Price and Department of Justice and Attorney-General

Application number:
2002 S0041
Decision date:
Thursday, May 08, 2003

Price and Department of Justice and Attorney-General
(2002 S0041, 8 May 2003) 

The applicant applied for access to all documents related to himself which were created between the date of the respondent's decision in a preceding FOI access application and the date of the applicant's current FOI access application.  The respondent identified 36 documents as falling within the terms of the applicant's access application.  The applicant contended that there were 'missing and destroyed documents', however, the applicant provided no specific information in support of his contention in that regard. 

AC Moss found that there were no reasonable grounds for believing that additional documents, which fell within the terms of the applicant's FOI access application, existed in the possession, or under the control, of the respondent.  She also decided that correspondence between the Crown Solicitor and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice was exempt matter under s.43(1) of the FOI Act because it attracted legal professional privilege, and that information contained in one document which referred to the specific hourly rates charged by Crown Law officers was exempt matter under s.45(1)(c) of the FOI Act.