Stewart v Mid Coast Council [2021] NSWCATAD 33

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Stewart v Mid Coast Council [2021] NSWCATAD 33 Hearing dates: 22 October 2020 Date of orders: 18 February 2021 Decision date: 18 February 2021 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: C Mulvey, Senior Member Decision: 2020/00112909: The decision of the Respondent 19 March 2020 is affirmed. 2020/00152615: The decision of the Respondent 22 April 2020 is affirmed. 2020/00182237: The decision of the Respondent 30 April 2020 is affirmed. Catchwords: GIPA Act - Government Information - Access - Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Cases Cited: Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force v Camilleri (GD) (2012) NSWATP 19 Hurst v Wagga Wagga City Council (2011) NSWADT 307 Director General, `Department of Education and training v Mullett and Anor (GD) [2002] NSWADTAP 12 Category: Principal judgment Parties: David John Stewart (Applicant) Mid Coast Council (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: Applicant (Self Represented) Local Government Legal (Respondent) File Number(s): 2020/00112909, 2020/00152615, 2020/00182237 Publication restriction: None

REASONS FOR DECISION 1. The Applicant, Mr David Stewart, has filed three separate requests for the Tribunal to review decisions of the Respondent under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 ("the GIPA Act"). 2. The applications relate to decisions made by the Respondent which concern Council staff incorrectly laying down a number of headstones at the Bight Cemetery, Wingham, in July 2019. Following concerns raised by community members, work in relation to the laying down of headstones at the Bight Cemetery was suspended on 26 July 2019. 3. The Applicant made three separate requests for information pursuant to the GIPA Act. The Respondent allocated reference numbers GIPA20/20, GIPA22/20 and GIPA33/20 in relation to these requests. The proceeding numbers allocated by the Tribunal are: * Proceedings Number 2020/00112909 (GIPA20/20); * Proceedings Number 2020/00182237 (GIPA22/20); * Proceedings Number 2020/00152615 (GIPA33/20). 1. The Applicant agreed for the Tribunal to determine each of his three applications together as the information he seeks is closely related. 2. I set out below the information requests that the Applicant initially sought and the information that he continues to press following a decision made by the Respondent below.