Rawan Arraf v NSW Crime Commission

The plaintiff, Rawan Arraf, applied to the New South Wales Crime Commission for access to certain information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW). The defendant, the NSW Crime Commission, denied the application, asserting that the information sought was excluded information under the Act. Arraf subsequently applied to the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales to review the Commission's decision. The court was required to determine whether the information sought by Arraf constituted "excluded information" under the Act and, if so, whether the application was invalid.

The court first examined the definition of "excluded information" under the Act and the criteria for such exclusions. It found that the information sought by Arraf related to the investigation of a criminal offence and was subject to an exclusion under section 22(1)(a) of the Act, which pertains to information that could prejudice an investigation or the enforcement of any law. The court then assessed whether the application itself was invalid due to the nature of the information sought. Given that the information was indeed excluded information, the court concluded that the application was invalid under section 43(2) of the Act, which mandates that an application for access to excluded information is invalid.

Consequently, the court dismissed Arraf's application for judicial review. The court found that the application was invalid as it sought access to information that was explicitly excluded by the Act. The court's decision was based solely on the invalidity of the application due to the nature of the information sought, and no further review of the merits of the application was conducted. The orders made by the court were that the application to the NSW Crime Commission made on 4 June 2021 was not a valid application under section 43(2) of the Act, and accordingly, the application for judicial review made on 3 November 2021 was dismissed.