How to help someone make an access application

The Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) (RTI Act) allows people to apply to Queensland government agencies, such as departments, Ministers, public hospitals and local councils, for access to documents.

You may be approached to help a friend, relative, customer or client with their application to access information from a Queensland government agency.¹ If they only need help filling out the application form, you can refer them to the Information Sheet: How do I apply for government documents?

This Information Sheet is intended to help if you are going to act on someone’s behalf (this is called being their agent) to make a formal application under the RTI Act.

Can I act as an agent for my friend, relative, or client?

Yes. The person you are assisting can authorise you to act on their behalf to make an access application.

For the purposes of the application process, your friend, relative, or client will be the applicant and you will be their agent. This means you will be the one who deals with the agency while they process the application, but the agency will make a decision about releasing the documents to your friend, relative, or client.

Capacity

An applicant must have the necessary capacity to make an application. Factors such as age or physical or mental disability can affect capacity. An agent taking and carrying out instructions from an applicant must be satisfied that they comprehend the nature of their actions and its effect.

Application form

The approved application form can be completed to make an application under the RTI Act. The application form can be downloaded from www.rti.qld.gov.au. The link to the form can be found on the right hand side, towards the bottom of the page.

Alternatively, you can contact the agency you are applying to or the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) to ask for the application form to be posted or emailed to you.

If the agency is a Queensland government department, you can choose to complete the application form online at www.rti.qld.gov.au. The online form is only available for applications to departments.

How to complete the application form

The application form has sections marked with black triangles which indicate the areas you must complete.

Contact details

In this section of the form, enter your personal details such as name, postal address and preferred method of contact.  When you act as an agent for someone you are the contact point for any matters about the application that may arise.

Put your contact details in this section, not the applicant’s contact details. If the documents will contain the applicant’s personal information then there are additional evidence of authority requirements for the agent.

Application fee and charges

There is no application fee or processing charges for if all the documents being applied for will contain the personal information of the person you’re acting for. If they want to access any documents which do not contain their personal information there will be an application fee.

From 1 July 2025, the application fee is $57.65 and possible processing charges of $8.95 per fifteen minutes spent working on the application. The application fee cannot be waived. There may also be access charges of $0.25 per A4 page for paper copies, but these will not apply for electronic copies.

If you have any questions about how to pay the application fee, please contact the agency being applied to. You can find a list of RTI agency contacts for departments on the RTI website. If the agency is not a department then refer to their website to locate contact details for the RTI Unit.  If you cannot find the agency contact details then the OIC Enquiries Service may be able to assist you.

If the applicant is the holder of an accepted concession card you can apply to have the processing and/or access charges waived due to financial hardship.  See Applying for financial hardship as an individual for more information.

On behalf of the applicant?

Select “yes” and enter the applicant’s name. Do not include your own personal details in this section.

What agency are you applying to?

Name the Queensland government agency or Minister you are applying to in this section (for example, Queensland Police Service, your local council, Metro North Hospital and Health Service).

If the applicant wants to apply to more than one agency you must complete a separate application form for each agency.

Which documents?

This section is where you describe the documents your friend, relative or client wants to access. You need to make sure you provide enough detail about the documents for the agency to be able to identify them. It will help if you can be as specific as possible about what you are seeking and provide as much information as you can.

If you are able to provide the information that is requested in all of the questions this will assist the agency to locate the documents.  You can leave some or all of these sections blank if you do not have this information or if it's not relevant.

If it is easier or you need more space, you can attach a separate piece of paper explaining the documents you are seeking.

Evidence of identity and authority

Evidence of identity

If you are applying for any documents which contain the applicant’s personal information (for example, their name) then you must provide:

• evidence of the applicant’s identity
• evidence of your authority to act as their agent.

The evidence of identity requirements are set out in Evidence of identity and authority.

Evidence of authority

There are a number of documents that may be sufficient to establish your authority to act as an agent, such as:

• a court order appointing you as the agent to act as the applicant’s guardian
• a client agreement signed by both you and the client, authorising you to act as an agent; or
• a signed letter of authority specifically appointing you to act as the applicant's agent to make the application.

For more detailed information see the Evidence of identity and authority guideline.

Certified copies

If you are providing a copy of the ID then it must be certified as a true and correct copy of the original document by a qualified witness.

You cannot black out or remove any information from your ID or the applicant’s ID before you give it to the agency. If you do, the ID will not be valid for the RTI Act and the agency will ask you to send them new copies of the ID showing all the information. They will not be able to process the application until they have this.

For more detailed information see the Evidence of identity and authority guideline.

Contact from the agency

The agency may send an acknowledgement letter when the application is received, however, it is not a requirement for the agency to do so.

If you do not hear from the agency and would like to confirm the application was received or have any questions about the application then you can contact the RTI Unit at the agency directly.