The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) received the highest ever number of external review applications in 2025–26, (1,053 in total) — a 64% increase on the previous year.
The sharp rise reflects growing community awareness of access to information rights, increased demand linked to the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland’s Child Safety System, increased use of AI tools by community members to prepare applications and submissions, and more repeat access applications from individuals.
Individuals accounted for the overwhelming majority of applications, lodging 952 applications, or around 90% of the total. Companies submitted 45 applications, followed by media organisations (21), lobby and community groups (15), elected representatives (13) and agencies (7). Repeat applicants made up 19% of individual review applications.
Despite the surge, the OIC increased its output, finalising 784 matters in 2025–26 — up 22% from the year before. Of those, 181 resulted in a formal written decision (constituting a 103% increase on the year before), 391 were resolved informally, and 212 were finalised without a determination, including matters outside jurisdiction, lodged out of time, or not progressed further by the Information Commissioner.
Queensland Police Service decisions remained the largest source of external review applications, with 267 matters, followed by the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety with 70.
While the OIC’s performance strengthened over the year, the record volume of applications led to a significant increase in matters on hand at 30 June 2026. This will result in higher workloads carrying into 2026–27.