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Australian Government
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Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Rex Patrick and Attorney-General (Freedom of information) [2023] AICmr 9 (28 February 2023)
Decision and reasons for decision of
Australian Information Commissioner, Angelene Falk
| Applicant | Rex Patrick |
| Respondent | Attorney-General |
| Decision date | 28 February 2023 |
| Application number | MR20/00544 |
| Catchwords | Freedom of Information—Application of FOI Act to documents where there is a change of Minister —Whether documents are in possession of a Minister—Entitlement of access—(CTH) Freedom of Information Act 1982 ss 4(1), 11A(3), 55K, 55R |
Decision
1. Under s 55K of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), I vary the decision made by an authorised officer in the Office of the Attorney-General on 14 April 2020, which refused access to the document at issue on the basis that the document was exempt from disclosure under the Cabinet documents exemption (s 34) and the legal professional privilege exemption (s 42) of the FOI Act.
2. Following changes to the person occupying the role of 'Attorney-General' I am satisfied that the current Attorney-General does not have possession of any document at issue. This means that, for the purposes of this Information Commissioner (IC) review, any relevant document is no longer an 'official document of the Minister' to which the mandatory access rule in s 11A(3) of the FOI Act applies.
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oaic.gov.au
