Poyton and commencement of the processing period

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal has set aside and remitted Poyton and Department of Education [2023] QICmr 13 (16 March 2023) to the OIC for reconsideration.

This means that the processing period under the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) (RTI Act) and Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) (IP Act) does not begin until an agency has an access or amendment application which complies with all relevant application requirements. This also means that a deemed decision cannot be made on a noncompliant application. We have updated our guidance accordingly.

The Information Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2023 (Qld) (IPOLA), expected to commence on 1 July 2025, amends the RTI Act to explicitly provide that the processing period does not begin until the valid application day, which puts this question beyond doubt. The OIC’s IPOLA guidelines, including Timeframes under the RTI Act (PDF, 231.99 KB), provide guidance on the IPOLA amendments.

For more information, please contact the OIC’s Enquiries Service on 07 3234 7373 or enquiries@oic.qld.gov.au.