Right to Information
The Department of Justice and Attorney-General is committed to open government. Unless it is not in the public interest, the department will make it as quick and easy as possible for you to access information.
This includes services, finances, policies, registers and lists, as well as information already released through Right to Information (RTI) or Information Privacy (IP) requests.
The department is also committed to protecting your personal information and will store and use it appropriately.
The department will:
- make it easy to access government information and make formal RTI or IP applications a last resort
- store personal information securely and use it appropriately
- process information requests as quickly as possible
- keep improving our processes to protect and provide access to information
- use innovative ways to make sure information is available to the entire community.
You can:
- search for information
- apply for information under the RTI or IP acts
- request amendment of your personal information that is incorrect.
Search for information
Before applying for information, check to see if it is available on our website. You can find information here:
- publication scheme - where information is released and organised into various categories
- disclosure log - where information has been made available to the public after being released through RTI applications
You can also find out how to access information for use in legal proceedings.
If you can’t find the information you require, contact rtiadministration@justice.qld.gov.au.
Apply for information
Informal requests
The department often give access to non-sensitive information or your own personal information without needing a formal RTI or IP access application. However, this is discretionary and there are generally not the same rights of review that apply for RTI or IP applications.
Examples of such documents are governance documents, annual reports and departmental policies.
We also provide statistical information about the operation of courts in Queensland. If you can’t find the information that you want, complete a courts data request form and post or email to courtstats@justice.qld.gov.au.
Requests under RTI or IP Acts
Under the RTI and IP Acts, you can only apply to access or amend documents. You can’t use this process to ask for answers to your questions.
The department does not usually provide personal information to other agencies or individuals unless that person consents to it or it is authorised or required by law. For example, finding out who may have made a complaint about you to a government agency.
If you are not sure which act to apply under, just ask us and we will advise you. You can only make an IP application for documents that contain your own personal information.
RTI applications
You can make an RTI application for any information we hold. You need to apply under the Right to Information Act 2009 if you are requesting documents that contain information about other people, businesses or government activities. If your application contains both information about you and other people, businesses or government activities then you will need to make application under RTI. There is an application fee to make an application under the RTI Act, and access charges.
IP applications
You can make an IP access application for documents that contain your own personal information. There is no application fee to make an application under the IP Act.
Information held by other departments
If the information you want is held by another Queensland Government department you can contact the relevant contact officer of that department. For information about other Queensland government departments, refer to the Right to Information website.
Information held by other Australian governments
If the information you want is held by another state government, you can contact the Freedom of Information contact officer of that State. For information held by the Australian Government, read more about Freedom of Information (FOI).
Amend personal information
You can apply to amend documents containing your personal information you believe is inaccurate, misleading, out of date or incomplete. You need to have accessed the documents before you can apply to have them amended.