Miskelly v Transport for NSW

Civil and Administrative Tribunal

New South Wales

• Amendment notes

Medium Neutral Citation:

Miskelly v Transport for NSW [2017] NSWCATAD 207

Hearing dates:

29 November 2016

Date of orders:

26 June 2017

Decision date:

26 June 2017

Jurisdiction:

Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division

Before:

S Leal, Senior Member

Decision:

1. The decision of the respondent is set aside.

 2. In addition to the information already provided to the applicant, the following information is to be released: 

the information requested by the applicant as contained in the RailSys database as at 12 April 2016.

Catchwords:

Government Information (Public Access) – public interest considerations in favour of disclosure – public interest considerations against disclosure – weight of evidence – cumulative effect of additional information - presumption in favour of disclosure not displaced.

Legislation Cited:

Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
Transport Administrative Act 1988

Cases Cited:

Attorney-General's Department v Cockcroft (1986) 10 FCR 180
Cameron v Commissioner of Police (NSW) [2014] NSWCATAD 13
Fire Brigade Union v Fire and Rescue (NSW) [2014] NSWCATAD 13.
Flack v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police [2011] NSWADT 286
Hurst v Wagga Wagga City Council [2011] NSWADT 307
McKinnon v Secretary, Department of Treasury [2006] HCA 45
Miskelly v Transport for NSW [2017] NSWCATAD 75
Saleam v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Service [2002] NSWADT 40
Sobh v Police Force (Vic) [1994] 1 VR 41.

Category:

Principal judgment

Parties:

Greg Miskelly (Applicant)
Transport for NSW (Respondent)

Representation:

Counsel:
P McKinnon (Applicant)
K Sanders (Respondent)

  Solicitors:
NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office (Respondent)

File Number(s):

1610397

REASONS FOR DECISION

Background

1. Mr Greg Miskelly, who is the applicant in this matter, is a producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (‘the ABC’).

2. On 20 February 2015, he made an application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (‘the GIPA Act’) for access to information from Transport for NSW’s ‘Rapid Transit Network Taskforce.’

3. On 18 March 2015, Transport for NSW, who is the respondent in this matter, provided Mr Miskelly with a notice of decision in relation to his access application. In this notice of decision, Transport for NSW identified a series of documents as falling within the scope of the application, only some of which were released to Mr Miskelly.

4. Following a hearing before me on 29 November 2016, I made a decision setting aside the decision of Transport for NSW and ordering the release of the outstanding documents held by Transport for NSW that fell within the scope of Mr Miskelly’s access application. This decision, Miskelly v Transport for NSW [2017] NSWCATAD 75, was not appealed by Transport for NSW.

5. In the interim, Mr Miskelly had made a further application under the GIPA Act for access to information from Transport for NSW’s ‘Rapid Transit Network Taskforce.’ The application, which was made on 12 April 2016, requested the same information sought in the earlier application (‘the earlier proceedings’) but this time ‘for the period 18 March 2015 through to the present, with the aim of capturing new…