Johnson v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2017] NSWCATAD 59

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Johnson v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2017] NSWCATAD 59 Hearing dates: 30 September 2016 Date of orders: 27 February 2017 Decision date: 27 February 2017 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: J McAteer, Senior Member Decision: (1) The decision of the respondent is affirmed. Catchwords: GOVERNMENT INFORMATION (PUBLIC ACCESS) – access application – substantially refused on various statutory grounds – review by Tribunal– decisions to refuse to confirm or deny existence of documents (s 58(1)(f)) - whether agency obliged to give reasons for such a refusal – approach to review of such decisions –review of refusal decisions (s 58(1)(d)) GIPA Act –– Refusal of Access. Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Freedom of Information Act 1989 Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Law Enforcement (Controlled Operations) Act 1997 Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) Cases Cited: Mannix v Department of Education and Communities [2014] NSWCATAD 35 Commissioner of Police NSW Police Force v Barrett [2015] NSWCATAP 68 Beale v Government Insurance Office of NSW (1997) 48 NSWLR Assadourian v Roads and Maritime Services (GD) [2013] NSWADTAP 46 Keith v Gal [2013] NSWCA 339 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Luke Johnson (Applicant) Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: Mr Neary (as Agent s-45 (1) (b) (i) Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ) (Applicant) C Zoppo (Respondent) File Number(s): 1610001 Publication restriction: Section 64 (1) (d) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act applies to those paragraphs of these reasons identified as paragraphs 39 -57 inclusive 'not for publication'. Those paragraphs are not to be released to either the Applicant or the public.