Northern Territory regulation

PUBLIC INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2017

In ForceNT

Jurisdiction

Northern Territory

Collection

regulation

Plain English Summary

3/10 complexity

These Regulations tell Northern Territory government agencies how the Ombudsman will judge whether an agency’s public communications are “in the public interest,” and limit agency commentary about particular political parties or candidates. They affect any agency producing public information by shifting decision-making power to the Ombudsman and imposing a compliance constraint on agencies’ messaging. Agencies carry the compliance cost; the Ombudsman has discretion to assess purpose and scope of communications, which alters agencies’ content choices and approval processes.

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Current sections

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PUBLIC INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2017

NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA PUBLIC INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2017 As in force at 11 August 2025 Table of provisions 1 Citation ............................................................................................ 1 2 Commencement .............................................................................. 1 3 Purpose of public information to be in public interest ...................... 1 5 Comment by Agencies .................................................................... 2 ENDNOTES

NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA

As in force at 11 August 2025

PUBLIC INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2017 Regulations under the Public Information Act 2010 1 Citation These Regulations may be cited as the Public Information Regulations 2017. 2 Commencement These Regulations commence on the commencement of the Public Information Amendment Act 2016. 3 Purpose of public information to be in public interest For section 6(2A) of the Act, the Ombudsman may consider the information is in the public interest if the information has a purpose that includes one of the following: (a) maximises compliance with the laws of the Territory; (b) achieves awareness of a new or amended law; (c) improves public safety or personal security; (d) encourages responsible behaviour; (e) preserves order in the event of an emergency; (f) promotes awareness of rights, responsibilities, duties or entitlements; (g) encourages usage of, or familiarity with, government products or services; (h) informs the public of new, existing or proposed government programs, policies or projects; (i) reports on performance in relation to government undertakings; (j) communicates functions of government;

Public Information Regulations 2017 2 (k) communicates on matters of social cohesion, civic pride, community spirit or tolerance. Examples for paragraph (j) Education campaigns, recruitment, community engagement, expressions of interest and future plans. 5 Comment by Agencies (1) An Agency giving public information must not do either of the following: (a) comment on the views, policies or actions of a particular political party or political person; (b) criticise the views, policies or actions of a particular political party or political person. (2) In this regulation: political person means any of the following persons: (a) a person who holds an elected office in the Federal Parliament, the Legislative Assembly or a local government; (b) a person who seeks election to an office mentioned in paragraph (a).

ENDNOTES Public Information Regulations 2017 3 ENDNOTES 1 KEY Key to abbreviations amd = amended od = order app = appendix om = omitted bl = by-law pt = Part ch = Chapter r = regulation/rule cl = clause rem = remainder div = Division renum = renumbered exp = expires/expired rep = repealed f = forms s = section Gaz = Gazette sch = Schedule hdg = heading sdiv = Subdivision ins = inserted SL = Subordinate Legislation lt = long title sub = substituted nc = not commenced 2 LIST OF LEGISLATION Public Information Regulations (SL No. 1, 2017) Notified 14 February 2017 Commenced 14 February 2017 (r 2, s 2 Public Information Amendment Act 2016 (Act No. 34, 2016) and Gaz S2, 14 February 2017, p 2) Public Information Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (Act No. 14, 2019) Notified 9 April 2019 Commenced 10 April 2019 Public Information Amendment Act 2025 (Act No. 18, 2025) Assent date 10 August 2025 Commenced 11 August 2025 (s 2) 3 GENERAL AMENDMENTS General amendments of a formal nature (which are not referred to in the table of amendments to this reprint) are made by the Interpretation Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (Act No. 22 of 2018) to: r 1. 4 LIST OF AMENDMENTS pt 1 hdg om Act No. 18, 2025, s 7 pt 2 hdg om Act No. 18, 2025, s 7 r 3 sub Act No. 14, 2019, s 6 amd Act No. 18, 2025, s 7 r 4 rep Act No. 14, 2019, s 6

Source text

Sourced from NT Legislation (legislation.nt.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 PUBLIC INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2017

NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA

As in force at 11 August 2025