Right to Information and Routine Disclosure

If you wish to obtain information held by the Department, you can apply by completing the Right to Information Form.

Making a request

Before completing a Right to Information request, consider whether you can make a request for personal information, which has no fee and is often faster.
Use the Right to Information Act 2009 – Application for Assessed Disclosure Form to apply.
The fee for the Application is $44.50 unless a waiver is granted.

Further information

For more information about the operation of Right to Information in the Department, phone (03) 6165 6187 or email rti@decyp.tas.gov.au.
The Department responds to Right to Information applications within 20 business days unless there is a need to negotiate an extension of time or to comply with legal requirements under the Right to Information Act 2009.
General information about the Right to Information Act 2009 is also available from the Office of the Ombudsman.
View the Department’s Right to Information Policy.

Right to Information Act

The Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) commenced on 1 July 2010 and provides for greater access to information held by government bodies by:

authorising and encouraging greater active disclosure of information held by public authorities in response to informal requests without the need for applications
authorising and encouraging greater routine disclosure of information held by public authorities without the need for requests or applications
giving members of the public an enforceable right to information held by public authorities
providing that access to information held by government bodies is restricted in only limited circumstances which are defined in the Act.

The aim of the Act is to improve the operation of democracy in the State by:

increasing the accountability of Government to the people of Tasmania
increasing the ability of the people to participate in government decision making
acknowledging that the information held by Tasmanian public authorities belongs to the people of the State and has been collected for them and on their behalf.

A copy of the Act is available on the Tasmanian Government Legislative database.

Right to Information decisions are made by Departmental staff with specific Delegations under the Act.

Completing the form:

If you want to access information held by the Department, you will need to fill out an Application for Assessed Disclosure Form. There is space available on the form for an Applicant to explain why the information is sought.

Payment of application fee:

Applications are to be accompanied by the application fee. The fee is 25 units, indexed annually, which amounts to $44.50 as at 1 July 2021. Please see below for options on how to pay the fee,

Cheque or money order payable to Department of Education, Children and Young People for $44.50; or
Direct Deposit BSB-037-001 Account – 268307 (you will need to quote RTI-Name as reference); or
Pay at Service Tasmania – Service Tasmania Product Code 256 – Take this document and pay $44.50 by cash, EFTPOS, cheque or credit card at any Service Tasmania Shop. For opening times and locations telephone 1300 135513 or visit www.service.tas.gov.au

You may apply to have the fee waived if:

you are in financial hardship – (You will need to provide evidence such as a copy of Centrelink Card, Healthcare Card or Department of Veteran affairs payments.)
you are a member of parliament, and the application is in connection with your official duty; or
You are a member of the media or journalist acting in connection with your professional duties; or
you are able to give us information which demonstrates that the information sought is intended to be used for a purpose that is of general public interest or benefit.

Process after completing the form:

Once this application has been completed, please forward it to Right to Information, Department of Education, Children and Young People, GPO Box 169, Hobart, Tasmania, 7000 or via email to rti@decyp.tas.gov.au.

What if I am unhappy with the information received?

You may request an internal review. Please contact rti@decyp.tas.gov.au to request a review or for more information on your options.

The RTI Act provides for internal review rights following decisions, and external review rights to Ombudsman Tasmania.

Contact details for Ombudsman Tasmania

If you remain dissatisfied with the Department’s handling of your matter or the outcome of your request, you can contact the Ombudsman Tasmania by telephone on (03) 6166 4566 or 1800 001 170 (cost of local call outside Hobart area) or by email at rti@ombudsman.tas.gov.au.

Routine Disclosure Information

The Tasmanian Government routinely discloses information to the public under the Right to Information Act 2009. To further enhance our transparency and to enable greater consistency across government in when this information will be released, the Tasmanian Government has agreed to routinely disclose information twice a year (April and October), or within 10 working days of changes taking place.

Departmental information to be routinely disclosed includes information such as: organisational structures and functions, Departmental governance policies, major policy projects, employment statistics, Senior Executive Service details, expenditure on telecommunications, gifts and hospitality, and contracts and consultancies over $50 000.

Other related information

Organisational structure and functions

Information about the Department Structure.

Departmental governance policies

For Information about core governance and legal policies please see the below listed links:

Major Policy and Program Initiatives

Information regarding the Education Act Implementation

Annual Reports and Statistics

Information regarding Plans, Reports and Statistics
Information regarding Report on Government Services

Employment and workforce statistics & Senior Executive Service details

Information in relation to the Tasmanian State Service Workforce Profile

Contracts and consultancies awarded greater than $50000 awarded

As currently published – information available in the Tasmanian Government Tenders website

Information Disclosure

Interim procedures for disclosing information released in response to Right to Information Act 2009 requests in Tasmania were announced on Tuesday, 9 June 2015.

Certain information released in response to Right to Information requests will be published online within 48 hours of being released to the applicant. This only applies to applications received after 9 June 2015.

The new approach makes information released to an applicant available to a wider audience and increases Government transparency and accountability.

Applicants should note that:

If they seek and are granted a waiver of the application fee on the basis of general public interest, and it is determined that the information is in the broader public interest, publication of the released information is likely.
Their identity will not be published. The category of applicant will be published, i.e. Member of Parliament, media representative, private individual.
A summary of the application will be published. This gives context to the nature of the released information.
Only information that is considered to be in the broader public interest will be published. No personal information will be published.
Information of a commercial or confidential nature will not be published.

Telecommunications Expenditure Routine Disclosure

1 July 2021 – 31 December 2021	Expenditure
Fixed phone line / calls	$709,634.77
Mobile phone / data costs	$318,178.97
Total	$1,027,813,74

2023-24 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Member of Parliament	Current FTE of fixed term and casual employees	Disclosure Log.3 – Current fixed term and casual FTE (PDF, 47kB)
Journalist	Information regarding Intensive Family Engagement Service (IFES): – Referrals – Wait times	Disclosure Log.2 – Intensive Family Engagement Service (IFES) (PDF, 45kB)
Journalist	Information regarding Child Safety Services: – Referrals – Allocations – Wait times	Disclosure Log.1 – Child Safety Services (PFD, 191kB)

2022-23 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Member of Parliament	Information relating to the assessment process undertaken by the Department when considering upgrading or building a new a North West Support School	Disclosure – North West Support School (PDF, 4.4MB)
Member of Parliament	School Revenue	Disclosure – School Revenue (PDF, 92KB)
Member of Parliament	• Information relating to limitations or constraints on the capabilities of My Career • Memorandum of Understanding between the Department and Teachers Registration Board • Statistical information of employed teachers who hold specialist qualifications • Data that Demonstrates the total establishment for the Department compared to the actual staff paid	Disclosure Log (PDF, 1.7MB)
Member of Parliament	Figures relating to: • Suspension • Bullying and assaults • School attendance rates • Workers comp • New Principals • School Health Nurses	Disclosure Log (PDF, 144KB)
Member of Parliament	1. A breakdown by financial years for the years 2021/22, 2020/21, 2019/20, 2018/19 of the electricity bills for each Tasmanian public school, disaggregated by school 2. A breakdown by financial years for the years 2021/22, 2020/21, 2019/20, 2018/19 of the electricity bills for each Tasmanian Child and Family Centre, disaggregated by Child and Family Centre	Summary of Electricity bills for Tasmanian Public Schools and Children and Family Centres (PDF, 404KB)
Member of Parliament	Information regarding Covid-19 consultation survey conducted with staff 1.The number of staff who participated; 2. Numerical or descriptive outcomes of the data derived in whatever format was used; 3. A statement summarising the process the information was analysed or interpreted. Covid-19 consultation survey results.	Covid-19 consultation survey results (PDF, 1MB)
Member of Parliament	1. Budget Estimates 2022	1. Briefings relating to Suspension, students living with disability, school attendance, NAPLAN and Kinder Development Check, Workforce Audit – teacher recruitment and retention. Budget Estimates 2022 (PDF, 9.2MB)

2021-22 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Member of Parliament	1. The assessment report of Department of Education asset condition with regard to natural ventilation improvements; 2. Amenity information, including heating, cooling and ventilation data for buildings owned by the Department of Education.	Heating, cooling and ventilation data (PDF, 6.3MB)
Member of Public	a) Air Purifiers • The total number of air purifiers that were purchased to put into Tasmanian schools. • The make and model number, of these air purifiers. • The date and name of which school received how many purifiers? • The cost of these air purifiers b) CO2 monitors • The total number of CO2 monitors that were purchased to put into Tasmanian schools. • The make and model number, of these CO2 monitors. • The date and name of which school received how many CO2 monitors • The cost of these CO2 monitors	Air Purifiers and CO2 Monitors (PDF, 255KB)

2020-21 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Member of Parliament	Budget Estimates Briefs 2020	Budget Estimates Briefs 2020 (PDF, 71KB)
Member of Parliament	Information regarding potential new school sites	Information regarding potential new school sites (PDF, 22MB)

2019-20 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Media	Employment of new teachers	Number of teachers who have been employed under the state government’s initiative to employ 250 new teachers and which schools they have gone to (PDF, 70 KB)
Media	List of Tasmanian Government Schools and school levies charged by each school.	List of State Government Schools and the Levies Charged for the 2019 School Year (PDF, 718 KB)
Member of Parliament	Statistics for workers compensation stress claims in the Department and bullying, assaults, suspensions in schools.	Schedule of Documents (PDF, 183KB)
Member of Parliament	Correspondence relating to site selection and community consultation regarding Brighton High School.	Correspondence relating to site selection and community consultation regarding Brighton High School. (PDF, 1MB)
Member of Parliament	Enrolment numbers, teaching allocation, school resource package allocation and capital works for Year 11 and Year 12 for 2020 at each extended secondary and district (combined) high school.	Year 11 and 12 Enrolments and Extension School Funding for 2020 (PDF, 258KB)
		Explanatory Notes – Years 11 and 12 (PDF, 874KB) This document provides further information that has been actively disclosed by the Department following the assessed disclosure above.
Journalist	Notes for Table 1 The 2020 interim teacher staffing and School Resource Package allocations were provided to schools in October 2019. These allocations are based on projected enrolments at the schools for 2020. As student enrolments can change, the final Educational Adjustment allocation is determined after the first term census of students at the school in 2020.	Educational Adjustments Interim Funding to Schools as at October 2019 (PDF, 1.3MB)

2018-19 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Media	School Capital Works	Four pages partly exempt s26 (cabinet information) (PDF, 1,267 KB)

2017-18 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Organisation	Eligibility and funding for asylum seekers government education	Eligibility and funding asylum seekers government education (PDF, 1,277KB)
Member of Parliament	Any overcharging of corporate services resources of any public authority	Any overcharging of corporate services resources public authority (PDF, 54KB)
Member of Parliament	Workers compensation claims (stress) at Launceston College October 2014 to June 2015, 2015-16, and July 2016 to December 2017	Workers compensation claims stress Launceston College (PDF, 38KB)
Member of Parliament	Student data years 10, 11 and 12 from 2013 to 2017	Student data years 10, 11 and 12 from 2013 to 2017 (PDF, 776KB)

2016-17 Disclosures

Category of Applicant	Summary of Request	Information Released
Organisation	Budget and expenditure of youth mental health	Budget and expenditure Youth Mental Health (PDF, 567KB)
Member of Parliament	Disability mediation services	Disability mediation services (PDF, 288KB)
Member of Parliament	Early Childhood Intervention Services Funding	Early Childhood Intervention Services Funding (PDF, 69KB)
Member of Public	Art medium results – TASC	Art medium results – TASC (PDF, 1.2MB)