Bayliss and Medical Board of Queensland

Application number:
1995 S0114
Decision date:
Monday, Apr 28, 1997
Reported:
(1997) 3 QAR 489

Bayliss and Medical Board of Queensland
(1995 S0114, 28 April 1997) 

The respondent asserted that documents created for the purpose of an investigation of aspects of the applicant's medical practice were excluded from the application of the FOI Act, because the respondent was deemed by s.13(1) of the Medical Act 1939 Qld to be a commission of inquiry for the purpose of making its investigations, and because s.11(1)(i) of the FOI Act provides that the FOI Act does not apply to a '... commission of inquiry issued by the Governor in Council'. 

The Information Commissioner determined that, while the respondent may be deemed to be a commission of inquiry for the purposes stated in s.13(1) of the Medical Act, the respondent was not a commission of inquiry 'issued by the Governor in Council' and s.11(1)(i) of the FOI Act did not apply to it.  The Information Commissioner also discussed the proper interpretation of the FOI Act when a provision is ambiguous, and the nature, and limited operation, of the deeming provisions in the Medical Act 1939 Qld on which the respondent relied.