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Information Sheet
Right to Information Act 2009 and
Information Privacy Act 2009
Applying for complaint documents
This information sheet is intended to assist people who were involved in a
complaint and are now applying to access documents about, or arising out of,
that complaint. It applies both to people who made a complaint and to people
who were complained about. It does not apply to documents arising out of a
workplace investigation.
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Can I apply for documents?
The
Right to Information Act 2009 (
RTI Act) and the
Information Privacy Act
2009 (
IP Act) give people the right to apply to Queensland government
agencies for access to documents. However, access to those documents may
be refused if information in the documents is exempt or contrary to the public
interest to release.
Will I get access to the documents?
You are not likely to be given access to all the documents you ask for. You will
likely get access to documents that contain only your personal information and
to procedural documents.
Some of the documents you apply for may contain information that is exempt
information, or information which is, on balance, ‘contrary to the public interest’
to disclose. You may not be given access to these documents.
For example, other people’s personal information (such as any information
which identifies the complainants) is generally considered to be contrary to the
public interest to disclose and you are not likely to get access to that.
What is exempt information?
The RTI Act sets out that certain kinds of information are exempt from release.
This information is called exempt information. If information is exempt the
agency does not have to consider whether it is contrary to the public interest to
release it.
1 Please refer to the information sheet on applying for workplace investigation documents available here
http://www.oic.qld.gov.au/guidelines/for-community-members/information-sheets-access-and-amendment.
Right to Information and Privacy Guidelines
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Confidential sources of information
Anything that would reveal a confidential source of information which relates to
the enforcement or administration of the law is exempt information. When
considering complaint documents the agency may have to consider if the
documents you have applied for would reveal the existence or the identity of a
confidential source of information. If so, you are likely to be refused access to
the information.
If information is
not exempt information the agency will have to consider
whether the information is contrary to the public interest to disclose.
What is contrary to the public interest to disclose?
The RTI Act contains lists of public interest factors. Some of these are factors
which favour disclosing information and some of them are factors which favour
not disclosing information.
When making a decision about whether or not to release a document, the
decision maker identifies the relevant factors and weighs the ones favouring
disclosure against the ones favouring non-disclosure. Information that the
decision maker decides would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest to
disclose does not have to be released.
You do not have to give reasons for wanting to access the documents you are
applying for, but in some cases doing so may help the agency identify factors
favouring disclosure.
What information will be contrary to the public interest to disclose
in complaint documents?
Personal information of other people
You will generally be given access to your own personal information. Releasing
someone else’s personal information (such as other people’s observations,
opinions, concerns or recollections) or information which infringes their right to
privacy has been found to be contrary to the public interest. You may be
refused access to this sort of information. Personal information of other people
will include information which enables you to work out who made the
complaint—it is very unlikely that you will be given access to this information.
In some circumstances it will not be possible to separate your personal
information from the personal information of other people. An example of this
may be a complaint containing the thoughts and feelings of the complainant
about an incident or situation which you were involved in. If it is not possible to
separate personal information, access to all of the personal information—yours
and the other people’s—may be refused. This means that you may not receive
a complainant’s complaint letter, even where it is a complaint made against you.
Right to Information and Privacy Guidelines
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Prejudice the flow of information
It has also been previously decided that releasing information that could
prejudice the flow of confidential information to government is contrary to the
public interest. For example, where witnesses or complainants understand that
the information they provide to investigators will be held in confidence and they
would be less likely to provide that information in the future if it is released, that
sort of information may not be disclosed.
What about accountability in conducting investigations?
There will often be a broad public interest in the agency being accountable to
the public for its actions. It is necessary, however, for the facts in each case to
be considered to decide whether the interest in accountability is:
• favoured by disclosing the information in question
• strong enough to outweigh the specific factors against disclosure.
In most cases, the broad general interest in accountability has not been found
sufficient to outweigh the above factors against disclosure.
For additional information and assistance please refer to the OIC’s guidelines,
or contact the Enquiries Service on 07 3234 7373 or email
xxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx.
This information sheet is introductory only, and deals with issues in a
general way. It is not legal advice. Additional factors may be
relevant in specific circumstances. For detailed guidance, legal
advice should be sought.
If you have any comments or suggestions on the content of this
document, please submit them t
o xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx.
Published 27 June 2013 and Last Updated 17 July 2013
Changes to legislation after the update date are not included in this document
Right to Information and Privacy Guidelines
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