Right to Information

Under the Information Privacy Act 2009 you have a general right to amend your own personal information, you may apply to amend documents containing personal information where you believe that the relevant information is inaccurate, misleading, out-of-date or incomplete. It is recommended that prior to completing and submitting the application form that you contact Council for assistance and advice about any administrative options available.

Information Privacy Personal Information Amendment Application Form.

Lodging an application

You can lodge an application in any of the following forms.

In person: At any of Council's Customer Service Centres which are open 8.20am to 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays).

• ​ROMA – Cnr Bungil & Quintin Streets
• INJUNE – 32 Hutton Street
• MITCHELL – 100 Cambridge Street
• SURAT – 73 Burrowes Street
• ​YULEBA ­– 20 Stephenson Street

Post: Maranoa Regional Council
              PO Box 620
              Roma QLD 4455

Email: rti@maranoa.qld.gov.au

If you have any questions in relation to completing the application form or about the Right to Information and Information Privacy process, please contact Council on 1300 007 662.

Is there a fee involved with making an application?

There is no application fee for Information Privacy Applications, although you may have to pay access charges.

There is an application fee payable for Right to Information Applications, you may also have to pay processing and access charges. Section 4 – 6 of the Right to Information Regulation 2009 sets the application fee and processing charge for access applications. 

You must pay the application fee when lodging your Right to Information Application. Council cannot waive the fee. 

Hardship applications

Concession Card Holders: Application for financial hardship must be made in writing. If you hold a valid concession card, and you are seeking a waiver of processing and access charges, you must show RTI officer your card (or attach a copy of the card to your application).

Non-Profit organisations: If you have financial hardship status, you must provide the RTI officer with a copy of the notice from the Office of the Information Commissioner showing that financial hardship status has been granted.

Payment can be made in the following forms:

Cheque: Crossed, marked 'not negotiable' and payable to Maranoa Regional Council;

Money Order: Eftpos or Credit Card payment (Visa or Master Card accepted);

Cash (not to be forwarded through the mail).

Under the Information Privacy Act 2009 you have a general right to amend your own personal information, you may apply to amend documents containing personal information where you believe that the relevant information is inaccurate, misleading, out-of-date or incomplete. It is recommended that prior to completing and submitting the application form that you contact Council for assistance and advice about any administrative options available.

Information Privacy Personal Information Amen​dment Application Form.​

Right to Review

If you are dissatisfied with the decisions made or the searches undertaken to locate documents related to your request, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner review of the decision. We encourage you to seek internal review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.

Internal Review

Under section 80 of the Right to Information Act 2009 you are entitled to seek an internal review of the decision made.

The internal review application must be made within 20 business dates of the date of this letter and be lodged in one of the following ways:

Email:               rti@maranoa.qld.gov.au

Post:                The Chief Executive Officer
                         Maranoa Regional Council
                         PO Box 620
                         Roma QLD 4455

External Review

If you do not wish to make an internal review application, you may apply immediately to the Information Commissioner for an external review of the decision.

An external review application must:

• Be made in writing
• Give details of the decision you are applying to have reviewed
• Provide a postal or email address where the Information Commissioner can send you written notices
• Be made within 20 days of the date of this letter; and
• Be lodged with the Office of the Information Commissioner.
  
  Your application for external review can be submitted in the following ways:

In Person:         Level 8, 160 Mary Street, Brisbane QLD 4000

Email:               administration@oic.qld.gov.au

Fax:                  07 3405 1122
Post:                Office of the Information Commissioner
                        PO Box 10143
                        Adelaide Street
                        Brisbane QLD 4000

There is no fee for making either an internal or external review application. The Office of the Information Commissioner's website contains further information about your rights of review, www.oic.gov.au.

Evidence of Indentity

If you are seeking access to documents that contain personal information either in relation to you or on behalf of another person, you must provide evidence of your identity with your application or within 10 business days of making the application in order for your application to be processed. This process helps the Council protect your personal information from being disclosed to persons other than yourself.

If you are seeking documents on someone's behalf, both parties must provide evidence of their identities. If you are not seeking any personal information, you are not required to provide evidence of your identity.

If providing a copy of your identification via post or email, the copy must be a certified by a justice of the peace, commissioner of declarations or a lawyer.

Contact from Council

If your application does not comply with the requirements set out above then the Council will contact you within 15 business days of receiving your application. Council will tell you why your application does not comply and what steps you must take to make it compliant.

If you are contacted, you must provide the information the Council has requested (for example, make payment of the application fee) within the timeframe given by the Council. If you don't respond within that timeframe, the Council may consider that your application is noncompliant and may refuse to process it.

The Council will provide you with a written notice of the decision within 10 business days if it decides to refuse to deal with your application because it is noncompliant. You have the right to apply for a review if the Council makes the decision not to process your application.

How long will it take council to process my application?

The standard processing period that Council has to process your application is 25 days from the date we receive a valid application. For Right to Information Access Applications this is taken as the date payment of the application fee has been received.

Council may require additional time to process your application in some circumstances, for example:

• Council needs to consult with a relevant third party. An additional 10 business days will be added to the processing period.
• If Council deemed that more than 5 hours is required to process the application, your will be issued a Charges Estimate Notice (CEN). The time taken between when Council issues the CEN and when you respond to Council is not counted within the standard processing period.
• Council may ask you for an extension of time if we need additional time to process your application.

Will I get all the documents I requested access to in my application?

You may not get full access to all the documents you have requested. The Right to Information Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Act 2009 set out certain types of information that Council may decide not to release to an applicant, either because Parliament has decided that it is exempt information or because releasing it would be contrary to the public interest.

It is also worth noting:

• An access application is taken only to apply to documents that are, or may be, in existence on the day the application is received.
• If your application seeks access to documents which are not held by Council, but by another agency, Council will contact you about referring the access application to the relevant agency who is most appropriate to process the application. 

​​A disclosure log makes information disclosed to an applicant under the Right to Information Act 2009 available to a wider public audience.

Section 78A of the Right to Information Act 2009 provides that if an agency makes a decision in relation to an access application to give access to a document that does not contain personal information of the applicant, and the applicant accesses the document within the access period:

• a copy of the document may be included in the disclosure log, if this is reasonably practicable; or
• otherwise – details identifying the document and information about the way in which the document may be accessed may be included in a disclosure log.

Documents released to applicants under the Act will be progressively published via Council's Disclosure Log. Should you have any questions please contact the Governance Department on 1300 007 662 or by writing to:

Email: rti@maranoa.qld.gov.au

Post: The Chief Executive Officer
          Maranoa Regional Council
          PO Box 620
          Roma QLD 4455

The information posted in the Disclosure Log lists details of the requests made and the information provided in response to those requests, but does not include identifying details of the applicants.

Maranoa Regional Council Right to Information Disclosure Log Applications Received and Processed as of October 2019.

The Preamble to the Right to Information Act 2009 provides that government held information should be released administratively as a matter of course.

Maranoa Regional Council is committed to providing the public with open and transparent access to information about its services and activities. Council's Right to Information publication scheme has been developed to allow easy user friendly public access.

The seven classes of information published are: -

1.    About Us (Who we are and what we do)
Council information, location and contacts, constitutional and legal governance.

2.    Our services (The services we offer)
A description of the services offered by Council, including advice and guidance, booklets and leaflets, transactions and media releases.

3.    Our finances (What we spend and how we spend it)
Financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, tendering, procurement and contracts.

4.    Our priorities (What our priorities are and how we are doing)
Strategy and performance information, plans assessments, inspections and reviews.

5.    Our decisions (How we make decisions)
Policy proposals and decisions. Decision making processes, internal critieria and procedures, consultations.

6.    Our policies (Our policies and procedures)
Current written protocols for delivering our functions and responsibilities.

7.    Our lists (Lists and registers)
Information held in registers required by law and other lists and registers relating to the functions of the Council.

If you have not been able to locate the particular information / service you are after via our website, or by contacting the relevant department within Council, you may wish to contact Council's Governance Department to discuss your particular enquiry. In many cases, they will be able to direct you to the appropriate channel.

If you are still unable to access the information you are seeking, you may wish to make a formal application under the Right to Information Act 2009.​

If you have not been able to locate the particular information / service you are after via our website, or by contacting the relevant department within Council, you may wish to contact Council's Governance Department to discuss your particular enquiry. In many cases, they will be able to direct you to the appropriate channel.

If you are still unable to access the information you are seeking, you may wish to make a formal application under the Right to Information Act 2009.

Disclosure Logs

A disclosure log makes information disclosed to an applicant under the Right to Information Act 2009 available to a wider public audience. Section 78(3) of the Right to Information Act 2009 provides that a person may access a document in a disclosure log for no charge. Please view Council's Disclosure Log above.

If you have been unable to access information you believe to be held by Council, you may make an application under the Right to Information Act 2009.

Council's Governance team is able to provide advice on applications and charges if applicable. Please note that if the information you are seeking to access is not your personal information, you will have to pay an application fee. You may also be charged for processing the application and for making copies of documents.

Please click the link to further information on making an application.

Exemptions

The Right to Information Act 2009 contains exemptions to access of information that may not be in the public interest to disclose either because Parliament has decided that it is exempt information or because releasing it would be contrary to the public interest.

Feedback on the Publication Scheme

Comments are highly valued by Council and any feedback you provide will be used as part of its review to make improvements to the publication scheme.

Any comments, compliments, or complaints should be forwarded to:

Email: council@maranoa.qld.gov.au

Post:   The Chief Executive Officer
            Maranoa Regional Council
            PO Box 620
            Roma QLD 4455