A vocal opponent of the University of Tasmania’s Hobart relocation has had a big win.
Blogger Robert Hogan has been battling against the uni’s relocation to the city and its plans to develop its Sandy Bay campus into a mini-suburb.
The Save UTAS Campus campaigner made a right to information request for all minutes of all UTAS council meetings between 2015 and early 2022, only for the University to change the wording of his request and release redacted documents.
Mr Hogan appealed to Tasmania’s Ombudsman who has issued a 28-page ruling overturning many of the redactions.
The Ombudsman also university also found the university had failed to apply the Right to Information Act properly, leading to the considerable expense of resources.
Mr Hogan has welcomed the outcome.
“My extensive dealings with UTAS over RTI applications have been like trying to swim in mud,” he said.
“I believe the deliberate strategy of UTAS has been to delay, obstruct and obfuscate in order to keep key documents, which should long since have been in the public domain, away from scrutiny.”
