McCrystal v Office of the Information Commissioner

The applicant, McCrystal, appealed against the decisions of the Office of the Information Commissioner in relation to four access applications under the Right to Information Act 2009. The dispute centred around the investigations and decisions made by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission in response to complaints made by McCrystal. The matter was heard by the Appeal Tribunal under section 119 of the RTI Act. McCrystal sought to consolidate the four appeals for a joint hearing under section 55 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009, and also sought a direction for the Queensland Building and Construction Commissioner to be cross-examined under sections 97 and 98 of the QCAT Act.

The Tribunal had to decide whether to allow the appeals to be heard jointly and whether to compel the Commissioner to attend for cross-examination. The applicant argued that the Commissioner's cross-examination would be beneficial to the Tribunal in resolving the appeals. The Tribunal considered the potential impact of cross-examination on the proceedings, including any unnecessary delay and expense, as well as the public interest in maintaining the independence of the Commissioner's role.

After careful consideration, the Tribunal found that compelling the Commissioner to attend for cross-examination was not warranted in this instance. The Tribunal concluded that the Commissioner's role was primarily investigative and decision-making, and that cross-examination might undermine the independence of the office. Furthermore, the Tribunal noted that the applicant had access to other means of obtaining information and evidence relevant to the appeals. Consequently, the application for the Commissioner to be cross-examined was refused.

In light of the above, the Tribunal dismissed the applications for miscellaneous matters filed on 16 August 2018 in each of APL364-17, APL052-18, APL082-18 and APL131-18. The appeals were to be heard separately, and no direction was made for the Commissioner to be cross-examined.