Duncan and Secretary, Department of Human Services (Freedom of information)

This matter concerned an application by Mr Ian Duncan for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth). The dispute involved Mr Duncan's assertion that a decision by Centrelink to refuse access to documents on the grounds of practical refusal was not validly made, and that his separate requests had been impermissibly treated as a single request. The decision under review was the August decision, which refused access to documents, as varied by subsequent decisions.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether the Department of Human Services had validly refused access to the documents in dispute. Specifically, the Tribunal needed to consider whether the documents were exempt under section 42 of the FOI Act, which pertains to legal professional privilege, and whether they were exempt under section 47C, relating to deliberative processes. A further issue was whether the agency had impermissibly treated Mr Duncan's multiple requests as a single request, not only for the purpose of assessing practical refusal but also in relation to the application of exemptions.

The Senior Member affirmed the decision under review, finding that all 46 documents in dispute were exempt under section 42 of the FOI Act due to legal professional privilege. While Mr Duncan argued that the practical refusal decision was invalid, the Tribunal noted that it was not necessary to determine this point as the Department no longer relied on a practical refusal reason. The Tribunal also found that the way the requests were processed did not invalidate the decisions made by Centrelink and the Department. The Department had voluntarily provided unedited copies of the documents for examination, and the Tribunal concluded that the claims of exemption under section 42 were made out.