Powell v Queensland University of Technology

The case of Powell v Queensland University of Technology involved the appellants seeking access to documents held by the respondents under the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld). The first respondent refused the appellants' applications on the grounds that they had not satisfied the requirements of section 43(3) of the Act. The decision was upheld by the second respondent. Subsequently, the respondents acknowledged that the requirements of section 43(3) had been satisfied and processed the appellants' applications. The appellants appealed the initial decisions, arguing that the refusals were erroneous and sought an order for their costs on an indemnity basis. The first respondent opposed the costs application, arguing that there should be no order as to costs as the parties had not reached an informal resolution. The legal issues before the court were whether the appeal should be allowed and if there should be an order as to costs.

The court found that the appeal should be allowed as the respondents had acknowledged that the appellants' applications met the requirements of section 43(3). Consequently, the decisions of the respondents were set aside, and the applications were to be returned to the first respondent for further processing. Regarding costs, the court determined that since the parties had been unable to reach an informal resolution and the matter was to be decided under the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld), there should be no order as to costs. Each party was ordered to bear their own costs.

The final orders of the court were that the appeal was allowed, the decisions of the second respondent and the first respondent were set aside, and the access applications were returned to the first respondent to be dealt with according to law. The processing period for the applications was to be calculated from the date of 24 November 2016. Additionally, each party was ordered to bear their own costs.