The Information Release team in Legal Services accepts service of and deals with all court ordered requests to produce documents such as subpoenas, summonses as well as other types of requests such as notices of non-party disclosure and requests made under section 134A of the Evidence Act 1977 (Qld).
Addressee and service requirements
All requests for the production of documents must be addressed to the Director-General, Department of Education as custodian of all departmental documents.
Service is accepted by email at rti@qed.qld.gov.au unless personal service is required by law.
Service by email at rti@qed.qld.gov.au is accepted for subpoenas for production of documents issued by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in family law proceedings. Hard copies of subpoenas and other requests (where service is accepted by email) do not need to be provided in person or by post.
Personal service is required for a notice of non-party disclosure requiring production of documents issued under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld). You should contact the Information Release team before attending at the Department of Education to arrange a suitable time for personal service. You can contact the Information Release team either by email at rti@qed.qld.gov.au or by phone (07) 3513 5380.
You should note subpoenas issued in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in family law proceedings must be served at least 10 days before production under the subpoena is required.
If you require a person such as a teacher to give oral evidence, you must address the request to the individual person and serve the request personally at their usual place of work. You should contact their workplace to arrange a suitable time for service.
Relevance
To assist the department with timely document production, your request must respect the relevant rules of the court, tribunal or commission and only seek those documents relevant to the matters in dispute in the proceedings, seek specific documents only and allow at least 20 days to process the request, unless a shorter statutory timeframe or order applies. The department may object to requests that are broad or do not abide by the relevant rules and general law.
Sufficient information must be given to allow relevance to be assessed including identifying the matters in dispute in the proceedings and an explanation of how the documents sought are relevant to the matters in dispute. For criminal proceedings, the information should include a copy of the bench charge sheet or at least a description of the charges to be answered by the defendant. For civil proceedings, a copy of the pleadings (claim, defence, reply, etc.) must be provided.
Location of department documents
You should also note that due to the size and complexity of the department, a large number of documents are held at various locations. There may be difficulty with obtaining student school records during the school holiday period and further time may be required to process your request during this time. For further information about the Queensland state school holiday period please refer to the Queensland state school calendar.
Conduct money / reasonable costs incurred
Conduct money may be payable when you request documents for court proceedings. Where conduct money is required, the department is not required to comply unless the conduct money has been paid. The current amount for conduct money is $64.10.
In addition to conduct money, you may need to pay the reasonable costs of the department complying with the request.
Payment by EFT is preferred
Account Name: Department of Education
BSB: 064013
Account no. 10001196
ABN: 76 337 613 647
*Payments made to Department of Education by EFT must include the following information: LS - court ref number - law firm name