Laing and Department of Equity and Fair Trading

Application number:
1999 S0110
Decision date:
Thursday, Oct 21, 1999

Laing and Department and Equity and Fair Trading
(1999 S0110, 21 October 1999) 

The applicant sought access to information that would disclose the identity of a person who had lodged a complaint with the respondent to the effect that the applicant had been acting as an unlicensed motor dealer. 

Applying the principles stated in McEniery and Medical Board of Queensland (1994) 1 QAR 349the Information Commissioner decided that the complainant was a confidential source of information, that the information communicated by the complainant related to the enforcement or administration of the law, and that disclosure of the matter in issue would enable the applicant to ascertain the identity of the complainant. 

The Information Commissioner also decided, applying the principles in Stewart and Department of Transport (1993) 1 QAR 227, that the fact that the complainant lodged a complaint with the respondent was a matter concerning the complainant's personal affairs.  The Information Commissioner therefore found that the matter in issue was prima facie exempt under s.44(l) of the FOI Act.  The Information Commissioner was not satisfied that disclosure of the matter in issue would, on balance, be in the public interest.