Roberts v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force

The case of Roberts v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force was heard in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and involved the applicant seeking access to documents held by the Commissioner of Police. The applicant, Roberts, alleged that the Commissioner held certain information which had not been disclosed in response to a request for access under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA). This included information that was subject to legal professional privilege, and Roberts sought a determination on whether that privilege had been lost and whether secondary reproductions of the privileged information were also subject to exclusion.

The primary legal issue before the AAT was whether it had jurisdiction to determine if the Commissioner had conducted adequate searches for the information requested. Additionally, the Tribunal had to decide if the information in question was subject to legal professional privilege, and if so, whether that privilege had been lost. The secondary issue was whether secondary reproductions of information that had been excluded from disclosure were also subject to exclusion.

In its decision, the Tribunal found that it did have jurisdiction to consider whether the Commissioner had conducted adequate searches for the requested information. However, it determined that the information in question was indeed subject to legal professional privilege, and that this privilege had not been lost. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that secondary reproductions of this privileged information were also excluded from disclosure. The Tribunal noted that further information had been released to the applicant during the course of the hearing, but affirmed the decisions of the Commissioner in both applications.

The Tribunal's decision was largely in favour of the Commissioner, affirming the decisions to exclude the information in question from disclosure. The Tribunal's findings on jurisdiction and privilege provided clarity on the scope of its review powers and the application of legal professional privilege in the context of GIPA requests.