Qld Government publishing Right to Information documents months late

The Queensland Government is still publishing Right to Information documents up to 11 months late, nearly two years after Queensland’s Information Commissioner criticised departments for their opaque practices.

The Queensland Government is still publishing Right to Information documents up to 11 months late, nearly two years after Queensland’s Information Commissioner criticised departments for their opaque practices.

An analysis by The Sunday Mail has found some government departments holding back the publication of information publicly released under RTI since March last year.

The Opposition said “thumbing its nose” at RTI logs said everything about the government’s attitude towards transparency and accountability.

Six departments had no entries on their RTI disclosure logs for this year yet, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s own Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Public Service Commissioner, which also sits under her department.

Following questions, both the DPC and PSC immediately updated their logs from September and March 2021 respectively to February 2022 but didn’t give reasons as to why that hadn’t been done earlier.

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s own Department of Premier and Cabinet has had no entries on its RTI disclosure logs for this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

The Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water Department also updated its November log to February following questions.

The latest documents published by Queensland Police were from June 2021, with a spokeswoman stating the nature of RTI meant disclosure logs “usually have some time gap” and a new batch of documents for July to October would be online soon.

A spokesperson for the Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Department defended the fact documents hadn’t been published since March 2021, saying RTI applications were responded to “in a timely matter” but there had been “some delays”.

Corrective Services had no updated entries since December 2021 and did not respond to questions.

The Tourism, Innovation and Sport Department updated its log following questions to make it clear its documents are published on the State Development Department’s site.

The delays continue despite an August 2020 report of the Office of the Information Commissioner that found some departments were taking up to six months to publish critical documents, logs were hard to read and use and more than a third of departments had application listings missing.

Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

It found the poor service could affect the “community’s confidence in government agencies because they are not as transparent and open as they could be”.

It also follows Information Commissioner Rachael Rangihaeata telling a parliamentary inquiry there had been a spike in complaints to her office from people about RTI officers repeatedly missing their legislative deadlines to answer their RTI applications.

Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said the failure to publish the documents in a timely way “is symptomatic of a government that doesn’t care about integrity”.

“The fact this state government is thumbing its nose at RTI disclosure logs tells you everything you need to know about its attitude towards transparency and accountability,” she said.

The revelations come ahead of a review of the Right to Information Act, the terms of reference for which have not yet been finalised, and a strategic review of the OIC to examine its powers and operation.

MOST RECENT DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED ON THE RTI DISCLOSURE LOG:

Department of Premier and Cabinet – September 2021

Queensland Corrective Services – December 2021

Queensland Police – June 2021

Public Service Commission – March 2021

Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water – November 2021

Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships – March 2021