The applicant applied to the Legal Practice Committee (LPC) seeking copies of documents about a complaint and subsequent disciplinary hearing conducted by the LPC. The LPC did not respond to the application, and submitted to the Office of the Information Commissioner that it was not required to process the application on the basis that it was an entity to which the Act did not apply under section 17 and schedule 2, part 2, item 6 of the RTI Act.
The RTI Commissioner considered whether the LPC was a quasi-judicial entity for the purposes of section 17 and schedule 2, part 2, item 6 of the RTI Act.
Having regard to the established definition of judicial power in Huddart Parker & Co Ltd v Moorehead1 and the analysis of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Re Farnaby2 the RTI Commissioner considered the LPC possessed the following characteristics:3
Since the documents in issue all concerned a matter which would come within the LPC’s disciplinary function, the RTI Commissioner was satisfied that the documents sought were received, or brought into existence, by the LPC in performing its quasi-judicial functions, in relation to which, the LPC is an entity to which the RTI Act does not apply.
Last updated: August 24, 2012