Mathews and Brisbane City Council

Application number:
2004 F0129
Decision date:
Thursday, Dec 08, 2005

Mathews and Brisbane City Council
 (2004 F0129, 8 December 2005)

Sufficiency of search

The applicant sought access to documents held by the Council concerning the applicant and his residence. The applicant raised a 'sufficiency of search' issue regarding the existence of documents relating to construction of a fence on the boundary of his property; letters and emails sent by the applicant to the Council; and recipients' copies of internal Council emails. The Council conducted further searches and inquiries and located additional responsive documents.

Applying the principles stated in Shepherd and Department of Housing, Local Government and Planning (1994) 1 QAR 464, Assistant Commissioner Moss was satisfied that the searches and inquiries by the Council in an effort to locate any additional responsive documents had been reasonable in all the circumstances of the case, and that there were no reasonable grounds for believing that any other responsive documents existed in the Council's possession or under its control.

Personal affairs

Applying the principles of Stewart and Department of Transport (1993) 1 QAR 227, AC Moss decided that matter in issue in documents 3-16 that would identify persons who had made complaints to the Council concerning the state of the applicant's property qualified for exemption under s.44(1) of the FOI Act.