Price and Department of Police

Price and Queensland Police Service
(1999 S0262, 6 February 2003) 

The applicant had sought access under the FOI Act to the respondent's electronic audit logs of persons accessing his files.  He failed to respond to the respondent's requests, made under s.28(2) of the FOI Act, to narrow the scope of his access application, but instead sought an external review of the respondent's deemed refusal of access. 

Details of the steps required to conduct the necessary searches were obtained from the respondent and the applicant was consulted regarding the possibility of narrowing the scope of his application to cover specific months.  The applicant declined to narrow the scope of his application.  The Assistant Commissioner decided that to deal with the applicant's access application would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the respondent from their use by the respondent in the performance of its functions, and held that the respondent therefore was entitled, under s.28(2) of the FOI Act, to refuse to deal with the access application.