Lockhart and Toowoomba City Council

Lockhart and Toowoomba City Council
(1997 L0008, 18 September 1997) 

After some concessions by the Council, the matter remaining in issue related to complaints made to the Council by a third party regarding the applicant's property, and to a dispute between the third party and the Council. 

Applying the principles set out in McEniery and Medical Board of Queensland (1994) 1 QAR 349, the Information Commissioner found that the matter relating to the complaints was exempt under s.42(1)(b).  The Information Commissioner found that there was a common implicit understanding that the identity of the third party would be treated in confidence and that, despite a conviction on the applicant's part that the identity of the third party was known, the confidentiality of the third party's identity as a source of information had not been lost or abandoned.  The Information Commissioner determined that the information communicated related to the enforcement or administration of the law (the Council's enforcement of building and town planning laws, and by-laws regarding environmental matters), and that disclosure of the matter in issue could reasonably be expected to identify the source. 

The Information Commissioner found that the matter relating to the dispute between the third party and the Council was exempt under s.44(1) as it concerned the personal affairs of persons other than the applicant, and the public interest considerations favouring disclosure were not sufficient to outweigh the public interest considerations favouring non-disclosure.