NEW SOUTH WALES COURT ISSUES JUDGEMENT FOR SEAN PURCELL V/S DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER CASE

Australia, Sept. 1 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 1:

1. This is a review of a decision made by the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water ("Respondent") to refuse access to certain information. The information sought by the applicant, Mr Sean Purcell ("Applicant") concerns a voluntary public interest disclosure he had made.

Background

2. The Applicant was a Senior Policy Officer with Heritage NSW in its Aboriginal Cultural Heritage team.

3. On 21 September 2022, the Applicant made a voluntary public interest disclosure pursuant to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1994 (NSW) as in force at the time. At the time of the disclosure, Heritage NSW formed part of the Department of Planning and Environment ("DPE").

4. On 1 January 2024, Heritage NSW became part of the Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment and Water. Certain functions of DPE were transferred to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure ("DPHI").

5. On 28th May 2024, DPHI transferred a part of an access application made by the applicant to the respondent pursuant to s 45 of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 ("GIPA Act"). The part of the application so transferred sought access to certain information related to the public interest disclosure of September 2022.

6. By decision dated 4 July 2024, the Respondent determined to provide to the Applicant partial access to five documents. These were email chains, with certain information determined to be subject to an overriding public interest against disclosure. That information had been redacted from the email chains.

7. The Applicant then sought review by the Information Commissioner of the decision of the Respondent. The Information Commissioner published a review report on 29 November 2024. She formed the view that she could not be satisfied that the decision to refuse access to some information was justified or that the searches for the documents conducted by the Respondent were adequate. The Information Commissioner advised that the Respondent should reconsider their decision by way of internal review.

8. On 12 December 2024, the Respondent accepted the Information Commissioner's recommendation to conduct an internal review. On 31 January 2025, the Respondent published its internal review decision. The Respondent determined that there was an overriding public interest against disclosure of all information identified as responsive to the Applicant's access application, such that access should be refused to each of four relevant documents in their entirety. They were numbered 1-4.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1985dae466a49401ae96a42f)

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