Fitzgibbon v Turnbull [2017] FCA 968

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Fitzgibbon v Turnbull [2017] FCA 968 File number: VID 449 of 2017

Judge: ROBERTSON J

Date of judgment: 17 August 2017

Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – freedom of information – application for access to document (Coalition Agreement) – claim by Minister that the document was not an official document of the Minister within the meaning of s 4(1) of the Freedom of Information of Act 1982 (Cth) – application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of a decision by the Information Commissioner holding that the document sought was not an official document of a Minister – applicant applied at a directions hearing in the Tribunal for an order that his legal representatives be allowed to inspect the document as a matter of procedural fairness under s 39 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) – Tribunal had not at that stage required the document to be produced for inspection and the document had not been voluntarily produced to the Tribunal – at that stage the Tribunal had not otherwise proposed to have regard to the contents of the document – whether the Tribunal erred in its interlocutory decision that it did not have the power to order that the applicant's legal representatives be allowed to inspect the document and, if the Tribunal did have that power, that it would decline to exercise it – Held: application for judicial review dismissed

Legislation: Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) ss 2A, 35, 37, 39 Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) ss 4(1), 15, 55K, 57A, 63, 64

Cases cited: Day v Collector of Customs [1995] FCA 1245; 57 FCR 176 News Corporation Limited v National Companies & Securities Commission [1984] FCA 446; 5 FCR 88 O'Sullivan v Repatriation Commission [2003] FCA 387; 128 FCR 590 Potter v Minahan [1908] HCA 63; 7 CLR 277 Re Arnold Bloch Liebler & Co and Commissioner of Taxation [1984] AATA 123; 6 ALD 62 Re Carver and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet [1987] AATA 50; 6 AAR 317 Re Dunn and Department of Defence [2004] AATA 1040; 84 ALD 419 Re Witheford and Department of Foreign Affairs[1983] AATA 283; 5 ALD 534 State Electricity Commission of Victoria v Wright & Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Supreme Court of Victoria, 20 November 1997, unreported) Trkulja v Google Inc (No 3) [2011] VSC 503