Under the Right to Information Act 2009, you have the right to request access to government information held by the Magistrates Court.

All information must be disclosed, unless it is defined under the Act as ‘exempt information’. You can find out more about exempt information from the Ombudsman’s Manual (available on the Ombudsman Tasmania website).

This Act aims to improve democratic government by:

• increasing the accountability of government
• increasing the ability of the public to participate in government decision-making processes
• acknowledging that public authorities collect information for and on behalf of the public.

This Act:

• authorises and encourages routine disclosure of information held by public authorities without the need for requests or applications
• authorises and encourages active disclosure of information held by public authorities in response to informal requests without the need for applications
• gives members of the public an enforceable right to information held by public authorities
• provides that access to information held by government bodies is restricted in only limited circumstances which are defined in the Act.

In certain circumstances, you may be able to access personal information that Justice holds about you through the Personal Information Protection Act 2004.