Queensland Consolidated Acts

INFORMATION PRIVACY ACT 2009 - SECT 54

54 Access application not limited to personal information

(1) This section applies if, on its face, an access application purportedly made under this Act should have been made under the Right to Information Act because the application is for access to a document other than to the extent it contains the applicant’s personal information.

(2) The agency or Minister must make reasonable efforts to contact the applicant within 15 business days after the application is received and inform the applicant that—

(a) the application is not an application that can be made under this Act; and

(b) the application could have been made under the Right to Information Act upon payment of the application fee payable under that Act; and

(c) the applicant may consult with the agency or Minister with a view to—

(i) making an application under this Act by changing the application; or

(ii) having the application dealt with under the Right to Information Act by paying the application fee.

(3) An agency or Minister must not refuse to deal with an application purportedly made under this Act without first giving the applicant a reasonable opportunity to consult as mentioned in subsection (2) (c) .

(4) If the application fee is paid, the applicant is taken to have made the application under the Right to Information Act on the date of the payment.

(5) However—

(a) the application continues to be dealt with as an application under this Act if, after the opportunity mentioned in subsection (3) is given and any consultation happens, the applicant does not either change the application, or pay the fee, as mentioned in subsection (2) (c) ; and

(b) the agency or Minister must again consider whether the application is an application that can be made under this Act and, within 10 days of deciding that matter, give the applicant prescribed written notice of the decision.