Whether the public interest considerations against disclosure, on balance, outweigh the public interest considerations in favour of disclosure
- The documents relating to the bullying and harassment complaint are pp 1-3 of Annexure E to Mr Reynold's confidential affidavit. As noted above, the documents were addressed in a confidential session. Having considered those documents, the Tribunal gives significant weight to the public interest against disclosure in cl 1(d) of the Table to s 14, that is, that disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice supply to an agency of confidential information that facilitates the effective exercise of that agency's functions, and to the public interests against disclosure in cll 1(f) and (g) of the Table to s 14 of the GIPA Act. The staff members who made the complaint of bullying and harassment did so on the understanding that the complaint would be confidential, and the evidence was that they would not have done so without that assurance. While the applicant was advised that she would be able to review the allegations, and while that would be consistent with the requirements of the Code of Conduct, the investigation did not progress to a stage that would enable that to occur. The Tribunal is satisfied that effectively managing complaints about the behaviour and actions of staff outweighs the public interest in favour of disclosure of promoting transparency in the Council's decision-making processes including in respect of its handling and management of complaints against staff members. Further, while acknowledging that the documents contain personal information of Ms Winn, the documents contain personal information of others, and the Tribunal is satisfied that given the nature of the documents, and the context, redaction of the names of the persons concerned would not be sufficient to avoid the effect identified in cl 3(a), a public interest against disclosure to which the Tribunal gives considerable weight. The Council has satisfied the burden placed on it by s 105 in relation to the bullying and harassment complaint.
- The position relating to the WHS incident report and associated documents is more complex. The Tribunal gives considerable weight to the fact that the information contained in those documents is personal information about Ms Winn, including opinions expressed about her, for which there is a public interest in favour of disclosure. However, the documents also contain personal information about other staff members which would not fall within the exclusion in paragraph (3)(b) of the definition of "personal information" in cl 4 of Sch 4 to the GIPA Act. The information was provided in confidence. The Tribunal gives considerable weight to the provision for confidentiality which is part of the incident reporting and investigation procedure stated in the Council's Incident Reporting and Investigation Procedure, and the understanding of the basis on which the staff concerned provided or collated the incident information, and thus to the public interests against disclosure contained in cll 1(d), (f) and (g) of the Table to s 14 of the GIPA Act. The Tribunal concludes that the public interest against disclosure of the information in the documents outweighs the public interest in favour of disclosure, and affirms the decision in relation to those documents.
- Some information has been disclosed to Ms Winn, in the form of the redacted version of Mr Edgar's email of 18 July 2018 (which is pp 36 and 37 of Annexure E to the affidavit of Mr Reynolds). In that form the document discloses to Ms Winn personal information about her, while not identifying other staff referred to or providing information that might identify those persons. The Tribunal agrees that disclosure of that document in that form strikes the appropriate balance between the public interests against disclosure and those in favour of disclosure.
- The Tribunal notes that in contrast to the situations under consideration in Ansoul, Williams v Department Industry and Investment [2012] NSWADT 192, AMH v Western New South Wales Local Health District [2013] NSWADT 282, and AEF v Northern Sydney Local Health District (No 2) [2012] NSWADT 89, where workplace issues had been investigated and reported on, the processes initiated by the Council commenced, but did not conclude after Ms Winn resigned her employment. The procedures provided in the Code of Conduct and the Procedures, and as referred to in the letters of 23 October 2018 and 6 November 2018, would have required the substance of the allegations to be disclosed to Ms Winn had the investigation continued. For the reasons above the Tribunal is satisfied that the Council has discharged the onus under s 105 of the GIPA Act in relation to the request for access to the documents held by it when it received the application under that Act.
- Ms Winn raised an issue as to the validity of the delegations or authorisation under which Mr Reynolds made the internal review decision, and under which the original decisions were made. Ms Winn submits that that issue is relevant to the weight to be placed on the internal review decision, and whether a referral under ss 111 or 112 of the GIPA Act should be made. The IPC report identified shortcomings in the Council's original decision. The task of the Tribunal in this review is to determine, on the evidence before it, what is the correct and preferable decision; and in the review the Council bears the onus of establishing that its decision is justified. The Tribunal is satisfied for the reasons given above that the Council has done so.