Nandutu v University of Sydney [2016] NSWCATAD 170

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Nandutu v University of Sydney [2016] NSWCATAD 170 Hearing dates: 25 July 2016 Date of orders: 29 July 2016 Decision date: 29 July 2016 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Montgomery, Senior Member Decision: The Application is dismissed. Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW - government information – reasonable search - otherwise misconceived or lacking in substance - dismissal of proceedings Legislation Cited: Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Susan Nandutu (Applicant) University of Sydney (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: B Tronson (Respondent)

Solicitors: S Nandutu (Applicant in person) University of Sydney Office of General Counsel (Respondent) File Number(s): 1510558

REASONS FOR DECISION

Background 1. This matter concerns an application by Ms Nandutu ("the Applicant") for review of a determination by the University of Sydney ("the Respondent"). The Respondent's determination was in relation to two access applications brought by the Applicant under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 ("the GIPA Act"). 2. In her access application dated 26 May 2015 the Applicant sought: Part A "A copy of the email and attachments concerning me - Susan Nandutu sent by Ass/Prof Christopher Jordens sent to Dr Zakia Hossain on 4 July 2014 12:39 From: Christopher Jordens Sent: Friday, 4 July 2014 12:39 PM To: Zakia Hossain Subject: RE: Possible supervision for Susan Nandutu Attachments: Transcript of Academic record to 2010 Nandutu.pdf; NANDUTU Susan - APR 2011.pdf; NANDUTU Susan - Suspension 2012 Semester 2.pdf; NANDUTU Susan -APR2013.PDF' Part B "emails against me, sent out to a number of people by Ass/Prof Jake Lynch. He has done so since 2012. I am noting below a few of the people Ass/Prof Jake Lynch sent his defamatory emails against me: Associate Prof Anna Snyder (Canada) email: … Olufemi Oluniyi (Nigeria) email: … Prof Kodama Katsuya (Japan) email: …" 1. In her access application dated 24 June 2015 the Applicant sought: "1. Copy of Email that I sent to Professor Simon Chapman on 14 June 2012. From: … To: … Subject: Draft on approach Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:07:48 +1030 … 2. Copies of emails written by Associate Professor Jake Lynch concerning me, and /or which make reference to me from 2012 up to now June 2015." 1. The Applicant was not satisfied with the Respondent's determination of those access applications and she applied to the Tribunal for external review. The matter first came before me for a planning meeting in November 2015 and a timetable was set for the progress of the matter. In December 2015, the application was remitted to the Respondent for redetermination pursuant to section 65 of the Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997. 2. The redetermination was completed in February 2016. A total of 568 pages of information were identified as a result of the searches that were undertaken in the determination process. However, much of this material was duplication and when the duplicates and out of scope material was removed, 167 pages of relevant information remained to be considered. 3. The Respondent's determination was to release to the Applicant all the information that it held that fell within the scope of the access applications. However, third party consultation was necessary in relation to some of the information. Therefore, that information was withheld to allow time for those persons who had objected to the release of the information to seek review, or until the period within which they might seek that review had expired. 4. The information which was not the subject of any objection was forwarded to the Applicant by email and, by Cloudstor (a secure online document delivery utility) on 18 February 2016. A copy of the information was also sent by Express Post. 5. The outstanding information, which the University had decided to release but which had been the subject of objection, was sent to the Applicant in April 2016. A copy of that information was also sent by Express Post.