It's Right to Know Week NSW 2022

Right to Know Week (RTK) NSW takes place from 26 Sep – 2 Oct this year. The theme for 2022 is Artificial Intelligence, e-Governance & Access to Information: Next steps in NSW digital government.

Right to Know Week NSW 2022 aims to raise awareness of a person’s right to access government held information in NSW and public sector agencies’ information access obligations under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act).

The Right to Know remains crucial in this digital age. As governments continue to provide digital solutions to citizens including the use of Artificial Intelligence in decision-making, there is a requirement to preserve and promote the public interest, accountability, transparency and citizens’ right to information.

The Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd, has released a “Welcome to Right to Know Week” video to mark the start of the week. Watch below:

Resources:

For Right to Know Week NSW 2022, the IPC has developed an animation for citizens to gain a better understanding of e-Governance and digital government.

IPC animation – e-Governance and digital Government:

This Right to Know Week, the IPC is highlighting resources for agencies to promote and uphold citizens’ rights to access government held information in NSW. These include:

• Information Governance Agency Self-assessment Tools
• Fact Sheet on Automated decision-making, digital government and preserving information access rights – for agencies
• Fact Sheet on Automated decision-making, digital government and preserving information access rights – for citizens
• Fact Sheet on Digital records and the GIPA Act
• Fact Sheet on Timeframes and extensions for deciding access applications under the GIPA Act
• Fact Sheet on Creating new records under the GIPA Act
• Fact Sheet on Open access information for agencies
• Fact Sheet on What is an agency?
• Fact Sheet on What is the public interest test?

Your information access rights in NSW

In NSW, citizens have a legally enforceable right to access most government held information and can expect access to be open and freely available unless there is an overriding public interest against the disclosure of information.

The IPC can assist NSW citizens in accessing government held information. Learn more in our information access resources for citizens.

You can also learn more about what’s on this Right to Know Week here.