Right to Information
Annual Report
On the Administration of the Right to Information Act 2009 for the period 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015.Presented to both Houses of Parliament pursuant to Section 53 of the Right to Information Act 2009.
Department of Justice
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
Level 14, 110 Collins Street, Hobart
PO Box 825 HOBART TAS 7001
The Hon Dr Vanessa Goodwin MLC
Attorney-General
Minister for Justice
Annual Report on the Administration of the Right to Information Act 2009 for the year ended 30 June 2015
In accordance with the requirements of section 53 of the Right to Information Act 2009, I have pleasure in presenting the Annual Report on the administration of the Right to Information Act 2009 for the year ending 30 June 2015.
This is the fourth annual report on the administration of the Right to Information Act.
All statistics and figures contained in this Report are taken directly from agencies, public authorites and councils’ reports of their own figures for the year. The Department of Justice has copied these figures and compiled them for the purpose of this Report.
Simon Overland
Secretary
Department of Justice
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Operation of the Act
Object of the Act
Application of the RTI Act to Departments, Councils, Ministers, and Public Authorities
Right to Information Act 2009
Interaction with Personal Information Protection Act 2004
Decision Makers
Data Contained within this Annual Report
Chapter Two: Applications Received and Decided
Key Statistics and Trends
Government Departments
Councils
Public Authorities
Chapter Three: Outcomes of Applications
Determinations made on applications for information
Government Departments
Councils
Public Authorities
Chapter Four: Reasons for refusal
Use of exceptions
Exemptions
Chapter Five: Timeframes for decisions
Government Departments
Councils
Public Authorities
Chapter Six: Review of decisions
Internal Reviews
External Reviews
Chapter Seven: Administration of Right to Information
Chapter Eight: Additional statistics
Tasracing Pty Ltd
Tasmanian Irrigation Pty Ltd
Tasmanian Railway Pty Ltd
TT-Line Company Pty Ltd
Chapter Nine: Applications received by Ministers
Minister for Police and Emergency Management, Minister for Infrastructure
Minister for Education
Minister for Resources
Minister for State Growth
Appendix 1: List of Government Departments, Councils and Public Authorities as at 30 June
2015
Right to Information Annual Report 2014-15 Page 1 of 65
Chapter One: Operation of the Act
Object of the Act
The underlying purposes of the Right to Information Act 2009 (the RTI Act) are found in Section 3 of the Act. The section reads as follows:
3. Object of Act
1)The object of this Act is to improve democratic government in Tasmania:
(a)by increasing the accountability of the executive to the people of Tasmania; and
(b)by increasing the ability of the people of Tasmania to participate in their governance; and
(c)by acknowledging that information collected by public authorities is collected for and on behalf of the people of Tasmania and is the property of the State.
2)This object is to be pursued by giving members of the public the right to obtain information held by public authorities and Ministers.
3)This object is also to be pursued by giving members of the public the right to obtain information about the operations of Government.
4)It is the intention of Parliament:
(a)that this Act be interpreted so as to further the object set out in subsection (1); and
(b)that discretions conferred by this Act be exercised so as to facilitate and promote, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost, the provision of the maximum amount of official information.
The Act is intended to improve the operation of democracy in the State by increasing the accountability of government to the people, and by increasing the ability of the people to participate in government decision-making. The underlying principle is that the information held by Tasmanian public authorities of all kinds belongs to the people of the State, and has been collected for them and on their behalf.
As Section 3(4) states, the Act is to be interpreted so as to further its objectives. The subsection also states Parliament's intention that decisions under the Act should be made with a view to facilitating the provision to the public of the maximum amount of information, quickly and as cheaply as is reasonably possible.
In line with the title to the Act and Section 7 of the Act (a section which is central to the Act's operation) Section 3 speaks of "a right to obtain information about the operations of Government". This statutory right has been created to assist in the better working of democracy, and should be seen as integral to our democratic system of government. The administration of the Act, including the making of decisions under the Act as to whether information requested under it is or is not released, is to be approached in this spirit.
Application of the RTI Act to Departments, Councils, Ministers, and Public Authorities
Section 5 includes a definition of ‘public authority’, being the organisations to which the Act applies:
"public authority" means –
(a)an Agency, within the meaning of the State Service Act 2000; or
(b)the Police Service; or
(c)a council; or
(d)a statutory authority; or
(e)a body, whether corporate or unincorporate, that is established by or under an Act for a public purpose; or
(f)a body whose members, or a majority of whose members, are appointed by the Governor or a Minister of the Crown; or
(g)a Government Business Enterprise within the meaning of the Government Business Enterprises Act 1995; or
(h)a council-owned company; or
(i)a State-owned company.
This definition is wider than was used in the Freedom of Information Act 1991(the FOI Act), and specifically includes all government owned businesses.
Section 6 provides that the Act does not apply to certain bodies or organisations, but that the exemption is limited:
1)This Act does not apply to information in the possession of the following persons or public authorities, or in the possession of a person whose services are provided or procured for the purposes of assisting the person or public authority, unless the information relates to the administration of the relevant public authority:
(a)the Governor;
(b)a court;
(c)a tribunal;
(d)the Integrity Commission;
(e)a judge;
(f)an associate judge;
(g)a magistrate;
(h)the Solicitor-General;
(i)the Director of Public Prosecutions;
(j)the Ombudsman;
(k)the Auditor-General;
(l)(ka) the Legal Profession Board of Tasmania;
(m)the State Service Commissioner;
(n)(la) the Parole Board;
(o)the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner;
(p)the Public Guardian;
(q)the Health Complaints Commissioner;
(r)Parliament;
(s)a Member of Parliament.
An exemption also applies to the Law Society of Tasmania in relation to the performance and exercise of the Society's functions and powers relating to trust accounts and trust monies, and also disciplinary proceedings.
Right to Information Act 2009
The RTI Act replaced the FOI Act. The RTI Act, the repeal of the FOI Act, and related amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act 2004 (the PIP Act) were passed by Parliament in November 2009, and came into effect on 1 July 2010.
Interaction with Personal Information Protection Act 2004
One consequence of the 2009 amendments is that some requests relating to personal information will not be determined under the RTI Act but under the PIP Act.
Decision Makers
Decisions in respect of requests under the RTI Act for the provision of information or for amendment of information are to be to be made by the responsible Minister, the principal officer of the public authority or a delegated officer.
Under Section 21 of the Act, the responsible Minister and the principal officer of each public authority are automatically designated as decision makers. Section 24 allows the Minister or principal officer of a public authority to delegate decision making powers.
Data Contained within this Annual Report
All statistics and figures contained in this Report are taken directly from government departments, public authorities and councils’ reports of their own figures for the year 2014-15. The Department of Justice has taken these figures and compiled them for the purpose of this Report. The Department of Justice is unable to validate the statistics that are provided to it. Some Tables contain minor discrepancies within the data, which may be the result of inaccurate or incomplete reporting by government departments, public authorities or councils
Right to Information Annual Report 2014-15 Page 1 of 65
Chapter Two: Applications Received and Decided
Key Statistics and Trends
There has been an increase in applications received since 2013-14. This follows a steady decrease of applications received in previous years. It is unclear what the cause of the increase in applications for 2014-15 was. One possible reason is that the public is becoming more aware of the availability of information, in light of coverage of the right to information process in various forms of media. Another possible reason for this year’s increase is applicants lodging the same request across multiple public authorities.
In the 2014-15 financial year, 98% of the applications accepted were determined. Positively, of the 952 determinations, 72% were determined within 20 working days.
The Ombudsman determined 8 applications for review under RTI in the 2014-15 reporting period (see Tables 28-30). The 8 determined Ombudsman reviews represent less than 1% of the total applications accepted.
Table 1. Key Statistics
Total number of: / 2012:-13 / 2013-14 / 2014-15Applications received / 949 / 812 / 1,091
Applications accepted / 856 / 708 / 965
Applications determined / 817 / 691 / 952
Applications that took less than 20 working days / 576 / 503 / 692
Applications that took more than 20 working days / 130 / 80 / 241
Applications that included a negotiated extension / 129 / 117 / 131
Applications that included an Ombudsman’s extension / 1 / 1 / 1
Applications granted in full / 303 / 261 / 356
Applications granted in part / 362 / 335 / 440
Applications refused and exceptions used / 107 / 143 / 113
Applications where exemptions were used / 729 / 684 / 904
Main sections under which applications was refused/exempted / ^s.35 s.36 / ^s.36 s.30 / s.36 s.30
Applications for internal review determined / 35 / 37 / 33
Applications for external review determined / 20 / 16 / 8
*Please note that multiple exemptions can be used to exempt an application.
^ s.30 RTI Act: ‘Information relating to enforcement of the law‘, 3.35 RTI Act: ‘Internal deliberative information’.s.36 RTI Act: ‘Personal information of a person’.
Table 2 below shows that by far, the majority of the 970 RTI applications accepted during 2014-15 were made to government departments. Departments accounted for 71%, councils for 13% and public authorities for 16% of accepted applications.
Table 2.Applications Received, Accepted and Determined – Summary
Agency / ApplicationReceived / Application
Accepted / Application Determined
2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Government Departments / 593 / 790 / 509 / 696 / 488 / 689
Councils / 91 / 137 / 87 / 128 / 87 / 123
Public Authorities / 128 / 164 / 112 / 146 / 116 / 140
TOTAL / 812 / 1 091 / 708 / 970 / 691 / 952
Government Departments
Of the 696requests accepted by departments in 2014-2015, 38% were accepted by one department (see Table 3). The Department of Police and Emergency Management accepted 265requests, comparable to the previous year’s figure of 288. The next highest total was 84 accepted by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Table 3.Applications Received, Accepted and Determined - Government Departments
Government Departments / ApplicationReceived / Application
Accepted / Application Determined
2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Education / 27 / 37 / 20 / 34 / 20 / 32
Health & Human Services^ / 47 / 87 / 46 / 84 / 46 / 75
Justice^ / 53 / 85 / 51 / 79 / 42 / 76
Police & Emergency Management / 339 / 323 / 288 / 265 / 284 / 314
Premier & Cabinet^ / 28 / 73 / 25 / 70 / 24 / 73
Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment^ / 40 / 78 / 36 / 77 / 31 / 53
State Growth / - / 79 / - / 60 / - / 43
Treasury & Finance^ / 17 / 28 / 15 / 27 / 13 / 23
TOTAL / 593 / 790 / 509 / 696 / 488 / 689
^ Includes applications made to that Department’s Minister.
Councils
Applications accepted by Hobart City Council represented 37% of all requests accepted by councils in 2014-2015.
Generally, the number of requests accepted by individual councils remains low, with only five other councils accepting 6 or more requests. There were a number of councils who received no applications.
Overall, the applications made to councils increased by nearly 50% in 2014-2015.
Table 4.Applications Received, Accepted and Determined – Councils
Council / ApplicationReceived / Application
Accepted / Application Determined
2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Break O'Day Council / 1 / 5 / 1 / 5 / 1 / 5
Brighton Council / 2 / Nil / 2 / Nil / 2 / Nil
Burnie City Council / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Central Coast Council / Nil / 2 / Nil / 2 / Nil / 2
Central Highlands Council / Nil / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil / 1
Circular Head Council / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil
Clarence City Council / 3 / 14 / 3 / 11 / 3 / 11
Derwent Valley Council / 2 / 4 / 2 / 4 / 2 / 4
Devonport City Council / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
Dorset Council / 4 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 4 / 1
George Town Council / 5 / 4 / 5 / 4 / 5 / 4
Glamorgan/Spring Bay Council / 1 / 4 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 4
Glenorchy City Council / 6 / 11 / 6 / 11 / 7 / 10
Hobart City Council / 39 / 48 / 39 / 48 / 38 / 46
Huon Valley Council / 3 / 5 / 1 / 4 / 1 / 3
Kingborough Council / Nil / 7 / Nil / 4 / Nil / 4
Launceston City Council / 7 / 15 / 6 / 14 / 5 / 14
Sorell Council / 4 / 7 / 4 / 7 / 4 / 6
Southern Midlands Council / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5
Waratah-Wynyard Council / 6 / 1 / 6 / 1 / 6 / 1
West Tamar Council / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
TOTAL / 91 / 137 / 87 / 128 / 87 / 123
*Only those councils with applicable data are included in this Table.
Public Authorities
As Table 5 shows, most public authorities receive few requests, if any. The Motor Accidents Insurance Board, Forestry Tasmaniaand TasWaterare the only Authorities reaching double figures (78, 20 and 20 respectively) in respect of applications during 2014-15. These three Authorities account for over two-thirds of the total number of accepted applications for the 2014-2015period.
Table 5.Applications Received, Accepted and Determined – Public Authorities
Public Authority / ApplicationReceived / Application
Accepted / Application Determined
2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Tasmanian Networks Pty Ltd / - / 4 / - / 4 / - / 4
Copping Refuse Disposal Site Joint Authority / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Forest Practices Authority / Nil / 3 / Nil / 3 / Nil / 3
Forestry Tasmania / 5 / 20 / 5 / 12 / 5 / 12
Hydro Electric Corporation Tasmania / 6 / 4 / 6 / 4 / 6 / 4
Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
Legal Profession Board Tasmania^ / 2 / Nil / 2 / Nil / 2 / Nil
Marine & Safety Tasmania / 5 / 6 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5
Metro Tasmania Pty Ltd / 5 / 3 / 1 / 3 / 4 / 3
Motor Accidents Insurance Board / 55 / 78 / 54 / 76 / 55 / 76
Office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner / 2 / Nil / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil
Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Property Agents Board / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
Retirement Benefits Fund Board / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil
Tasmanian Building and Construction Industry Training Board / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Tasmania Fire Service / 13 / 7 / 8 / 4 / 8 / 4
TasPorts / 2 / 3 / 2 / 3 / 2 / 2
TasWater / 19 / 20 / 15 / 18 / 14 / 15
Teachers Registration Board / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
The Public Trustee / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
University of Tasmania / 4 / 9 / 4 / 7 / 4 / 6
TOTAL / 128 / 164 / 112 / 146 / 116 / 140
*Only public authorities with applicable data are included in this Table.
Right to Information Annual Report 2014-15 Page 1 of 65
Chapter Three: Outcomes of Applications
Determinations made on applications for information
Applications for information may result in access to the information requested being provided in full, provided in part, or refused. In addition, applications may be withdrawn, or where the requested agency does not hold the information requested it may transfer the request to another agency.
In the 2014-15 financial year, 356 applications were granted access to the whole of the information they sought, 436 applications resulted in the applicant obtaining part access, and 113 were denied access.
Determinations in which information may have had to be redacted (because it was not relevant to the request or because it may have breached another person’s privacy) are usually categorised as providing “part access”. As such, the number of applicants who received all of the information they were actually seeking may be higher than stated.
The limited number of reviews sought may be an indication that the applicants were generally content with the amount or range of information that they were provided.
Tables 6 to 9 detail the outcome of requests formally determined under the RTI Act compared with the previous reporting period, but do not include those requests which departments, authorities or councils determined under other procedures and policies.
Table 6.Outcome of Applications – Summary
Agency / Full Access / Part Access / Refused / Transferred / Withdrawn2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Government Departments / 134 / 219 / 271 / 334 / 70 / 96 / 25 / 38 / 20 / 22
Councils / 68 / 93 / 12 / 20 / 6 / 6 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 2
Public Authorities / 59 / 44 / 52 / 82 / 5 / 11 / 4 / 2 / 2 / 9
TOTAL / 261 / 356 / 335 / 436 / 81 / 113 / 30 / 41 / 24 / 33
*An application may be for more than one item of information and an application may be refused wholly or partly on several different bases. This may lead to the totals of the outcomes failing to match the number of applications determined under the Act.
Right to Information Annual Report 2014-15 Page 1 of 65
Government Departments
As Table 7 shows, during the 2014-15 financial year, government departments supplied the following information:
- 219 applicationswere granted full access
- 334 were granted partial access
- 96were refused, and
- 60of applications were transferred to another public authority, or withdrawn by the applicant.
Table 7.Outcome of Applications - Government Departments
Government Department / Full Access / Part Access / Refused / Transferred / Withdrawn2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Education / 4 / 15 / 6 / 9 / 9 / 4 / Nil / 2 / 10 / 1
Health & Human Services / 20 / 37 / 22 / 30 / 3 / 7 / 3 / 4 / Nil / Nil
Justice / 16 / 20 / 16 / 32 / 8 / 23 / 5 / 8 / Nil / 3
Police & Emergency Management / 54 / 66 / 202 / 202 / 25 / 41 / 4 / 11 / 4 / 2
Premier & Cabinet / 13 / 34 / 5 / 21 / 4 / 4 / 3 / 2 / Nil / 1
Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment / 15 / 19 / 11 / 19 / 4 / 11 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 4
State Growth / - / 22 / - / 9 / - / 4 / - / 8 / - / 11
Treasury & Finance / 6 / 6 / 2 / 12 / 5 / 2 / 3 / 1 / 1 / Nil
TOTAL / 134 / 219 / 271 / 436 / 70 / 113 / 25 / 41 / 20 / 33
*An application may be for more than one item of information and an application may be refused wholly or partly on several different bases. In addition, some parts of applications may be transferred to another department. This may lead to the totals of the outcomes failing to match the number of applications determined under the Act.
Councils
For councils, Table 8 shows that:
- 93 applicants were given full access
- 20 were given partial access
- 6 were refused, and
- 3 were transferred or withdrawn by the applicant.
Table 8.Outcome of Applications – Councils
Council / Full Access / Part Access / Refused / Transferred / Withdrawn2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15 / 2013-14 / 2014-15
Break O'Day Council / 1 / 4 / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Brighton Council / 2 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Burnie City Council / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Central Coast Council / Nil / 2 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Central Highlands Council / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Circular Head Council / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Clarence City Council / 3 / 8 / Nil / 2 / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Derwent Valley Council / Nil / 3 / 2 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Devonport City Council / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / 1 / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Dorset Council / 4 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / 1 / Nil
George Town Council / 4 / 4 / Nil / Nil / 1 / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil
Glamorgan/Spring Bay Council / 1 / 4 / Nil / 4 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Glenorchy City Council / 3 / 8 / 4 / Nil / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Hobart City Council / 34 / 39 / 3 / 2 / Nil / 3 / Nil / Nil / 1 / 2
Huon Valley Council / Nil / 2 / 1 / 2 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Kingborough Council / Nil / 4 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Latrobe Council / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Launceston City Council / 2 / 5 / 1 / 9 / 2 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Northern Midlands Council / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Sorell Council / 4 / 6 / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / 1 / Nil / Nil
Southern Midlands Council / 4 / 2 / 1 / 3 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
Waratah/Wynyard Council / 4 / Nil / Nil / Nil / 2 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
West Tamar Council / 1 / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil / Nil
TOTAL / 68 / 93 / 12 / 20 / 6 / 6 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 2
*Only those councils with applicable data are included in this Table.