SMH and Department of Families

Application number:
2003 F0219
Decision date:
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

SMH and Department of Families
(2003 F0219, 20 June 2003) 

The matter in issue in this case comprised the name of the applicant's putative father (i.e., the person named by her birth mother as her father, but with no verification) on a State Children's Department form, completed shortly after the applicant's birth in 1942.  Although the applicant asserted that she had been told her putative father had died during World War II, that information could not be confirmed. 

AC Barker decided that, for the reasons stated in KBN and Department of Families, Youth and Community Care (1998) 4 QAR 422, the public interest considerations favouring disclosure of the matter in issue were not sufficiently strong to outweigh the public interest in protecting the privacy interests of the applicant's putative father and members of his family.  AC Barker therefore affirmed the respondent's decision that the matter in issue was exempt matter under s.44(1) of the FOI Act.