Right to Information and Information Privacy

Your right to information

Redland City Council is committed to providing the community with open and transparent access to information in relation to its services, activities and business operations. To fulfil our commitment, we operate in accordance with the requirements of the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (IP Act). The RTI Act promotes the release of information by Council unless this information is exempt, or its release would be contrary to the public interest.

Quick links

What is Right to Information and Information Privacy?

The RTI Act gives people the right to access documents held by Council that are not usually publicly available and which contain information that is 'non-personal'.

The IP Act gives you a right to access and amend your personal information and outlines how Council manages your personal information.

Find out more about how we manage personal information by viewing our Privacy statement.

How do I access information held by Council?

Before starting the application process, check to see if the information is already available. Most information on our website can be viewed or downloaded free-of-charge.

If you are having difficulty accessing documents from our website, please contact us to request access to the information in another suitable format, such as hard-copy or CD. If there are any copying fees or other charges we will inform prior to your request being processed.

You can use any of the following methods to find information:

• View the documents published in our Publication Scheme
  You can learn about Our organisation, Our online services, Our finances, Our priorities, Our decisions, Our policies and Our lists and registers.
• Search our website
  Can't find what you are looking for on our website? Try using our search box located on each webpage.
• Use Development.i
  Find information about past and current application details and basic property information for the Redland City Council Local Government area.
• Use our interactive Red-e-map
  Find anything from a barbecue for a picnic, or where to walk your dog.
• Search the Redland libraries catalogue
  Search for publications produced by Redland City.
• View the disclosure log
  The disclosure log contains details about documents released in response to applications made under the RTI Act. Access to documents can be requested by contacting us.
• Administrative Access
  If the information you are searching for is not already published, we'll check whether we hold the information and can provide it to you via administrative access release.
• Search for Redland City's records
  Search for historic records of previous councils which we have transferred to Queensland State Archives.
• View our history
  Discover details about our local history and heritage.

Making an application for access to documents through a formal process

Sometimes, we can only release documents through the formal RTI process.

If the documents you are wanting to access are not available via another means (even if a charge is applicable) you will need to make a formal access application under the RTI Act. If you have any questions, please contact us prior to submitting an application. In some cases, there may be another way of giving you access to the documents you want, without having to make a formal RTI application.

Applications to access documents held by Council under the RTI Act are made by completing our new, easy to complete online application form.

If you are unable to access the online version of the form, please print and complete the Right to Information Application form(PDF, 242KB) and send to our postal address at PO Box 21, Cleveland, 4163. 

Applications to amend your personal information can be made in writing, or by completing the Information Privacy Personal Information Amendment Form(PDF, 170KB).

Fees and charges

On 28 May 2024, Council started charging a portion of the bank surcharges we incur when payments are made using a card. To avoid this surcharge, payment can be made via BPAY. Any processing charges, payable in response to a Charges Estimate Notice (see below) will be incurred at the time of that payment.

Further details about this charge are available here: Credit and Debit Card Surcharge.

RTI applications for Council held information that is 'non-personal'.

Charges are set by the State Government - for 2025/26 the application fee is $57.65.

Applications can be made using our new, easy to complete online application form.  While we continue testing the payment link included in the new form, the current options to lodge and pay the application fee, where applicable, are:

• Complete, submit and pay in person at one of our Customer Service Centres - pay via cash, Eftpos or credit card; or
• Complete and submit electronically – an officer from the Ethics & Integrity Unit will contact you to arrange payment of the fee, if applicable, over the telephone - pay via Eftpos or credit card.

Processing charges apply if your application takes more than five hours. For 2025/26 the fee is $8.95 for each 15 minutes, or part thereof, spent processing your application ($35.80 per hour). Council will provide you with a charges estimate notice if this is going to be applicable.

• If you have a healthcare card or a concession card, a request in writing can be made to have the processing and/or access charges waived.
• We provide documents free of charge via email or OneDrive. If you require printed copies of the documents an A4 black and white photocopy is $0.25 per page.

RTI applications for your personal information only

• You do not pay an application fee or processing charges.
• You need to provide identification 

We provide documents free of charge via email or OneDrive. If you require printed copies of the documents an A4 black and white photocopy is $0.25 per page.

How long will it take to process the application?

The RTI Act allows Council 25 business days to process an application, but this can be extended in some circumstances, for example:

• If you provide only a postal address on your application, this will add an additional 5 business days to the timeframe
• If we need to consult with third parties; or
• The size and complexity of your application and current workloads within the unit.

Decision reviews

If you are dissatisfied with the decision, you can apply for:

• an internal review conducted by a different officer within Council; or
• an external review conducted by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

Apply for an internal review using the form.(PDF, 512KB)

Disclosure log

Documents released in response to applications made under the RTI Act are contained in Council's Disclosure Log.

Certain information, such as personal information or information otherwise excluded by law from release will have been redacted prior to release, so will not be contained in the documents available to download.

Accessing released documents from our Disclosure Log

To access released documents please select the disclosure log period from the list below you will then be able to select an application and download the documents. If you have any questions you can contact Council's Right to Information and Privacy Unit by phone or email:

Ethics & Integrity Unit
Phone: (07) 3829 8811
Email ethics.integrity@redland.qld.gov.au

Disclosure Logs by financial year are available below.

• 2016/2017 Disclosure Log files
• 2017/2018 Disclosure Log files
• 2018/2019 Disclosure Log files
• 2019/2020 Disclosure Log files
• 2020/2021 Disclosure Log files
• 2021/2022 Disclosure Log files
• 2022/2023 Disclosure Log files
• 2023/2024 Disclosure Log files
• 2024/2025 Disclosure Log files
• 2025/2026 Disclosure Log files

Complaints and disclosure of personal information

Definitions:

• Complainant – the person making the complaint
• Respondent – the person the complaint is about and who Council is investigating
• Disclosure – providing or releasing personal information to a third party

What is personal information?

Under the IP Act, personal information means "information or an opinion about an individual who is reasonably identifiable from the information or opinion - (a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and (b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not’.

Requesting complaint documents

If you have made a complaint or have had a complaint made about you, the following will assist if you are now applying to access documents about that complaint.

Council collects personal information as part of its statutory responsibilities and standard business practices including to investigate and assess complaints. Information is collected in accordance with the IP Act and Queensland Privacy Principles (QPPs) so personal information will not be disclosed unless you gave consent, or the disclosure is required or authorised by law.

Disclosing another person’s personal information or information that can establish that person’s identity has been found in some cases to be contrary to the public interest. It is unlikely you will be given access to all documents, only documents that contain your personal information and procedural documents.

Information regarding the progress of an investigation by Council

Often a complainant will want to be kept informed of the progress of the investigation by Council, however, providing information about the investigation can involve disclosure of personal information.

At the start of an investigation, the investigating officer may advise the respondent that it is Council’s usual practice to disclose information about the progress of the investigation, and its outcome, to the complainant.

The respondent is encouraged to contact the investigating officer if they have any concerns about the information likely to be disclosed.

More information

Detailed information about Right to Information and Information Privacy is available on the following websites:

• Queensland Government Right to Information
• Queensland Office of the Information Commissioner

Related links

• Privacy statement
• Online Right to Information Application form
• Apply for an Internal Review(PDF, 512KB)
• Information Privacy Personal Information Amendment form(PDF, 170KB)
• Information Privacy Policy(PDF, 334KB)
• Make a complaint form

External websites

• Information Privacy Act 2009
• Right to Information Act 2009
  
  

Quick guide – Right to Information Applications