OVERVIEW

Work type: Full time
Salary: $109,730 - $132,764
Grade: VPSG5
Occupation: Regulatory Governance and Compliance
Location: CBD
Reference: VG/DJ6544APR2025
The department is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and recognises that children’s rights need to be respected, their views welcomed and valued, and their concerns taken seriously and acted upon.
If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process, or require an alternative format to any of the application material, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the contact person listed on this ad.
For more information on working with us and our recruitment process, please visit justice.vic.gov.au/careers

We’re proud of the important work we do across Victoria. Want to be part of it?

• Utilise your FOI expertise to provide support to stakeholders such as business units, with applicants typically including Members of Parliament, journalists, prisoners and members of the public.
• Fixed term, full-time until January 2026 to work with a high-performing team.

• VPS Grade 5: $109,730 - $132,764 plus superannuation.

  The Department of Justice and Community Safety (the department) is seeking a Freedom of Information (FOI) - Team Leader to fill a critical role within the Assurance, Corporate Services and Infrastructure business unit.
  About the Business Unit
  The Assurance business unit manages corporate policies for the department and its ministers to ensure strong governance and service delivery. It is responsible for risk management, crisis and continuity management, internal and external audit, freedom of information, information and records management, archive and mail services, management of the department’s electronic document and electronic briefing and correspondence systems, information privacy, information security, compliance and committee operations.
  The department’s FOI Requests team is part of Corporate Services and Infrastructure within Assurance and manages requests for documents on behalf of business units, with applicants typically including Members of Parliament, journalists, prisoners and members of the public.

QUALIFICATIONS/REQUIREMENTS

A degree in Administrative Law would be highly regarded.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The FOI Team Leader is a leadership role within the FOI Unit and provides management support for FOI officers responding to FOI requests. The Team Leader is responsible for ensuring FOI requests are completed within statutory timeframes and for the department providing high-quality and consistent FOI decisions, in accordance with the requirements of the FOI Act.

Some of your duties will include:

• Manage, process and make decisions on significant and complex requests made to the department under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
• Assist the FOI Manager, with effective management of the FOI Unit and provide leadership to the FOI Team by leading and supporting individuals to achieve their potential while maximising their contribution to achieve goals and outcomes.
• Model behaviour that is integral to positive people management practices and departmental values.
• Provide authoritative and specialist advice and briefings to ministers’ offices, the Secretary, and other departmental staff on complex FOI matters, in consultation with the Manager, FOI Requests.
• Assist the FOI Operations team to manage the department’s FOI related reviews and investigations by regulators and assist with the preparation of Possible Parliamentary Questions, and Parliamentary Accounts and Estimates Committee briefings in relation to FOI matters.
• Initiate and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders at peer and senior levels.
• Ensure the FOI team and department are meeting the statutory obligations set out in the FOI Act.

• Contribute to business improvement processes of the FOI Unit.

  To learn more about this role before applying, please read the attached position description.

To be successful in this role, you will have:

• Specialist knowledge of and demonstrated experience in the interpretation and application of the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
• Resilience under pressure and a well-developed ability to work constructively and collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Well-developed ability to take into account wider business context within the business unit when considering optionsto resolve issues as well as being skilled at identifying recurring problems and preventing their recurrence by integrating solutions into work processes