Weekes and Crime Stoppers Queensland Ltd
(2002 S0011, 26 June 2002)
In this case, I held that Crime Stoppers Queensland is not an agency, as defined in the FOI Act, and hence is not subject to the application of the FOI Act. Evidence supplied by Crime Stoppers Queensland Ltd relating to the circumstances of its establishment clearly demonstrated that it was not:
· a body established by an enactment (within the terms of s.9(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act);
· a body established by government (within the terms of s.9(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act);
· a body created by the Governor in Council or a Minister (within the terms of s.9(1)(b) of the FOI Act); or
· a body declared by regulation to be a public authority for the purposes of the FOI Act (within the terms of s.9(1)(c) of the FOI Act).
The applicant contended that Crime Stoppers Queensland Ltd was an agency by virtue of s.8(2) of the FOI Act because it formed part of the Queensland Police Service, or because it existed mainly for the purpose of enabling the Queensland Police Service to perform its functions. I rejected the applicant's first contention because Crime Stoppers Queensland Ltd was clearly a separate legal entity from the Queensland Police Service. The applicant's second contention depended on reading the word ‘enabling’ in s.8(2)(b) of the FOI Act as if it effectively meant ‘assisting’. I held that, as a matter of statutory construction, this could not be accepted as the meaning intended by Parliament for the language it had chosen to employ in the context of s.8(2)(b) of the FOI Act.