Access to Information

Most information held by RSPCA NSW falls into one of two broad categories: 

1. Information about our activities as a private animal welfare charity and employer (for example, fundraising campaigns, community outreach programs, animal adoptions, accredited training programs, and HR/personnel files), or 
2. Information about the law enforcement and prosecution functions performed by our Inspectorate and Legal teams.

Different rules and processes apply depending on the type of information you are seeking.

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION

Before contacting RSPCA NSW, check whether the information is already available to you. RSPCA NSW makes a range of information available on its website and through formal reporting requirements, including:

ACNC Reports

As a registered charitable organisation, RSPCA NSW is regulated by the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC). We submit Annual Information Statements and Financial Reports to the ACNC, which are available on the ACNC website here.

Company Annual Reports

RSPCA NSW publishes its Annual Report and ACNC-compliant Financial Statement on the Annual Reports page of our website.

Inspectorate Annual Reports

The RSPCA NSW Inspectorate is required to submit annual reports to the NSW Government in accordance with section 34B(3) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW) (POCTAA) and clause 34 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Regulation 2012 (NSW). From FY2021/22, these Inspectorate reports are tabled in the NSW Parliament and published on the Annual Reports page of our website. They provide information about:

• animal cruelty complaints received by RSPCA NSW,
• the investigation of those complaints by the Inspectorate,
• enforcement action taken by the Inspectorate, including the commencement and outcomes of prosecutions,
• officers of the Inspectorate and training provided to them, and
• complaints about the Inspectorate or its officers.

Disclosure Log

RSPCA NSW maintains a public disclosure log in accordance with section 25 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act). It records details about decisions made, and information released, by RSPCA NSW under the GIPA Act if the information may be of interest to other members of the public. You can view our disclosure log here.

The disclosure log sets out: 

• the date the application was decided;
• a description of the information to which access was provided;
• a statement as to whether any of the information is now available to other members of the public; and 
• if applicable, how the information can be accessed.

REQUESTS TO ACCESS AND UPDATE PERSONAL INFORMATION 

RSPCA NSW is an organisation subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and we are committed to handling personal information in accordance with its principles. The RSPCA NSW Inspectorate is a ‘law enforcement body’ under the Privacy Act and there are exceptions that apply to personal information collected and held for its enforcement related activities.

For personal information collected and held by RSPCA NSW as a private charitable organisation: You are generally entitled to know if RSPCA NSW holds personal information about you; to access your personal information; and to correct your personal information if, having regard to a purpose for which it is held, the information is inaccurate, out‑of‑date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. 

Requests to access and amend personal information should be directed to the RSPCA NSW Privacy Officer as set out in our Privacy Policy.

For personal information collected and held by RSPCA NSW as a law enforcement body: In most cases, access will not be granted to personal information collected and held by the Inspectorate in the course of its enforcement related activities, as providing access may, for example, have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals, prejudice one or more of the enforcement related activities undertaken by the Inspectorate, and/or be contrary to law. RSPCA NSW may also be permitted to refuse access to personal information where there is an overriding public interest against disclosure (see Requests under the GIPA Act below).

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information on how RSPCA NSW collects and deals with personal information, and to contact our Privacy Officer. 

INFORMATION FOR USE IN COURT PROCEEDINGS

RSPCA matters: If you are a defendant in a matter being prosecuted by RSPCA NSW, information will be provided to you in accordance with the prosecution’s disclosure obligations. Please contact the officer in charge of your matter if you have any questions about obtaining information from RSPCA NSW for use in the court proceedings. If you are unsure of who the officer in charge is, you can email inspectors@rspcansw.org.au.

Non-RSPCA matters: If you are a party to court proceedings and require RSPCA NSW documents for your case, you should seek those documents by subpoena.

A subpoena is a court order issued at the request of a party involved in a court proceeding. Subpoenas are issued in both criminal and civil matters by any State or Federal court. To ensure you follow the correct process, you should consult the website or registry of the court in which your proceeding is listed.

Instructions for parties issuing a subpoena to RSPCA NSW:

• Subpoenas must be issued to The Proper Officer, RSPCA NSW.
• Subpoenas must be accompanied by conduct money of $100, payable by direct deposit (preferred) or cheque/money order made out to RSPCA NSW. Banking details for direct deposit can be obtained by emailing legal@rspcansw.org.au. 
• Subpoenas may be served:
  • By email (preferred) to legal@rspcansw.org.au;
  • By post to The Proper Officer, RSPCA NSW (Legal), PO Box 34, Yagoona NSW 2199; or
  • In person (addressed to The Proper Officer, RSPCA NSW (Legal)) at 201 Rookwood Road, Yagoona NSW 2199.
• Please be specific when describing the documents you are seeking in the subpoena schedule, including a specific date range. Please note the relevant RSPCA Job Number(s) (if known/applicable) to assist us in locating relevant documents.

REQUESTS UNDER THE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION (PUBLIC ACCESS) ACT 2009 (NSW) (GIPA ACT) 

The GIPA Act allows members of the public to seek access to NSW government information. The GIPA Act generally does not apply to information held by RSPCA NSW because we are a private charity, but there is an exception regarding our public functions under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (POCTAA). 

When it comes to our administration and enforcement of POCTAA, RSPCA NSW is a public authority and the GIPA Act applies. That means you may use the GIPA Act to request access to information if it relates to our exercise of functions under POCTAA.

Please note, section 6 and Part 3 of the GIPA Act do not apply to RSPCA NSW: see clause 12(2) of the Government Information (Public Access) Regulation 2018.

IMPORTANT: Certain information will not be disclosed by RSPCA NSW, even in response to a formal access application. We will withhold information if there is an overriding public interest against its disclosure. Section 14 of the GIPA Act sets out a list of public interest considerations against disclosure. The following factors from that list commonly apply to information held by the RSPCA NSW Inspectorate, because its disclosure would:

• reveal an individual’s personal information;
• reveal or tend to reveal the identity of an informant or prejudice the future supply of information from an informant;
• prejudice any court proceedings by revealing matter prepared for the purposes of or in relation to current or future proceedings;
• reveal false or unsubstantiated allegations about a person that are defamatory;
• expose a person to a risk of harm or of serious harassment or serious intimidation.

If someone who makes a complaint to the RSPCA NSW Inspectorate wants their identity to remain private, then we will withhold information that would reveal, or allow someone to figure out, who they are. This sort of information is protected by a well-established public interest immunity, which is rarely waived.

How to apply

Under the GIPA Act, you can request information informally or through a formal access application. We strongly recommended that you contact our GIPA Officer before submitting a formal application. You can do this by emailing GIPA@rspcansw.org.au.  

If the information you are requesting cannot be provided informally and you would like to make a formal application, you will need to complete the GIPA application form available here. Please send your completed application form to our GIPA Officer as follows:

• By email (preferred): GIPA@rspcansw.org.au 
• By post to: The GIPA Officer, RSPCA NSW, PO Box 34, Yagoona NSW 2199

Your request must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee as set out in the form. If you are paying by cheque or money order, it should be made payable to RSPCA NSW.

Tips on framing a request under the GIPA Act

• Be specific about the information you require and limit your request to certain dates or date ranges. Asking for ‘all’ possible documents is inefficient and generally makes it harder for us to find and provide meaningful information.
• If the scope of your request is too large, your request may be refused because it requires an unreasonable and substantial diversion of resources. RSPCA NSW is not a government agency and our resources are extremely limited.
• Significant processing charges may apply to applications that take a long time to process (often in the hundreds of dollars).
• You cannot request an answer to a question, only to information that is already contained in documents held by RSPCA NSW.

Requests for internal review

If you disagree with a decision made by RSPCA NSW under the GIPA Act, you may be able to apply for an internal review of that decision. Applications for internal review must be made within 20 working days of the date the decision.

To request an internal review, you will need to complete the internal review application form available here. Please send your completed application form to our GIPA Officer as follows:

• By email (preferred): GIPA@rspcansw.org.au 
• By post to: The GIPA Officer, RSPCA NSW, PO Box 34, Yagoona NSW 2199

Your request must be accompanied by the prescribed application fee as set out in the form, unless:

• you are asking for an internal review of a decision to refuse to deal with an access application because RSPCA NSW did not decide the access application within time, or
• the internal review was recommended by the NSW Information Commissioner.

Your request for internal review will be decided by someone different to, but no less senior than, the person who made the original decision.