McMahon and Treasury Department

McMahon and Queensland Treasury
(2000 S0169, 7 September 2005)

Identities of successful applicants – application of s.44(1) 

The applicant sought access to documents relating to a job selection process conducted by the respondent in which he had been an unsuccessful applicant.  The Assistant Commissioner affirmed the respondent’s decision that the information deleted from documents which identified other unsuccessful job candidates was exempt from disclosure to the applicant under s.44(1) of the FOI Act applying the principles established in Baldwin and Department of Education (1996) 3 QAR 251.  The Assistant Commissioner also took into account the reasons for decision in McMahon and Department of State Development (2001 S0018, 27 June 2002, unreported) regarding the applicant’s submissions on his positions as a deployee.

Sufficiency of search

The Assistant Commissioner was also satisfied that the searches undertaken in the course of the review were reasonable in the circumstances and that no additional responsive documents existed in the possession or under the control of the respondent.