Hearl and Queensland Police Service
(1993 S0193, 3 March 1995)
This was a ‘sufficiency of search’ case in which the applicant identified two documents which he submitted should be in the possession or control of the Queensland Police Service (the QPS). There was objective evidence that the documents had been, and should be, in the possession or control of the QPS, and the Information Commissioner required the QPS to undertake further searches and inquiries in an effort to locate them. These were detailed in the reasons for decision. Ultimately they proved fruitless, but the Information Commissioner was satisfied that all reasonable avenues of search and inquiry had been pursued, and that the documents could no longer be located within the possession or control of the QPS.
