Caddy and Department of Police

Caddy and Queensland Police Service
(2002 S0070, 27 June 2002) 

Caddy and Queensland Police Service
(2002 S0092), 28 June 2002) 

The applicant sought review of the QPS decision to refuse him access, under s.44(1) of the FOI Act, to information concerning the home addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates, a signature, and leave status of witnesses to a motor vehicle accident in which his infant daughter had suffered fatal injuries.  The applicant submitted that some of the information concerned was already known to him or available in the public domain, and that he required some of the information to pursue action against the driver he alleged was responsible for the accident. 

Assistant Commissioner Shoyer decided that the fact that personal affairs information might be available from another source did not necessarily mean it did not qualify for exemption under s.44(1).  In the circumstances, he decided that any public interest considerations favouring disclosure of the personal affairs information contained in the documents held by the QPS were not sufficiently strong to outweigh the public interest in protecting the privacy interests of the relevant third parties.  He decided that the matter in issue was exempt under s.44(1) of the FOI Act. 

The second application raised a ‘sufficiency of search' issue in respect of a meeting the applicant held with police, which was audio taped. The applicant asserted that there must be additional tapes beyond those already disclosed to him. After considering evidence from the police officer who attended the meeting with the applicant, Assistant Commissioner Shoyer was satisfied there were no reasonable grounds for believing that additional tapes existed, and also held that the QPS's searches had been reasonable in all the circumstances of the case.