Access to information

The Department of Justice, along with other government agencies, is committed to increasing the amount of information routinely disclosed to the public.

Regular updates are released on a range of topics outlined below.

If you are thinking about making a right to information request, check the resources below first to see if we (or another government department) have already published the information.

Annual reports and other publications

These include reports from tribunals, commissions and boards supported by the Justice.

Annual reports

Publications

Contracts and consultancies

Tasmanian Government Tenders website

Community consultation

Have your say on government projects, services, and changes to the laws.

Community consultations

Departmental policies

These are some of the policies that direct our work and our employees.

Justice departmental policies

Employment and workforce statistics

Information about the Tasmanian State Service workforce, including senior executive service positions, is published twice a year by the State Service Management Office.

Department of Justice workforce statistics (as of 30 June each year) can be found in our Annual report.

Gifts and benefits register

Gifts and Benefits register

News and events

Justice news and events

Organisational structure

Justice organisational structure chart

Policy and program initiatives

Find information about our current projects, and other relevant government information.

Astria Digital Solution

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Breaking the Cycle Strategic Plan

Community Consultations

Infrastructure Projects

Planning Reform

Report on Government Services (Australian Government)

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Short Stay Accommodation Act data collection

Work health and safety industry snapshots

Sentencing statistics

Sentencing Advisory Council website

Telecommunications expenditure

Telecommunications expenditure

Other data

• Births, Deaths and Marriage registrations
• Consumer enquiries and complaints to Consumer, Building and Occupational Services
• Court lodgements
• Fines collection rate
• National Redress Scheme applications and compensation
• Occupational licence holders
• Prisoners and detainees
• Rental bonds
• Risk Based Licensing
• Working with vulnerable people registrations
• WorkSafe Tasmania data

Under the Right to Information Act 2009, we provide information to the public through these methods:

Required disclosure

Required disclosure is when Justice is required by law to publish certain information (including under an enforceable agreement). An example is our annual report.

If you are thinking about making a right to information request, check our Annual reports first to see if they contain the information you are after.

Routine disclosure

Routine disclosure is when Justice publishes information that may be of public interest. Examples are discussion papers for proposals for law reform, statistical information, information about the programs and services we deliver, or our gifts and benefits register.

If you are thinking about making a right to information request, check our Information about Justice first to see if we have already published the information you are after.

Active disclosure

Active disclosure is when Justice provides information in response to a request made outside the right to information process. An example is providing information to someone who has written a letter to us.

Assessed disclosure

Assessed disclosure is information provided when someone submits a right to information request.

It is the last resort, if the information is not found through required, routine or active disclosures.

Under the Right to Information Act 2009, you have the right to request access to government information held by the Department of Justice.

All information must be disclosed, unless it is defined under the Act as ‘exempt information’. You can find out more about exempt information from the Ombudsman’s Manual (available on the Ombudsman Tasmania website).

This Act aims to improve democratic government by:

• increasing the accountability of government
• increasing the ability of the public to participate in government decision-making processes
• acknowledging that public authorities collect information for and on behalf of the public.

This Act:

• authorises and encourages routine disclosure of information held by public authorities without the need for requests or applications
• authorises and encourages active disclosure of information held by public authorities in response to informal requests without the need for applications
• gives members of the public an enforceable right to information held by public authorities
• provides that access to information held by government bodies is restricted in only limited circumstances which are defined in the Act.

In certain circumstances, you may be able to access personal information that Justice holds about you through the Personal Information Protection Act 2004.

Receiving your application

When we receive your application, we:

• may contact you to confirm the exact nature of the information you want
• will identify what information Justice has that relates to your request
• will assess if the information can be disclosed, or if it is exempt information under the Right to Information Act 2009.
• will advise you of the outcome in writing. This is normally within 20 days, but may be longer if we need to consult with other departments, organisations or people.

If we do not provide some or all of the information you have asked for, we will provide reasons for this.

Disagree with the outcome

If you disagree with the outcome, you can ask Justice to conduct an internal review of the decision. You must do this within 20 working days of receiving our advice.

If you are not happy with the internal review, you can ask the Ombudsman to conduct an external review of the decision. Again, you must do this within 20 working days of receiving the decision of our internal review. Details of how to request these reviews will be provided to you with the written decisions.

We publish certain information on our website once it is released for right to information requests.

• We publish it here within 48 hours of it being released.
• We publish it if we think it is in the public interest.
• We do not publish personal information, or information of a commercial or confidential nature.

This only applies to applications received after 9 June 2015

Right to Information Annual Report

These reports contain statistical information on right to information requests for all public authorities.

• Right to Information Annual Report 2021-22 (DOCX, 238.3 KB)
• Right to Information Annual Report 2021-22 (PDF, 599.9 KB)

Legislation

Right to Information Act 2009

Right to Information Regulations 2021

Policy

Right to Information policy

Office of the Ombudsman

Right to Information Manual

Right to Information Guidelines

Right to Information Decisions

Delegations

This information will help public authorities manage their right to information obligations.

Principal Officers of public authorities or Ministers may delegate some or all of their right to information functions/powers to another person, if they are satisfied that this person has the skills and knowledge necessary to perform those functions/exercise those powers.

Sample delegations are:

Delegation of power to make original decision on application for assessed disclosure under section 21

Delegation of power to conduct internal review under section 43

Delegation of powers to both make decisions and conduct internal reviews

Step 1: Is the information already available

The information you want may already be publicly available. Check our:

• Annual reports
• Disclosure register
• Policies
• Publications
• Routine release of information

If you request information that is already published, your application may be refused without returning your fee.

Step 2: Is Justice the department you need

You should be sure that the information you want is available from Justice, and not another government department. For example:

• criminal or traffic matters should be sought from the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management
• youth justice records should be sought from the Department for Education, Children and Young People.

If you are unsure, contact us.

Step 3: Submit an application

If you still haven’t found the information you want, submit a right to information request using this form:

RTI Application for assessed Disclosure Form.docx (DOCX, 166.3 KB)

RTI Application for Assessed Disclosure Form.pdf (PDF, 171.6 KB)

You can submit it by:

• printing the form and posting it to:

Right to Information Officer
Department of Justice
GPO Box 825
Hobart   TAS   7001

• saving the form to your devices and emailing it to rti@justice.tas.gov.au

Step 4: Pay the fee

You must also pay a fee when you apply. The cost and payment methods are on the form.

Having the fee waived

On the application form, you can ask to have the fee waived if you are:

• a Member of Parliament acting in connection with your official duty
• in financial hardship; for example, unemployed or in prison. We will need evidence, such as a Centrelink Health Care Card
• able to show that you intend to use the information for a purpose that is of general public interest/benefit
• a journalist acting in connection with your professional duties

If you wish to have the fee waived on the basis of general public interest, and we support this, then we will publish the information on our Disclosure register. We will not publish your name, but will note broadly who you are (for example, journalist, Member of Parliament, member of public or non-government organisation).