Atkinson v Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Premier of New South Wales [2023] NSWCATAD 45

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Atkinson v Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Premier of New South Wales [2023] NSWCATAD 45 Hearing dates: 7 December 2022 Date of orders: 01 March 2023 Decision date: 01 March 2023 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Dunn, Senior Member Decision: The decision under review is affirmed with respect to Documents 9, 9.1, 10.1, 15-19, 27 and 28. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – administrative review - Government Information – Cabinet information –proper construction of clause 2(1) and 2(2) of Schedule 1 to the GIPA Act – whether clauses 2(1) and 2(2) apply to "information" or "documents" - effect of public disclosure of final draft of document – whether approval for public disclosure of a final version of a document has the effect that any draft of that document which contains the same information is also not Cabinet information except to the extent it contains different information which itself comprises Cabinet information – whether documents which meet the description of documents in clause 2(1) can be redacted - excluded information – legal professional privilege Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (NSW) Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW) Evidence Act 1975 (NSW) Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) Freedom of Information Act 1989 (NSW) Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (NSW) Independent Commission Against Corruption Amendment Act 2015 (NSW) Independent Commission Against Corruption Amendment (Validation) Act 2015 (NSW) Cases Cited: Attorney General (NT) v Kearney (1985) 158 CLR 500 Australian Education Union, NSW Teachers Federation Branch v New South Wales Department of Education [2022] NSWCATAD 97 Bennison v NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet [2016] NSWCATAD 101 Beregi v Department of Planning Industry and Environment [2020] NSWCATAP 185 Betzis v Commissioner of Police [202] NSWCATAD 71 Christopher v Independent Commission Against Corruption [2022] NSWCATAP 118 Commonwealth v Northern Land Council (1993) 176 CLR 604 D'Adam v New South Wales Treasury [2014] NSWCATAD 68 Duncan v Independent Commission Against Corruption [2016] NSWCA 143 Egan v Chadwick (1999) 46 NSWLR 563. EMC v University of Sydney [2021] NSWCATAD 234 Fiddletown Investments Limited v Department of Premier and Cabinet ; Fiddletown Investments Limited v NSW Treasury [2021] NSWCATAD 17 Lock the Gate Alliance v Department of Planning and Environment & Department of Premier and Cabinet [2019] NSWCATAD 6 Phillip Morris Ltd v Department of Finance [2014] AICmr 27 Robinson v Transport for NSW; Robinson v Roads and Maritime Services [2017] NSWCATAD 353 Searle v Transport for NSW [2017] NSWCATAD 256 Transport for NSW & Ors v Robinson [2018] NSWCATAP 123 Texts Cited: None cited Category: Principal judgment Parties: John Atkinson (Applicant) Department of Premier and Cabinet (First Respondent) Premier of New South Wales (Second Respondent) Also heard: Information Commissioner (see s.104(1), Government information (Public Access) Act 2009) Representation: Counsel: P Santucci (Applicant) S Hoare (Applicant) R Pietriche (Respondents) R Graycar (Information Commissioner)