Theophanous and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (Freedom of information)

The applicant, Theophanous, sought access to documents from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) under the *Freedom of Information Act 1982* (Cth). A dispute arose concerning the relevance of certain documents to the applicant's request, and the ACIC contended that it had taken all reasonable steps to locate documents within the scope of the request. The matter came before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for determination.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the ACIC had discharged its obligation to identify and provide all relevant documents in response to the applicant's freedom of information request. This involved assessing whether the evidence before the Tribunal was sufficient to conclude that the ACIC had taken all reasonable steps to find documents within the scope of the request, particularly in light of the dispute over the relevance of certain listed documents.

Deputy President Rayment found that the evidence before the Tribunal was insufficient to determine the preliminary question of relevance and whether all reasonable steps had been taken by the ACIC. The Tribunal concluded that the matter was not appropriate for determination on the papers alone and should instead be dealt with during the hearing of the substantive freedom of information application. The Tribunal therefore adjourned the preliminary question to be heard alongside the main application.