The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives rights to individuals to access information that ESTA holds.
Under the FOI Act, you can also ask ESTA to correct or amend information it holds about you where it is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date or misleading.
What to consider before making a request
Section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption from release for information that is deemed confidential under another Act. Section 33 of the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority Act 2004 (ESTA is a secrecy provision and ESTA considers all requests for information relating to call-taking and dispatch in relation to the FOI Act a section 38 exemption.
You may wish to consider requesting information relating to you that contains call-taking or dispatch information as a request outside the Act as this is no cost to an applicant and the outcome will be the same. You can request audio under the ESTA Act by filling in our form.
Before you make a request for access, we encourage you to check if the information or document you are seeking is already publicly available, such as in the ESTA annual report, our FOI Information Statements (below) or elsewhere on our website.
Making a request
A request under the FOI Act can only be made by an individual (not an organisation or corporate entity).
To make a valid FOI please provide:
- A clear and concise list of the document/s you are requesting.
- The FOI application fee of $30.60 (as at 1 July 2022) or request a fee waiver providing proof of hardship. You can pay the fee to ESTA You will receive a receipt.
- If you are seeking access to documents containing personal affairs information (Document affecting personal privacy) held by ESTA about yourself (such as calls from you or about you), you should provide evidence of your identity e.g. a photocopy or scan of current photo identification such as a driver's licence.
- If you are unsure about what type of ID to provide, please contact the ESTA FOI Team at FOI.Request@ESTA.vic.gov.au.
- If you are seeking access to documents containing information about someone else, a signed authority from that person permitting you to receive documents containing their personal affairs information.
You can complete the online form on this page to make the request, or you can email your request details to FOI.Request@esta.vic.gov.au (including a copy of your payment receipt).
You can also leave a voice message on our FOI phone number (03) 9259 3737 if you need further information.
Helpful hints
As a request can only be made by an individual (not an organisation or corporate entity), please ensure you include an individual’s name and contact details when making a request.
To avoid delays in ESTA establishing if it is a valid request, please be as clear as you can, to identify the documents sought, and provide enough information for us to locate the documents (e.g. date, time, phone number called from and location of call).
Under the FOI Act, ESTA is unable to process “voluminous” requests. Please consider reducing the scope of your request if it appears to be potentially large.
Be aware that if the information contains details about others (even those you may be mentioning on a 000 call), ESTA is required to obtain the permission of those individuals before we can release those parts of the call to you. This includes the caller’s permission if you are not the caller but just the subject of the call. If you know the identity of the caller, it may be helpful for you to advise them that ESTA will need their consent, so they are aware that we may contact them.
All enquiries regarding FOI requests should be made directly to FOI.Request@esta.vic.gov.au or (03) 9259 3737.
ESTA does not currently have the ability to provide transcripts of calls. We are only able to provide the call recordings themselves.
More information about FOI requests
Read our Freedom of Information – Part II Information Statements.
For further information on the Freedom of Information in Victoria, please visit the Office of the Victorian Information .
If you require information relating to the actual services that attended an event, consider making a Freedom of Information request to the service concerned:
- Victoria Police – Freedom of
- Ambulance Victoria – Freedom of
- Country Fire Authority (CFA) – Freedom of
- Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) – Freedom of
- SES Victoria – Freedom of
Fill in the form
To start off the process please fill in the online form below and submit.
Reviewed 10 May 2023