Pascoe and Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Freedom of information)

Pascoe and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) concerned an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) regarding a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The applicant, Mr Pascoe, sought access to documents held by CASA. CASA had decided to release some documents but to exempt others, and Mr Pascoe sought review of this decision to limit the release of documents.

The AAT was required to determine whether CASA had properly applied the exemptions claimed under the *Freedom of Information Act 1982* (Cth). Specifically, the Tribunal had to consider whether legal professional privilege applied to certain documents, whether an exemption for the operations of an agency under s 47E(d) was applicable, and whether certain information constituted personal information that should be exempt.

Deputy President Rayment P found that CASA had correctly applied the exemption for legal professional privilege to some documents. However, the Tribunal determined that the exemption under s 47E(d) was not applicable to the documents in question, as it was not sufficiently demonstrated that their disclosure would prejudice the proper performance of CASA's functions. Furthermore, the Tribunal found that while some information was personal, it did not warrant exemption in its entirety. The Tribunal varied CASA's decision, ordering the release of further documents that had been previously withheld.