Right to Information for the Whole of Government

Background

The Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) replaced the Freedom of Information Act on 1 July 2010. It creates a new framework for the disclosure of information to the Tasmanian Community.

 The new framework in the Act has four key elements, which are:

• it mandates the proactive release of information;
• it includes an enhanced role for the Ombudsman in relation to both review and the monitoring of the release of information;
• it minimises fees payable for the formal release of information; and
• for the first time seeks to clarify what exactly the public interest test consists of..

A copy of the Act is available on the Tasmanian Government legislative database: www.thelaw.tas.gov.au

The Right to Information Act 2009 is an outcome of the review of the Freedom of Information Act 1991. Implementation was managed by the Department of Justice.

Implementation is now complete and you are now able to obtain information about Right to information from each public authority website.

General Information about the Right to Information is also available from the Office of the Ombudsman.

Information about the operation of RTI in the Department of Justice is available through the Department's Corporate Information  page or by emailing rti@justice.tas.gov.au.

Training

Training Sessions were conducted by the Department of Justice as part of implementation, but ongoing training will be through the Office of the Ombudsman.  Here is a copy of the presentation slides used in the implementation training:

Right to Information Act 2009 Training Presentation  
(PDF - 492kb |102 pages)

Right to Information Act 2009 Training Presentation  (PPT version - 1.44MB | 102 pages)

Implementation Bulletins

The Implementation Bulletins explain key aspects of the new RTI Act:

Bulletin Number One  - Issued January 2010
(PDF - 5 pages)

Bulletin Number Two  - Issued 1 February 2010
(PDF - 5 pages)

Bulletin Number Three  - Issued May 2010
(PDF - 17 pages - 188KB)

Information for other Public Authorities

The information provided in this section is designed to help Public Authorities in the Adminsitration of RTI.

Delegations

Principal officers of public authorities of Ministers may delegate some or all of their functions powers under section 24 of the Act to another person, where the principal officer or Minister is satisfied that the person has the skills and knowledge necessary to perform those functions or exercise those powers. Sample delegations are included below:

Delegation of power to make original decision on application for assessed disclosure under section 21 [Word doc 27KB]

Delegation of power to conduct internal review under section 43 [Word doc 26.5KB]

Delegation of powers to both make decisions and conduct internal reviews [Word doc 27KB]

Right to Information Annual Report

Section 53 of the Act requires that the Department of Justice must prepare a report at the end of each financial year on the administration of the Right to Information Act 2009. This information will be gathered from all Ministers and public authorities by means of a survey form which will be sent out at the end of June every year. A sample of the survey appears below:

Right to Information Statistics Survey [ PDF 73.8KB]

If you have any questions on the Whole of Government reporting process please email legislation.development@justice.tas.gov.au.