Office of the Leader of the Opposition and Department of Justice and Attorney-General

Application number:
2005 F0366
Decision date:
Monday, May 14, 2007

Office of the Leader of the Opposition and Department of Justice and Attorney-General
 (2005 F0366, 14 May 2007)

Section 12 Documents of the Commissioner
 Section 41(1) Deliberative process
 Section 42(1)(b) Confidential source of information
 Section 42(1)(d) Prejudice to impartial adjudication of a case
 Section 42(3A) Investigation by a prescribed crime body
 Section 43(1) Legal professional privilege
 Section 50(c)(i) Parliamentary privilege 

The applicant sought access to documents held by the Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG). 

Assistant Commissioner Henry found: 

·       only documents authored by the Information Commissioner or her delegate are not subject to the operation of Part 3 of the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (Qld) (FOI Act) pursuant to section 12 of the FOI Act

·       disclosure of DJAG file notes regarding the application of sections of the FOI Act  to matter in issue would not result in specific and tangible harm to an identifiable public interest and therefore, these documents did not qualify for exemption under section 41(1) of the FOI Act

·       documents claimed by DJAG to qualify for exemption under section 42(1)(b) of the FOI Act were not exempt under this provision

·       documents claimed by DJAG to qualify for exemption under section 42(1)(d) of the FOI Act were not exempt under this provision

·       documents comprising correspondence between DJAG and the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) qualified for exemption under section 42(3A) of the FOI Act

·       confidential communications between DJAG and Crown Law prepared for the purpose of seeking or providing legal advice or for use in relation to litigation qualified for exemption under section 43(1) of the FOI Act

·       documents comprising DJAG’s response to a Question on Notice qualified for exemption under section 50(c)(i) of the FOI Act while the text of the Question on Notice appearing in these documents, did not qualify for exemption under this provision because it had been published on the internet and therefore, its public disclosure would not infringe the privileges of Parliament