Brack and Queensland Corrective Services Commission
(1993 S0056, 6 April 1994)
This is the first of a series of cases intended to more concisely explain and illustrate the principles established in B and Brisbane North Regional Health Authority(1994) 1 QAR 279, in respect of the proper interpretation and application of s.46(1)(a) and s.46(1)(b) of the FOI Act.
The applicant was a prisoner who sought access to a document on his prison file which he believed contained information supplied by a relative of his victim, being information prejudicial to his chances of obtaining parole. The case illustrates the application of s.46(1)(a) and s.46(1)(b) in a situation of that kind.
The applicant also sought the removal of the document in issue from his prison file. The Information Commissioner decided that it was not open to the applicant to do so, since it was a prerequisite to any entitlement under s.53 of the FOI Act to seek amendment of information, that the applicant must previously have obtained access to the information in question (whether under the FOI Act or otherwise). Moreover, consistently with the Information Commissioner's decision in Doelle and Legal Aid Office (Qld) (1993) 1 QAR 207, the removal or destruction of the document was not a method of amending information available under s.55 of the FOI Act.
