Privacy
Council is committed to effective management of the personal information it holds. Council receives contact from many people every day and collects, uses and stores a wide range of personal information. Council has adopted an Information Privacy Policy which explains Council’s approach.
If a complaint is made to Council about a person or their property, Council will investigate the matter. It is Council’s usual practice to keep the complainant informed about the progress of this investigation, which may involve disclosing some personal information. For more information about how Council deals with complaints and personal information, click here to read council's complaints and disclosure of personal information fact sheet.
How do I make an application under the RTI Act or the IP Act?
First check whether the information you are seeking is available in another way. If there are arrangements under another Act, or Council provides access to the documents in another way (even if there is a fee), you should not apply under the RTI Act or IP Act.
If the documents are not available in any other way, you will need to complete an application form. If you are applying for any documents which contain your personal information, you will need to provide identification (eg driving licence, passport, birth certificate). If you are making an application under the RTI Act, you will need to pay the $39 application fee. No application fee is required for an application under the IP Act.
We encourage anyone considering making an application, to contact the RTI and IP team to discuss your application. It is often helpful to discuss the application at an early stage so that Council understands what information you are seeking. In some cases, there may be another way of giving you access to the documents you want, without having to make an application.
If you want to amend personal information held by Council, please contact the team to discuss this.
You can lodge an application:
in person at Council’s customer service centres (provide original ID)
by post (PO Box 21, Cleveland, QLD 4163)
by fax 3829 8554
How long will it take to process the application?
Under the RTI Act and the IP Act, Council is allowed up to 25 business days to process an application. However, extra time is allowed if Council needs to consult any third parties and Council may also request an extension of time, depending on the size and complexity of your application and current workload within the team.
How much does it cost?
For an RTI application, in addition to the application fee ($39), you may need to pay processing charges for your application. If your application will take over five hours to process, Council will provide you with a charges estimate notice. At this stage you can decide to withdraw or amend your application or you can agree to the charges and continue with your application. If charges are applicable, we will contact you with more information.
Charges are set by the state government and are $6 per 15 minutes spent processing your application.
No processing fees are payable under the IP Act.
Council usually provides documents on CD. IF you require printed copies of the documents, Council may charge printing costs.
Will I receive the documents in full?
Council will search for the documents you request and will then assess them against the RTI Act or the IP Act. Some documents (or parts of documents) contain information which cannot be released due to exemptions (such as legal advice) or because release of the information would be contrary to the public interest (eg someone’s personal information or commercially sensitive information).
If there is information which cannot be released, Council uses software to remove the information securely from the released document, clearly showing the reasons why information has been removed. You will receive a decision notice which will explain what (if any) information has been removed and the reasons why.
Although Council considers each application on a case by case basis, if you are unsure whether the documents you want can be released, call the team to discuss this before making an application.
Disclosure log (previous RTI applications)
Documents released under the RTI Act may be published on Council’s disclosure log. This enables people to access the same information without making an application or paying any fees.
Click here to view Council's Disclosure Log