Turner v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force

Turner brought a case against the Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force, seeking judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision to refuse to deal with Turner’s application for access to government information. Turner had previously made two applications under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) for access to information concerning the NSW Police Force’s operations. The Commissioner declined to process Turner’s second application on the basis that it was substantially the same as a previous access request, which had been refused. Turner sought judicial review of this decision, arguing that the Commissioner’s refusal was unreasonable.

The court was required to determine whether the Commissioner's decision to refuse to process Turner’s second access application was legally sound. Turner argued that the Commissioner had misinterpreted the relevant legislation and failed to properly consider whether the second application was substantially different from the first. The Commissioner, on the other hand, contended that the second application was not sufficiently distinct from the first and that the decision to refuse was justified.

The court found that the Commissioner's decision to refuse to process Turner’s second application was generally lawful, but the Commissioner had erred in his interpretation of the legislation concerning the circumstances in which an application may be refused as substantially the same as a previous request. The court was satisfied that the Commissioner’s determination relating to paragraph 1(c) of Turner’s access request 128633 was flawed. The court affirmed the decision to refuse to process Turner’s second application, with the exception of the determination relating to paragraph 1(c). The matter was listed for further directions to address the respondent’s determination in relation to paragraph 1(c) of the access application under review.

The court ordered that the decision of the Commissioner was affirmed with the exception of the determination relating to paragraph 1(c) of access request 128633. The matter was to be listed for directions on Thursday, 13 October 2016, to address the respondent’s determination in relation to paragraph 1(c) of the access application under review.