Ellis and Department of Environment
(1998 S0046, 20 October 1998)
The matter in issue was parts of an invoice for legal services provided to the Department by the Crown Solicitor. Applying the principles set out in Murphy and Queensland Treasury (1998) 4 QAR 446, the Information Commissioner decided that the matter in issue was not subject to legal professional privilege and therefore was not exempt matter under s.43(1) of the FOI Act.
With respect to other exemption claims relied on by the Department, the Information Commissioner was not satisfied that any reasonable basis existed for expecting that disclosure of the matter in issue could have any of the prejudicial consequences contemplated by s.40(c), s.42(1)(a) or s.42(1)(e) of the FOI Act.