Secretary, Department of Treasury and Finance v Kelly

(2001) 4 VR 595; [2001] VSCA 246

Victorian Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Freedom of Information
2. › Requests for access to documents
3. › Voluminous requests
4. › Whether multiple related requests can be treated as one for purposes of refusal
5. › Whether agency entitled to aggregate requests
6. › Construction to prevent evasion of statutory purpose
7. › Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), s 25A(1)
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Purposive construction
3. › Construction against evasion
4. › Whether deliberate splitting of requests to avoid statutory threshold defeats purpose of provision
5. › Substance over form
6. › Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic), s 25A
1. Administrative Law
2. › Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
3. › Powers on review
4. › Whether Tribunal had power to order release of documents under s 25A(6)(c)
5. › Whether Tribunal stands in shoes of agency
6. › Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic), s 80(3)
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Issue estoppel
3. › Whether finding that evidence did not establish oppression creates issue estoppel
4. › Distinction between finding evidence insufficient and finding issue determined

Quick Take

Multiple related FOI requests made by the same person, at or about the same time, relating to the same general subject matter, may be aggregated by an agency for the purpose of determining whether processing them would substantially and unreasonably divert the agency's resources under s.25A(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic). The deliberate splitting of what is in substance a single voluminous request into multiple separate requests will not defeat the operation of s.25A(1). The precise criteria for when aggregation is permissible were left open by Callaway JA.