- Making a Right to Information request
- Before completing a Right to Information (RTI) request, consider whether you can make a request for personal information. A request for personal information has no fee and is often faster.
- Use the Right to Information Act 2009 – Application for Assessed Disclosure Form (PDF, 202KB) to apply.
- The fee for the Application is $42.50 unless a waiver is granted.
What is Right to Information?
The Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) commenced on 1 July 2010 and provides for greater access to information held by government bodies by:
- authorising and encouraging greater active disclosure of information held by public authorities in response to informal requests without the need for applications
- authorising and encouraging greater routine disclosure of information held by public authorities without the need for requests or applications
- giving members of the public an enforceable right to information held by public authorities
- providing that access to information held by government bodies is restricted in only limited circumstances which are defined in the Act.
Why do we have the RTI Act?
The aim of the Act is to improve the operation of democracy in the State by:
- increasing the accountability of Government to the people of Tasmania
- increasing the ability of the people to participate in government decision making
- acknowledging that the information held by Tasmanian public authorities belongs to the people of the State and has been collected for them and on their behalf.
A copy of the Act is available on the Tasmanian Government Legislative database.
Right to Information decisions are made by departmental staff with specific Delegations under the Act.
Types of disclosure
The RTI Act establishes four categories of information disclosure:
- Required Disclosure – information that is required by law to be published, such as an annual report.
- Routine Disclosure – information of interest to the public that is released on a routine basis, such as statistics.
- Active Disclosure – information that is released upon request without the need for submitting an application for assessment disclosure. Refer to Active disclosure of Personal Information
- Assessed Disclosure – information that is released on application after it has been formally assessed under the provisions of the RTI Act.
Assessed Disclosure is meant to be the method of last resort. Public authorities are expected to release as much relevant information as possible in response to enquiries (Active Disclosure) or that may be of public interest (Routine Disclosure) without the need for a formal application and assessment process.
Making an application for assessed disclosure
Completing the form:
If you want to access information held by the department, you will need to fill out an Application for Assessed Disclosure Form (PDF, 202KB).
There is space available on the form for an applicant to explain why the information is sought.
Payment of application fee:
Applications are to be accompanied by the application fee, unless you are claiming an exemption (see below).
The fee is currently $42.50 and is indexed on 1 July of each year in accordance with the Fee Units Act 1997.
This is the maximum amount the information will cost you.
- Cheque or money order payable to Department for Education, Children and Young People for $42.50; or
- Direct Deposit BSB-037-001 Account – 268307 (you will need to quote RTI-Name (your name) as reference); or
- Pay at Service Tasmania – Service Tasmania Product Code 256 – Take this document and pay $42.50 by cash, EFTPOS, cheque or credit card at any Service Tasmania Shop. For opening times and locations telephone 1300 135 513 or visit www.service.tas.gov.au
You may apply to have the fee waived if:
- you are in financial hardship – (You will need to provide evidence such as a copy of Centrelink Card, Healthcare Card or Department of Veteran affairs payments.)
- you are a member of parliament, and the application is in connection with your official duty; or
- you are a journalist acting in connection with your professional duties; or
- you are able to give to demonstrate that you intend to use the information for a purpose that is of general public interest or benefit.
Process after completing the form:
Once the application is complete, please sent to:
Right to Information
Department for Education, Children and Young People
GPO Box 169
Hobart, Tasmania, 7000
What will we do once we have you application?
We will check your application to make sure we have the information you are requesting. We will check that the application fee is paid or you are eligible for it to be waived. A delegated RTI Officer will then assess your application against the RTI Act and let you know the outcome as soon as practicable.
If your request is complex or is for a large amount of information, we may ask you to grant us more time, or discuss options such as splitting the request and/or releasing information in stages.
If some or all of the information is exempt information, a written decision will be provided that advises reasons why. the decision will also advise you of your rights if you want an independent review of the decision.
What if I am unhappy with the information received?
You may request an internal review. Please contact rti@decyp.tas.gov.au to request a review or for more information on your options.
The RTI Act provides for internal review rights following decisions, and external review rights to Ombudsman Tasmania.
Contact details for Ombudsman Tasmania
If you are stil unhappy with the department’s handling of your matter or the outcome of your request, you can contact the Ombudsman Tasmania.
By telephone on (03) 6166 4566 or 1800 001 170 (cost of local call outside Hobart area) or by email at rti@ombudsman.tas.gov.au
More information
- For more information about the operation of Right to Information in the department, phone
(03) 6165 6187 or email rti@decyp.tas.gov.au - More information about the Right to Information Act 2009 is also available from the Office of the Ombudsman
- View the department’s Right to Information Policy (PDF, 678KB)