Jones v NSW Department of Education [2017] NSWCATAD 51

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Jones v NSW Department of Education [2017] NSWCATAD 51 Hearing dates: 12 July 2016; 16 August 2016 Date of orders: 10 February 2017 Decision date: 10 February 2017 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Montgomery, Senior Member Decision: The decision of the NSW Department of Education to refuse to provide the Applicant with access to the statement by a staff member made on 11 December 2015 about an incident involving the Applicant is affirmed. Catchwords: Access to government information - overriding public interest against disclosure - personal information - information provided to an agency in confidence - information provided to the agency during an investigation - prejudice supply of confidential information - prejudice effective exercise of agency's functions Legislation Cited: Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Cases Cited: AMH v New South Wales Local Health District [2013] NSWADT 282 Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force v Camilleri [2012] NSWADTAP 19 Department of Education and Training v Mullett (No 2) [2002] NSWADTAP 29 Flack v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police [2011] NSWADT 286 Jenkinson v Department of Education and Communities [2013] NSWADT 280 Luxford v Department of Education and Communities [2016] NSWCATAD 118 McKinnon v Blacktown City Council [2012] NSWADT 44 Mclnnes v Department of Education and Training [2013] NSWADT 219 Searle Australia Pty Limited v Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Another (1992) 108 ALR 163 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Elizabeth Jones (Applicant) NSW Department of Education (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: E Jones (Applicant in person) J Pendergast (Agent for Respondent) File Number(s): 1610201 Publication restriction: Section 64 of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 applies to the material filed by the Respondent on a confidential basis. That material is not to be released to either the Applicant or to the public.