1 FRENCH CJ, CRENNAN, KIEFEL AND BELL JJ. The appellant, Ms Kline, made a request under s 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) ("the FOI Act") for access to certain categories of documents held by the first respondent, the Official Secretary to the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia ("the Official Secretary"). The second respondent, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ("the Tribunal"), filed an appearance submitting to any order the Court may make save as to costs.
2 The documents in the request related to the Australian system of honours, the Order of Australia. They included two nomination forms for the making of an award and correspondence in relation to those nominations, criteria for making awards, working manuals, policy guidelines, and documents relating to review processes. Subsequently, the appellant expanded her request to include an additional category of documents, being "all file notes from the Secretariat" contained in the nominations, which she made in 2007 and 2009.
3 The decision of the Official Secretary[1], an "agency" subject to the operation of the FOI Act[2], was conveyed in writing. In that communication it was stated that some of the documents requested by the appellant did not exist. In relation to the balance, it was said that "no documents relating to matters of an administrative nature" had been identified, being the only class of documents of the Official Secretary which are subject to obligations under the FOI Act[3]. The letter also stated that the appellant would be provided with one copy of each of the two nominations she had made, but as those documents did not relate to matters of an administrative nature, they were not subject to the FOI Act.
4 On review, under s 55K of the FOI Act, the Australian Information Commissioner ("the Commissioner") affirmed the Official Secretary's decision to refuse the appellant access to the documents she had requested. The appellant then appealed to the Tribunal, which affirmed the Official Secretary's decision[4].
