Hamilton and Queensland Police Service
(1993 S0074, 26 August 1994)
This case involved the application of s.46(1)(a) of the FOI Act (which provides that matter is exempt if its disclosure would found an action for breach of confidence) and principles explained in B and Brisbane North Regional Health Authority (1994) 1 QAR 279. The applicant sought access to documents recording adverse reports from members of the public, obtained in the course of processing an application by him to become a police recruit.
The Information Commissioner examined the potential clash between express assurances of confidentiality given to members of the public who supply adverse information about a potential recruit, and the explicit statutory duty imposed on the QPS to afford procedural fairness to a potential recruit. The Information Commissioner examined the effect of that clash on the extent of any equitable obligation of confidence which, in all the relevant circumstances, a court would recognise and enforce in relation to information supplied by members of the public who received express assurances of confidentiality.
In the circumstances, the Information Commissioner found that equity would impose an enforceable obligation to respect the express assurances of confidentiality, except to the extent that it was necessary to disclose to the applicant the bare substance of the adverse allegations, in order to satisfy the statutory duty to accord procedural fairness to the applicant. The Information Commissioner therefore found the matter in issue to be exempt under s.46(1)(a) of the FOI Act, except for a small portion which set out the substance of the information which was adverse to the applicant.
