Webb v Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire Council [2023] NSWCATAD 194

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Webb v Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire Council [2023] NSWCATAD 194 Hearing dates: 13 July 2023 Date of orders: 25 July 2023 Decision date: 25 July 2023 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: D Ziegler, Senior Member Decision: The decision under review is affirmed. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – access to government information – decision of the agency that it did not hold the information sought – whether the search efforts of the agency were reasonable in the circumstances Legislation Cited: Administrative Decision Tribunal Act 1997 (NSW) Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) Cases Cited: Palerang Council, Queanbeyan City Council & Goulburn Mulwaree Council v Powell [2015] NSWCATAD 44 Wojciechowska v Commissioner of Police [2020] NSWCATAP 173 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Telina Webb (Applicant) Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel:

Self-represented (Applicant) J Walker (Respondent)

Solicitors:

Maddocks Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 2023/00010173 Publication restriction: Nil

REASONS FOR DECISION 1. This is an application for administrative review of a decision of Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire Council concerning an application for access to information made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (the GIPA Act). 2. The dispute concerns a decision by the Council that the information sought in the access application is not held by the Council. 3. For the reasons that follow, I have decided to affirm the decision under review.