The applicant, the Commissioner of the Police Service, sought an extension of time within which to file an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Appeal Tribunal of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), setting aside, firstly, a decision of the second respondent, the Information Commissioner, which found that information to which the first respondent sought access under the Information Privacy Act 2009 was exempt information for the purposes of s 59 of that Act, so that it was not necessary to deal with her application; and, secondly, a decision of the Queensland Police Service (made under s 69 of the Act) to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of that information. The QCAT Appeal Tribunal was constituted by the President of QCAT, a judge of the Supreme Court. The principal issue in the proposed appeal is whether his Honour erred in his construction of s 59 of the Information Privacy Act, which permits refusal to deal with applications for access to documents containing exempt information.
Scott McLeod QC (with R H Berry), appeared for the applicant, instructed by Queensland Police Service Solicitor.
The judgment is available here.