(1) This section applies to a person if:
- (a) the person is an information officer; or
- (b) the person is acting under the direction or authority of an information officer.
(2) The person is not liable to an action, suit or proceeding in relation to an act done or omitted to be done in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of any power or authority conferred for the purposes of an information commissioner function, a freedom of information function or a privacy function.
45 The applicant submits that there is no valid reason to change the name of the respondent. She appears to contend that, if the respondent's name is changed to the Australian Information Commissioner, she will be disadvantaged having regard to's 35 of the AIC Act, which, she says, would require her to prove that the decisions under review were not made in good faith.
46 The applicant also submits that, even if the respondent were to "concede the decision maker acted in bad faith", an individual (identified by the applicant) should be named as the respondent, not the Australian Information Commissioner, "given there is a change of office".
47 I am not persuaded by the applicant's submissions.
48 First, the decision-maker under s 41 of the Privacy Act is, as I have explained, the Australian Information Commissioner, not the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
49 Secondly, the applicant's reliance on s 5 of the AIC Act is misplaced. The applicant's submissions based on s 5(4) ignore the significance of the commencing words of that provision: "For the purposes of the finance law (within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013) …". The "finance law" is defined in s 8 of the Public Governance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth) as
8 The Dictionary
…
finance law means:
(a) this Act; or
(b) the rules; or
(c) any instrument made under this Act; or
(d) an Appropriate Act.
