Department of Premier & Cabinet

Right to Information Uplift Project

The Right to Information Uplift Project aims to improve the way people get information held by the Tasmanian Government.

The RTI Uplift Project will:

• improve the process for getting information.
• create the same training for RTI officers across Government.
• look at ways to give more information.

The project follows the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s responses to child sexual abuse in institutional settings where victim-survivors shared it was hard to get information held by the Government.  Click here for further information about the background and history to the project.

• RTI Uplift Project history
• RTI Uplift Project history Commission of Inquiry - legislative reform 
• RTI Uplift Project Information Access Landscape

If you have applied for information from the Government, we would like to hear from you. You can send us an email and tell us about your experience to rtiupliftproject@dpac.tas.gov.au.

If you would like to know more about this project, please email us at rtiupliftproject@dpac.tas.gov.au.

Steering Committee

A Steering Committee has been established to provide advice and help with the delivery of this project. The Steering Committee’s Terms of Reference can be found here: RTI Uplift Project Steering Committee Terms of Reference (PDF, 219KB).

A Discussion Paper examining areas for improvement in the Tasmanian State Service's right to information processes has been developed to assist the Steering Committee with their decision making.

Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the RTI Uplift Project Steering Committee meetings of 2024 can be accessed below.

Applicant's Experience Survey

Right to Information (RTI) applicants participated in a confidential survey which provided them with an opportunity to submit feedback regarding their experiences to help improve RTI processes across the whole of the Tasmanian State Service (TSS).

The survey was open to RTI applicants across the Tasmanian community from 28 July until 1 September 2023 and completed by members of the public, members of parliament, organisational representatives, and a journalist.

The following has been identified by RTI applicants in relation to areas of improvement for government websites when applying for information under the Act:

• The need for further information about the Act and information disclosure policies
• The need for an accessible standard RTI manual
• The need for more detailed instructions about the RTI application process
• The need for a direct phone number to contact for assistance
• The need for a streamlined standardised application process across the TSS.

The survey also reflects the following feedback regarding improvements when accessing government information across the TSS, such as:

• Inconsistent practices when providing acknowledgments to applicants
• Timeliness regarding negotiating extensions of time with applicants under the Act
• Timeliness in releasing information to applicants within statutory timeframes under the Act
• Sufficiency of reasons for decision, particularly when applying exemptions from releasing information and public interest test under the Act
• Potential overuse of Section 18(5) of the Act relating to the provision of information to a medical practitioner nominated by the applicant, rather than to the applicant directly
• Resourcing of the Ombudsman’s Office to allow timely and effective reviews.

The complete de-identified applicants survey results can be found here: Right to Information Survey – Applicant Experience.