Hunt and Education Queensland

Hunt and Education Queensland
(2002 S0024, 19 June 2003) 

The applicants argued that certain documents, falling within the terms of their FOI access application, should exist in the possession or under the control of the respondent.  The respondent undertook extensive searches of its records and located some additional relevant documents, copies of which were provided to the applicants. 

In relation to the outstanding documents requested by the applicants, the Deputy Information Commissioner was not satisfied, on the material before him, that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the requested documents existed, or if they had at one time existed, that they had been retained, in the possession or under the control of the respondent.  In any event, he was satisfied that the searches and inquiries that had been made by the respondent in an effort to locate any additional responsive documents had been reasonable in all the circumstances of the case.