Faure and Australian Government Solicitors

[2000] AATA 1059

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2000] AATA 1059

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No   N2000/1558

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE  DIVISION       )       
           Re      LEONARD  FAURE         
  Applicant

And    AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SOLICITORS
  Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal       Mr B.J. McMahon (Deputy President)    

Date21 November 2000 

PlaceSydney

Decision      As the Tribunal has no jurisdiction in this matter, the application is dismissed.   
  ..............................................
  BJ McMahon
  Deputy President

REASONS FOR DECISION

29 November 2000         Mr BJ McMahon (Deputy President)       

1. On 21 November 2000 this application was dismissed. Pursuant to subsection 43(2A) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975, the Applicant has requested a statement in writing of the reasons of the Tribunal for its decision. This is that statement.

2. On 24 August 2000 the Applicant wrote the following letter:

   "Mr. L. Faure
   38 Cairo Avenue,
   REVESBY  N.S.W.  2212

   24th. August 2000

   The Freedom of Information
   Officer
   The Australian Government Solicitor
   Level 23
   133 Castlereagh Street,
   SYDNEY   N.S.W.   2000

   REQUEST PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM
     OF INFORMATION ACT 1982

   Dear Sir/Madam,

   Please provide to the writer, the undermentioned:
   i)  Pursuant to Sections II and 15 of the abovementioned Act, all documented record (if any) which pertains to the writer Mr. L. Faure or Mr Leonard Faure which occured between The Australian Government Solicitor and the Government of the Republic of Malta and/or any other foreign government and/or any other foreign agency and/or their representatives in Australia.

   As the writer is in receipt of a whole Disability Support Pension, he is requesting a total remission of fees pursuant to Section 30A of the abovementioned Act.  Consequently, please find attached copies of his current DSP card (front & back) as evidence.

   Yours Sincerely

   (Signed)

   L. Faure"

3. No reply was received within the time stipulated by section 56 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982. The Applicant assumed that paragraph 56(1)(b) was enlivened by that delay, that his request was deemed to have been refused and that consequently this Tribunal had jurisdiction under section 55 to review that deemed decision. He thereupon made application to this Tribunal.

4. Notice of the application was given to the Australian Government Solicitor to whom the original request had been directed.  Following representations, the Tribunal agreed that it did not have jurisdiction to entertain the application and, accordingly, dismissed it.

5. Subsection 7(1) of the Freedom of Information Act deems bodies specified in Part I of Schedule 2 to the Act not to be prescribed authorities for the purposes of the Act.  A prescribed authority is defined in section 4.  Those prescribed authorities are exempt from the operation of the Act in relation to the documents referred to in the schedule relating to them.

6. The Judiciary Amendment Act 1999 made amendments to various pieces of legislation in connection with the legal reorganisation of the office of the Australian Government Solicitor. Item 18 of Schedule 3 to that Act had the effect of including the Australian Government Solicitor as a body specified in Part I of Schedule 2 of the Freedom of Information Act.  The Judiciary Amendment Act was assented to and came into effect on 31 March 1999.  The Applicant's request under the Freedom of Information Act was made on 24 August 2000.

7. It follows that there could have been no decision to which section 55 of the Freedom of Information Act could apply and accordingly there could have been no jurisdiction accruing to the Tribunal.  The Australian Government Solicitor wrote to Mr Faure inviting him to discontinue his application.  As this did not occur, the Tribunal dismissed the application for want of jurisdiction.

I certify that the 8 preceding paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for the decision herein of Mr BJ McMahon (Deputy President)

Signed:         .....................................................................................
  Dominika Rajewski, Associate