Agency Information Guide
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) gives you the right to access government information. This is a guide to the information we hold and how to access it.
About Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport
The Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport (DCITHS) creates social and economic opportunities for the state.
We are growing our creative industries and workforces, driving strong visitor and night-time economies, ensuring a responsible hospitality sector and putting arts, culture and sport at the heart of our communities.
Our structure and functions
The Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport comprises the principal department and related agencies.
Agencies and entities within the Department have additional information about their compliance with the GIPA Act available on their agency specific websites.
Our Code of Ethics and Conduct
As a service provider for the NSW Government, individuals across NSW are affected by how we perform our functions. DCITHS employees must act in the public interest bound by the values described in the NSW Public Service Commission’s Code of Ethics and Conduct, being:
- integrity
- service
- accountability
- trust.
How can the public participate with DCITHS
There are many ways in which the public can participate with the formulation of DCITHS’s policy and the exercise of its functions. You can make a comment or suggestion, participate in formulating DCITHS’s policies or functions, or raise issues you feel are of concern to you or the public at large by contacting us by email or telephone.
Our business areas may, on occasion, provide an opportunity for the public to make submissions on discussion papers and reports. When we seek submissions, we outline how you can participate on the relevant website or on the NSW Government’s Have Your Say portal.
DCITHS invites you to submit your questions, complaints or feedback about any of our programs, policies or reforms.
Open Data Policy
The Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport’s open data practice is aligned to the NSW Government Open Data Policy and seeks to make appropriate government data available to industry and the community. Open data supports the open government principles of transparency, participation, collaboration and innovation. It augments the proactive release of information required under the GIPA Act.
The Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport is committed to providing faster, smarter, more responsive service delivery. To this end, we implement open data principles across all levels of the portfolio. This transparency supports the development of new businesses and industries that make use of government data, as well as encouraging data sharing across government and raising our awareness, understanding and use of information.
We embed Open Data principles across the department by:
- engaging with industry and the community to understand their needs for our data
- prioritising for release any high-value datasets, especially those identified through industry and community engagement
- releasing data under open licence wherever possible
- protecting data where required on the grounds of privacy, security, confidentiality legal privilege or public interest.
The kinds of government information we have
Divisions within DCITHS keep records associated with their core functions in the regulation and the provision of services, business and lifestyle opportunities, funding allocation, policy and planning and other non-service delivery functions, such as human resources, managing suppliers of goods and services and other transactional activities.
These records may include a person's personal information that is collected, stored, used and disclosed in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2022 (NSW) (HRIP Act).
More information about how DCITHS handles personal and health information is available in the DCITHS Privacy Management Plan.
DCITHS records created in the course of its business are kept to support its activities so that the department can meet with community expectations and legal obligations under the State Records Act 1998 (NSW) in how it manages and disposes of records of information.
Information classified as open access information is the type of information which DCITHS must make publicly available unless it is not in the public interest to do so.
DCITHS makes available, free of charge on this website, the following open access information:
- DCITHS Information Guide (this publication)
- policy documents
- disclosure log of access applications
- DCITHS’s code of conduct
- annual reports
- Government Contracts.
Open access information also includes the following (as prescribed by Part 3 clause 6 of the Government Information (Public Access) Regulation 2018):
- list of the agency’s major assets, other than landholdings, appropriately classified and highlighting significant acquisitions during the previous financial year
- the total number and total value of properties disposed of during the previous financial year
- any guarantee of service.
Under the GIPA Act, some information does not need to be available to the public because there is an overriding public interest against disclosure. Some information may not be made publicly available because of one or more of the following reasons:
- disclosing it would compromise DCITHS’s safety and security
- risk of breaching copyright
- it is held as commercial-in-confidence
- subject to legal professional privilege
- other legal reasons.
The proactive release of information is a discretionary power to release information in any manner considered appropriate, free of charge or at the lowest reasonable cost.
We promote the release of newly published information, which may be of interest to the public and have programs in place within each Division for the proactive release of information. The information we may release in this way includes (and is not limited to):
- guidelines
- internal procedures
- brochures
- bulletins
- fact sheets
- statistical information
- any other information which may be of interest to the public.
If you have difficulties locating information that should be released proactively, or you feel should be made available free of charge, please contact the DCITHS Legal by email at information@dciths.nsw.gov.au
How to access information we hold under the GIPA Act
The GIPA Act provides the public with a right to access government information.
Make an informal request
The GIPA Act authorises the release of government information in response to an informal request unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.
If we haven't freely published the information you seek, we may be able to release it to you without the need for a formal access application.
We generally provide the following types of information in response to an informal request:
- your personal information
- copies of correspondence sent to us by you
- applications and supporting documents sent to us by you
- insolvency information of companies if you are an insolvency practitioner
- documents such as customer transaction database notes that contain only personal information about you
- documents that may have already been made public in some other way
- other reasonable requests for release of information that would not raise any potential public interest or privacy concerns.
This form of release does not require a fee or an application form. Information may be released with deletions, released subject to reasonable conditions, or released in a preferred form. We may impose conditions on the use or disclosure of information that we release in response to an informal request.
Under the GIPA Act a right of review only applies for formal applications.
If you would like to make an informal request for information, please email DCITHS Legal at information@dciths.nsw.gov.au
Make a formal access application
If the information you are looking for is not published by us or available by informal request, you may wish to make a formal access application in writing under the GIPA Act.
There is an application fee of $30 for all formal access applications. Some applications may also carry processing charges of $30 per hour. We will let you know in advance if this applies to your application. We will not release information if there is an overriding public interest against its disclosure.
You can make a formal application by completing a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) application form. Then email the form to information@dciths.nsw.gov.au or send it to us at the following address:
Attn: Legal Officer (GIPA application request)
DCITHS Legal
Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place, Haymarket NSW 2000
Under the GIPA Act, we can only accept access applications that:
- are sent in writing to the address above
- clearly indicate the applicant is making an access application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW)
- include an application fee of $30
- clearly name the applicant, and provide a return postal or email address
- include enough information for us to identify the information you’re asking for.
If your application does not include all of the above, it will be invalid and will not be processed. If that happens, we will let you know how to make a valid application where possible.
Otherwise, we will write to you acknowledging receipt of a valid access application within 5 working days. We will deal with your application within 20 working days (subject to any extension allowed for under the Act). If any extension of time is required to deal with your application, we will let you know in writing.
Information which may not be disclosed
You cannot access information excluded under Schedule 1 and 2 of the GIPA Act. This includes information related to the complaint handling and investigative functions under any other Act, or Cabinet or Executive Council information. This is considered “excluded information” under the GIPA Act.
For some information categories, there is a presumption against release. See the list of categories set out at Schedule 1 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009.
Review rights
You may have the right to request a review of certain decisions made by DCITHS in response to a formal access application.
The right to information regime allows applicants extensive rights of review. This includes an internal review by the department, or a review by the Information and Privacy Commission and the Administrative Decisions Tribunal.
An application for internal review by the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport is $40. This application must be made with 20 working days of an applicant being notified about a decision. To apply for an internal review by DCITHS, please complete the Government Information Public Access (GIPA) internal review form (PDF 113.86KB) and send it to us at:
Attn: Legal Officer (GIPA application request)
Office of the General Counsel
Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place, Haymarket NSW 2000
Applications for review to the Information and Privacy Commission and the Administrative Decisions Tribunal must be made within 40 working days of a decision being made.
Information access contacts
Variation
The department may amend this document as appropriate.
| Policy Owner | Last revision | Next review date | Summary of changes |
| DCITHS Legal | August 2024 | September 2025 | Updated to reflect Machinery of Government Changes, new template and links |