Making an Application

The RTI Act provides a formal way to request access to Council information that is not publicly available. It also allows you to request amendment of documents containing your Personal Information where you believe this information is inaccurate, misleading, out of date or incomplete. 

Requests for access to documents under the RTI Act exclude documents that are readily available by other means. For example, minutes of Council meetings are mostly readily available public documents, which can be accessed by the community. Before making a formal RTI Act access application, check Council’s website or speak to the Governance Team about the location and availability of information. 

Right to Information applications

Accessing and amending your Personal Information 

The RTI Act provides for: 

  • access to personal information in Council’s possession or under Council’s control 

  • amending personal information in Council’s possession or under Council’s control. 

Documents about Council policies or actions that may affect you are not your Personal Information. Only individuals can have Personal Information. 

You must prove your identity when asking for access to or amendment of documents that contain your Personal Information. The types of identity documents you can supply are listed under ‘Evidence of identity’ in the application forms. 

Accessing other information 

To access documents that do not contain your Personal Information, you need to lodge an RTI access application. This includes: 

  • documents which are not about you 

  • documents about another person 

  • a Council decision or policy 

Access may be refused if it is not in the public interest. 

 

Fees and charges

Accessing and amending your Personal Information 

There are no fees to access or amend your Personal Information under the RTI Act. 

Accessing all other information 

To access documents that do not contain your Personal Information, you must pay an application fee. The application fee from 1 July 2025 is $57.65. 

You may also be charged for: 

  • processing of documents: 

  • No charge if Council spends less than 5 hours processing the application; or 

  • $8.95 per 15 minutes of the time spent working on the application if Council spends more than 5 hours processing the application. 

  • accessing documents (A4 photocopy black and white) - $0.25 for each page. 

Processing and access charges must be paid when Council notifies you of its decision on your application, before you can access the documents.  

If you have a valid healthcare card or concession card, a written application can be made to have the processing and/or access charges waived. 

 

Application forms

Please download and complete the relevant RTI Application Form to ensure your application contains the information we need to process your request.  

Please send your completed form to the Governance Team.  

Processing timeframes

Council is required to process your application within 25 business days from receiving a valid application. This timeframe can be extended in some circumstances (for example where Council needs to consult with a third party, or Council requests additional time to consider the application).

 

More information

For more information please contact Council's Governance Team: 

  • by phone: on (07) 5329 6500 

  • By post: 

Noosa Council 
PO Box 141 
Tewantin QLD 4565 

 

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