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FACT SHEET
Right to Information Amendment Bill 2011
In August 2008 the then Premier, David Bartlett announced a
ten point plan to strengthen trust in democracy and political
processes in Tasmania. That agenda included a review of the
Freedom of Information Act 1991 with a view to improving
transparency in the operations and decision making processes
of the Government through better access to information for all
Tasmanians.
This review resulted in the Right to Information Act 2009,
which commenced on 1 July 2010.
The framework created by the Act has four key elements,
which are: it mandates the proactive release of information; it
includes an enhanced role for the Ombudsman in relation to
both review and the monitoring of the release of information; it
minimises fees payable for the formal release of information
and for the first time seeks to clarify what exactly constitutes a
public interest test.
This Bill seek to fix wording errors which have become
apparent during implementation of the Act and to clarify some
of the provision so as to ensure their intent is clear.
The Bill also extends the circumstances in which the
Ombudsman can review decisions of a public authority when
they refuse an application for assessed disclosure.