Bright v Eurobodalla Shire Council [2018] NSWCATAD 287

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Bright v Eurobodalla Shire Council [2018] NSWCATAD 287 Hearing dates: 24 May 2018 Date of orders: 13 December 2018 Decision date: 13 December 2018 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: S Montgomery, Senior Member Decision: (1) Any information that has been redacted from the Submission that identifies sponsors and exhibitors at the 2018 Huntfest is to be released to the Applicant.

(2) The decision under review is otherwise affirmed. Catchwords: Administrative Law –Government Information – right to appear of person aggrieved by decision to release information –information of competitive commercial value – information provided in confidence. Legislation Cited: Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 Cases Cited: Australians for Sustainable Development v Barangaroo Delivery Authority [2013] NSWADT 252 McKinnon v Blacktown City the Council [2012] NSWADT 44 South Coast Hunters Club v Eurobodalla Shire Council [2018] NSWCATAD 42 Williams v Department Industry and Investment [2012] NSWADT 192 Category: Principal judgment Parties: James Bright (Applicant) Eurobodalla Shire Council (Respondent) Representation: In Person (Applicant)

Solicitors: Sparke Helmore Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 2016/00378515

Reasons for Decision

Introduction 1. James Bright ("the Applicant") applied for access to information held by the Eurobodalla Shire Council ("the Council") under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 ("the GlPA Act"). His access application requested: A copy of tender submission from the South Coast Hunters Club that was provided to ESC Councillors in connection with its application to hire the relevant Narooma venue from 018-22. This is one of the submissions referred to in the 'Policy' section of staff report FBD16/012 that was presented to the ESC meeting of 22/3/16 (Pages 19 & 20) 1. The reference to a "tender submission from the South Coast Hunters Club" ("the Submission") is a reference to submissions made by the South Coast Hunters Club ("the Club") for a licence for the use of NATA Reserve, Narooma ("the NATA Oval") to hold its Huntfest expo ("Huntfest") on the June long weekend for a period of five years from 2018 - 2022. 2. The Council decided to refuse to provide access to the information that the Applicant had requested. The Applicant then sought external review by the Information and Privacy Commissioner ("the IPC"). The IPC recommended that the Council make a new decision in relation to the information withheld. 3. The Council undertook a review in response to the IPC's recommendation. However, the Council maintained its decision to refuse access to the requested information. 4. The Applicant has applied to the Tribunal for external review of that determination. 5. The Club appeared at the hearing of the application, as it was entitled to do pursuant to section 104(3) of the GIPA Act.