Publication schemes

Publication schemes and Disclosure Logs

The Right to Information Act (2009) (RTI Act) requires departments and agencies to have a publication scheme and disclosure log published on their websites. These form part of the proactive disclosure of information promoted under the ‘push’ model of the RTI Act.

A publication scheme shows what information is routinely made available and how the information can be accessed. A publication scheme must be organised into classes of documents and broadly state the kinds of information that must be available under each class.

A disclosure log makes information disclosed to an applicant under the RTI Act available to a wider public audience by publication online. The RTI Act does not authorise publication of documents that contain the applicant’s personal information - only documents that do not contain the personal information of the applicant may be published to a disclosure log.

Departments and agencies may add supporting information to explain issues of public interest in greater depth. The general public can access the document free of charge. If it is not possible to publish a document on the disclosure log (e.g. where the document is too large to upload to a website), departments and agencies may publish details of how to access the document.

Links to publication schemes are set out below.

Departments and agencies must comply with the Ministerial Guidelines about how to operate a publication scheme and disclosure log.

Last updated:
5 June 2020