Kung Fu Wushu Australia Limited and Australian Sports Commission (Freedom of information)

This matter concerned an application for merits review before the Tribunal by Kung Fu Wushu Australia Limited (KWA) against a decision of the Australian Information Commissioner (IC). The IC had determined that certain documents, initially requested by the Wushu Council under the *Freedom of Information Act 1982* (Cth) (the Act) from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), should be released. KWA, the recognised National Sporting Organisation (NSO) for kung fu, sought to reinstate the ASC's original decision to refuse access to most of these documents. The Wushu Council was the third party to the application and sought to uphold the IC's decision for release.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the documents requested by the Wushu Council were exempt from disclosure under the Act. Specifically, the Tribunal was required to consider whether disclosure would breach confidence, constitute the disclosure of trade secrets, diminish information with commercial value, unreasonably affect the commercial or financial affairs of an organisation, or prejudice the future supply of information to the Commonwealth. The documents in question included correspondence between the ASC and KWA, audit reports, financial statements, policies, codes of practice, KWA's constitution, and results from international championships, all relating to KWA's status as an NSO and its relationship with the ASC.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision of the IC. The Tribunal noted that the Wushu Council did not press for the release of any information the IC had already deemed to be personal information and indicated it would not disturb those redactions. The Tribunal's decision to affirm the IC's determination implies that it found the exemptions argued by KWA were not applicable to the majority of the documents, and that the IC's reasoning for their release was sound.

The decision of the Information Commissioner dated 22 March 2017 was affirmed.