RTI application fees and charges
On this page you will find information about the various fees and charges associated with making a Right to Information (RTI) or Information Privacy (IP) application.
Application fee
You will need to pay the application fee of $55.75 when you apply for information under the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act).
Once we have assessed your RTI application, we will send you a charges notice estimating how much you will owe in processing and access charges before the information will be released. The final amount will not be more than this estimate.
There is no application fee for requests under the Information Privacy Act 2009 (IP Act), but you may have to pay access charges.
Our fees and charges typically increase on 1 July each year. On 1 July 2024 our fees and charges were indexed by 0% (i.e. remain unchanged from 2023–24) in line with government's indexation policy. You can contact us to find out details about specific fees, charges or prices.
Contact us to find details about specific fees, charges or prices.
Learn more about what happens after you apply.
Processing charges
Processing charges are not imposed for applications under the IP Act.
RTI applications may incur processing charges of $8.65 per 15 minutes (or part thereof). If it is likely that the processing time will be 5 hours or less, there will also be no charge.
Contact us to discuss ways to reduce the charges. For example, reducing the number or types of documents you are requesting.
If you narrow the terms of the application, another charges estimate notice will be issued to confirm the new charges.
You may withdraw your application at this stage without having to pay processing charges.
You have 20 business days to reply to the charges estimate notice. If you do not reply within this period, we will consider your application to be withdrawn and the file will be closed.
If you miss the due date, you will need to lodge a new application, including the application fee.
Any applicable processing charges must be paid even if access to the documents is refused.
Access charges
You may also have to pay access charges:
- black and white copies are $0.25 per A4 page
- colour copies are charged at the actual cost
- CDs are supplied at no cost
- actual costs are charged for copies of multimedia (e.g. audio or video reproduction) or USBs.
We will advise how much you must pay in your notice of decision.
The final amount payable will not be more than the amount in your charges estimate notice.
Waiving charges
A ground for waiving charges is financial hardship.
We can only waive processing charges and access charges; the RTI application fee cannot be waived.
If it is uneconomical for us to recoup the costs of the access charges we may waive them.
Individuals
For individuals, financial hardship is assessed by whether you hold a:
- healthcare card
- pensioner concession card from Centrelink
- pensioner concession card from the Department of Veteran Affairs.
You must provide a copy of your concession card (both sides) when you apply in writing for the charges to be waived.
If you apply in person, bring along your original concession card and we will view it and return it to you.
Non-profit organisations
Charges may be waived if a non-profit organisation (e.g. a charity, church or club) can show financial hardship.
Non-profit organisations may apply to the Information Commissioner for financial hardship status by making a written application by post, fax, email or at the counter.
Financial hardship
If you think your organisation is in financial hardship and cannot afford to make an access application, you can apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision about your financial hardship status before you apply.
You must apply for financial hardship status before applying to access documents, which will ensure that:
- the Information Commissioner has enough time to assess the application and make a decision on financial hardship status before we prepare a charges estimate notice (which may be unnecessary if we waive charges)
- you can make an access application and be certain that your organisation will not have to pay any processing or access charges for the application
- if an application is not granted by the Information Commissioner, you can decide not to proceed with making an access application because your organisation cannot afford to pay the processing and access charges.