Department of Premier & Cabinet

You have a right to obtain information that:

• is held by public authorities
• is about the operations of Government
• is not exempt information under 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 RTI Act is available at View - RTI Act.

The RTI Act gives you a right to access documents held by the Tasmanian government agencies and Ministers, unless an exemption applies. You also have rights when someone requests a document under the RTI Act that contains information about you or your business.

Information is a valuable and powerful resource which is at the heart of every government decision and activity. Right to Information means the right of the public to access information Tasmanian Government Ministers and Tasmanian Government agencies hold, with some exceptions.

The RTI Act recognises that the information government holds is a state resource and is managed for public purposes, and that public access to it should be prompt and at the lowest reasonable cost.

RTI decisions are made by the Departmental staff with specific Delegations under the RTI Act.

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 assessed disclosure.
• 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.

There is a large amount of Government information publicly available online.

Before you lodge an RTI request you should check whether the information is already available somewhere else.

Information may be readily available in other places including:

• The Department's website.

The Department’s disclosure log contains information already released under RTI.

Other Department’s websites that might be useful

• Service Tasmania website
• Tasmania Online
• The Tasmanian Archives Office​

There are several ways to access government-held information under right to information, one of which is making a right to information request.

Before making a right to information request, you should contact the area of Government which holds the information you are interested in to see if they can assist you first.

You can request access to any information held by a public authority (such as a Department or a statutory authority) or Minister.

Some persons or bodies cannot be applied to including the Parliament of Tasmania or the Governor.

The RTI Act defines information as:

• any paper or other material on which there is writing or a mark, figure or symbol
• electronically stored information
• a map, a plan, a drawing or a photograph
• any article from which sounds, images or writing are capable of being produced.

You can ask for access to information in the form you prefer, such as in an electronic or hard copy.

You can only request access to official information held by a Minister. This doesn’t include:

• personal information of the Minister
• party political information

All Ministers delegate their functions and powers under the RTI to departmental staff.  If you want to access information held by a Minister, you should submit your application to the department that supports that Minister and clearly inidcate that you are seeking information from the Minister.

If information is exempt under the RTI Act, a public authority or Minister can refuse to disclose it. Exemptions may apply to information:

• of the Executive Council
• of Cabinet
• that is an internal briefing of a Minister
• that is information not relating to official business
• that is information affecting national or state security, defence or international relations
• relating to the enforcement of the law
• concerning legal professional privilege
• relating to closed meetings of council

However, a public authority or Minister may decide to disclose information even if an exemption could apply.

Some exemptions contained within the RTI Act require the decision-maker to also consider whether it would be contrary to the public interest to release the information before they decide to exempt it from release. If they cannot satisfy themselves that the information would be contrary to the public interest, they must release the information.

Exemptions that require the public interest to be considered are:

• information communicated by other jurisdictions
• internal deliberative information
• personal information of a person
• information relating to business affairs of third party
• information relating to business affairs of public authority
• information obtained in confidence
• information on procedures and criteria used in certain negotiations of public authority
• information likely to affect State economy
• information likely to affect cultural, heritage and natural resources of the State

When deciding whether disclosing information is against the public interest, a decision-maker must weigh up factors favouring release and those favouring non-disclosure.

The RTI Act sets out matters which must be considered by the decision-maker when applying the public interest test. The decision-maker can consider any other matter that is relevant to the information being assessed.

The RTI Act also sets out what factors a decision-maker can’t take into account, including:

• embarrassment to or loss of confidence in the government
• misunderstanding
• confusion or unnecessary debate
• seniority of the document’s author

An agency doesn’t need to keep all its documents forever. They send documents they’re required to archive to the Office of the Tasmanian Archives under the Archives Act 1983. This typically occurs when the information is older than 25 years.

If you are seeking information that is 25 years or older, you should first contact the State Library and Archives of Tasmania to see if it can be accessed.

You have the right to access your personal information under the Personal Information Protection Act 2004 and if needed, have it corrected.

You can access your personal information by asking the agency that holds your personal information for it.

Both the Personal Information Protection Act 2004 and the RTI Act define personal information in the same way: information or opinion in any recorded format about an individual whose identity is apparent or is reasonably ascertainable from the information or opinion: and who is alive or has not been dead for more than 25 years.

You can access the personal information of someone else if you have their authority to do so. The agency or Minister that holds their personal information will let you know what proof they need.

Before making a right to information request, check if the information you want is already available or ask the relevant area if they can provide the information you seek without a formal application process.

If the information is not otherwise available to you, or will not soon be made available to you, you can make a request to access the information under the RTI Act.

You must put your request in writing to the public authority or Minister that holds the information you want to access.

When you write to the agency or Minister:

• state your you’re requesting access to information under the Right to Information Act 2009
• state the document(s) you want, giving enough detail to help the agency or Minister to identify the document(s)
• give an address or email address so you can be contacted about your application.

You don’t need to give any reasons why you want the information.

Email or post your letter to the agency or minister’s address on their website. Here are the dedicated RTI email addresses for some government departments you might need to send your application to.

If you are seeking information from the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Premier, or a relevant Minister, please use the Department's application form and submit your request by email to righttoinformation@dpac.tas.gov.au or by mail to

Right to Information
Department of Premier and Cabinet
GPO Box 123
Hobart TAS 7001

You can make an RTI application as long as it:

• is in writing
• includes your name and an address for correspondence
• gives enough detail to identify the information you want
• includes sufficient proof of your identity (if necessary) and
• includes the application fee (if necessary).

Public authorities or Ministers have a lot of information, so the more specific you can be about the information you want, the better.

It helps to give the public authority or Minster as much information about your request as you can so that it can find the information you want more quickly. Useful information can include:

• the date the information was created
• the reason the public authority has the information (for example you visited a hospital, you applied for a job, someone made a complaint)
• the quantity and kind of information you want
• if the information is correspondence, the parties to that correspondence
• anything else you might think would help to search for the information

Just saying “I want my file” or “I want everything about me” can make searching difficult.

Contacting the public authority or Minister before you make an application can give you a guide about how to ask for the information you want. Make sure you have looked for the information before you make a formal application, because if the information is otherwise available your application may be refused without the return of your application fee.

There is an application fee of $47.75 for 2025-2026 that must be accompanied with your application for assessed disclosure unless you are claiming a fee waiver.

Please check the website of the department you are wanting the information from as the payment details will be different.

The application fee payment details for the Department of Premier and Cabinet ONLY are below.

• direct deposit, EFT Account name: DPAC Collections Account BSB 037-001, Account Number 268569 Reference RTI [your name]
• credit card or
• cheque or money order.

You may apply for a fee waiver if:

• You are in financial hardship – we would usually ask to see evidence that you are in receipt of a Centrelink or Veterans Affairs payments.
• You are a Member of Parliament, and the application is in connection with your official duty.
• You are a journalist acting in connection with your personal duties; or
• You are able to demonstrate that you intend to use the information for a purpose that is of general public interest or benefit.

We will review your application to ensure it meets the minimum requirements according to the RTI Act. If you are seeking personal information, please include identification. We will check that the application fee is paid or if you are eligible for it to be waived.

If your application is compliant and does not have a ground for refusal (such as it being an unreasonable diversion of resources), your application will be accepted within 10 working days of it being received.

If your application needs to be amended for any reason, a delegated RTI officer will be in contact with you to assist you with your application.

We may need to transfer your request to a more appropriate public authority or Minister. If that occurs, you will be informed.

If it is possible to provide the information you are seeking without an assessment, it will be provided to you actively.

Once your request has been accepted, all information relevant to your request will be located.

A delegated RTI Officer will assess this information against the RTI Act to see whether or not it can be provided to you. You are entitled to receive a decision within 20 working days on whether the information can be released to you or not. If your request is complex or is for a large amount of information, we may ask you to give us more time to complete the request.

If the document contains information about a third party, we will need to consult them and may need to extend the time to give your decision by another 20 working days.

If we determine that information cannot be provided to you because it is exempt from release under the RTI Act, we are required to provide you with an explanation of why we have decided to exempt the information.

When you receive a decision, you will be advised of your right to review the decision.

If we do not provide you with a decision within the timeframe allowed you are entitled to apply to the Ombudsman for resolution of the matter.

If you disagree with the outcome of a decision, you may be able to request a review of that decision within 20 working days from the date you received your decision.

The decision you receive will explain what rights to an appeal you have and how to request one.

A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.

You can view, download and print the ​Right to Information Act 2009​ and​R​ig​ht to Information Regulations 2021​​​ from the Tasmanian Legislation website.​

Reports that contain statistical information on right to information requests for all public authorities and Ministers are managed by the Department of Justice and are available on their website.

The Department may publish information it releases under RTI on its Disclosure Log.

We will do this if it is in the public interest to do so and supports the Department’s commitment to making information available to a wider audience.

We will not publish:

• statements of reasons
• personal information
• commercially sensitive information

Your identity will not be published, however we will identify the category of applicant, such as Member of Parliament, media representative or private individual. Here is the link for past RTI decisions Department of Premier and Cabinet

Links to Department of Premier and Cabinet Routine Disclosure Logs Department of Premier and Cabinet