14 March 2011
Section 47(3)(e) Right to Information Act – refusal of access
Section 52(1)(a) Right to Information Act – nonexistent or unlocatable documents
The applicant sought access to information concerning a third party from the Public Trustee of Queensland (PTQ)
PTQ identified 51 pages responsive to the access application and granted the applicant full access to these pages. The applicant applied for external review of PTQ’s decision and submitted, with regard to the sufficiency of PTQ’s searches, that PTQ failed to respond fully to his access application.
In addition to his contentions concerning the sufficiency of PTQ’s searches, the applicant raised the following issues:
· PTQ’s notice of decision was not signed and therefore ‘lacks status’
· the initial decision maker, as a sub-delegate of the PTQ’s delegate, did not have the power to make the decision for the principal officer of the PTQ
The RTI Commissioner commented that section 191 of the RTI Act, which outlines the content of a prescribed written notice, does not stipulate that the notice must be signed.
As to the issue of sub-delegation, the RTI Commissioner observed that section 30(3) indicates an intention of Parliament to allow sub-delegation of certain powers in certain circumstances.
In relation to sufficiency of PTQ’s searches, the RTI Commissioner was satisfied that:
· there were reasonable grounds for PTQ to be satisfied that additional documents did not exist
· PTQ had taken all reasonable steps to locate additional documents
Accordingly, the RTI Commissioner decided that access could be refused to the additional documents sought under sections 47(3)(e) and 52(1)(a) of the RTI Act on the basis that such documents did not exist
