Publication Scheme

The Right to Information (RTI) Act aims to increase public access to Government information.  As a general principle, the Queensland Government has moved to a "push model", where information should be released or made available as a matter of course, rather than waiting for the public to "pull" information through recourse to Legislation.  The access provisions embodied in the RTI Act may be considered as a last resort to access information that is not otherwise available.

The Premier has directed that all agencies publish a Publication Scheme that explains the information that the public can access. This scheme sets out classes of information and the terms on which Council will make this information available.

The publication scheme replaces the Statement of Affairs traditionally published by Councils, and includes:

• Council's statement of principles underlying the scheme
• The classes of information that Council will make available through the scheme
• An information disclosure log indicating information released in relation to information requests, and
• How you can access the information and who to contact in relation to the Publication Scheme.

The information that Council will make available through the Publication Scheme will not generally include information that is:

• Prevented by law from disclosure or is exempt under the RTI Act
• In draft form
• No longer readily available as it is contained in archives or is difficult to access for similar reasons.