Kelly v Department of Education [2021] NSWCATAD 2

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Kelly v Department of Education [2021] NSWCATAD 2 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 6 January 2021 Decision date: 06 January 2021 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Montgomery, Senior Member Decision: The decisions under review in applications 2020/188126 and 2020/188346 are affirmed. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – Access to information – conclusive presumption against disclosure – refusal of access – correct and preferable decision Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Tammy Jane Elizabeth Kelly (First Applicant) Steven Paul Refalo (Second Applicant) Department of Education (Respondent) Representation: T Kelly (Self-Represented) S Refalo (Self-Represented) J Pendergast (A/Manager Information Access Legal Services)(Respondent) File Number(s): 2020/188126; 2020/188346 Publication restriction: Those paragraphs of these reasons identified as [Not for disclosure] are not to be released other than to the Respondent without further order of the Tribunal. This order is made pursuant to section 64(1) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013.

Reasons for Decision

Introduction 1. The Applicants have applied to the Tribunal for review of two separate decision made by a delegate of Secretary, Department of Education ("the Respondent" or "the Department"). Each of the decisions related to an access application by the Applicants to the Department under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 ("the GIPA Act"). 2. At a case conference on 23 July 2020, the parties agreed that the matters could be determined on the basis of the written material filed by each party. The Tribunal made an order under section 50(2) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 dispensing with the need for a hearing. 3. The parties have agreed that the Tribunal should deal with the two matters together. For convenience, I will deal with both matters in these reasons.