In a recent decision of Stalvies v Snowy Monaro Regional Council [2023] NSWCATAD 166 (‘Stalvies case‘), the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal has given detailed consideration to when expressions of opinion, or purported statements of fact, may be found to…
Tribunal affirms council decision not to release names of signatories of a letter to the mayor
18 Aug, 2022
The Appeal Panel of the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal in Moree Plains Shire Council v Howlett [2022] NSWCATAP 221 has allowed an appeal by the Council against the Tribunal’s decision to release information in a letter to the Council’s…
GIPA Act and Privileged Legal Advice
21 Jul, 2021
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently discussed the risk of waiving privilege where the substance of legal advice is inadvertently disclosed. The proceedings arose out of an application for information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). The…
Reasonable searches in GIPA Act applications
15 Apr, 2021
A decision of the Appeal Panel of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal), changed the way that the Tribunal considers applications for review under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) where an agency finds that information…
The Copyright Act: long, complex, outdated, and a potential trapdoor for local councils when dealing with documents accompanying a development application. The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has recently handed down a decision which illustrates the difficulties for councils in…
The power in s 60 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) to refuse to deal with an access application is a power often under-utilised by public sector agencies. In this blog, we consider whether recent amendments to the…
In the recent matter of Shoebridge v Office of Environment and Heritage [2018] NSWCATAP 144, the Appeal Panel of the NCAT considered whether a government agency was obliged to determine an application for a discount to a processing charge before…
In a recent decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), an application for review of an agency’s decision to refuse access to documents requested under the Government Information (Public Acccess) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) which was lodged out of time…
In a period of a week, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) has handed down two judgements addressing whether a person should have access to copies of plans received by a Council as part of a development application. The…
Restraint Orders under the GIPA Act – an update
7 Jun, 2016
Last year, LTL wrote about a decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Pittwater Council v Walker) in which restraint orders were made under s110 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) preventing Mr Walker from lodging access applications…
In two recent cases, the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) has made orders (Restraint Orders) restraining individuals from making access applications to Councils, without first obtaining the Tribunal’s permission. The decisions in Pittwater Council v Walker [2015]…
Review of the GIPA Act
30 Jul, 2014
Councils and public sector agencies are reminded that a review (Review) of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) is currently being undertaken. Any council or agency wishing to make submissions to the Review must do so by 29 August 2014.