable us to identify the information you are asking for.
If your application does not include these 5 things, it will be invalid and will not be processed. If that happens, we will let you know and we will help you, if possible, by explaining how you can make a valid application.
Otherwise, we will write to you acknowledging receipt of a valid access application within five working days and will deal with your application within 20 working days (subject to any extension allowed for under the Act). If any extension of time is required to deal with your application, we will let you know in writing.
Information which may not be disclosed
You cannot access information excluded under Schedule 1 and 2 of the GIPA Act, such as information related to the complaint handling and investigative functions conferred by or under any other Act, or Cabinet or Executive Council information. That information is “excluded information” under the GIPA Act.
For some information categories, while you may apply for access, there is a presumption against release. See the list of categories set out at Schedule 1 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009.
Review rights
You may have the right to request a review of certain decisions made by DEIT in response to a formal access application.
The right to information regime allows applicants extensive rights of review, either as an internal review by DEIT, or a review by the Information and Privacy Commission and the Administrative Decisions Tribunal.
An application for internal review by DEIT is $40, and must be made with 20 working days of a decision being notified to an applicant. To apply for an internal review by DEIT, please complete the Government Information Public Access (GIPA) internal review form (DOCX, 142.82 KB) (DOCX 142.82KB). Then send it to us at the following address:
Attn: Legal Officer (GIPA review request)
Office of the General Counsel
Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade
GPO Box 5341
Sydney, NSW, 2000
Applications for review to the Information and Privacy Commission and the Administrative Decisions Tribunal must be made within 40 working days of a decision being made.
Information access contacts
Version control
DEIT adopted this Agency Information Guide on 5 July 2022.
DEIT will next review this Agency Information Guide in July 2023.