Thomas; Secretary, Department of Defence and (Freedom of information)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an appeal by the Secretary, Department of Defence, concerning a Freedom of Information request for a text message exchange between the Chief and Vice Chief of the Australian Defence Force. The primary dispute revolved around whether access to these documents should be granted, with the Department arguing for exemption.

The Tribunal was required to determine two key legal issues. Firstly, it had to consider whether the text message exchange was exempt from disclosure under the deliberative processes exemption in the *Freedom of Information Act 1982* (Cth), and if so, whether disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. Secondly, the Tribunal addressed an allegation of apprehended bias against one of its members, arising from a prior professional association with the authors of the documents in question.

On the issue of exemption, the Tribunal found that the deliberative processes exemption applied and that, on balance, granting access to the documents would be contrary to the public interest. Regarding the apprehended bias claim, the Tribunal held that there was no reasonable apprehension of bias, noting that the prior professional association had ceased years before the documents were created and that the authors' credibility was not in question. The Tribunal also determined that the allegation of bias should be considered by the full panel as part of the substantive review, rather than as a preliminary issue.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the Information Commissioner's decision to grant access to the documents. In its place, the Tribunal decided that access to the text message exchange should be refused, even with the deletion of personal information, on the grounds that disclosure would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.