Documents created prior to 1 December 1977 are not covered by the Act, and are, strictly speaking, not available. Older documents which can still be accessed are:

However, the Act encourages release of documents whenever possible and the Government does not intend to prevent or discourage powers to publish and access information not covered by the Act [Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 3A]. Under the Archives Act 1983 (Cth), most documents more than thirty years old are available for public access by applying to any office of the Australian Archives. Please note that as at May 2021, the general open access period is transitioning from 30 years to 20 years. The open access period for Cabinet notebooks is transitioning from 50 years to 30 years. Census records and Independent Review document records are subject to a 99 year open access period.