Millar v. Department of Premier and Cabinet (General)

A journalist challenged the government of Victoria’s refusal to produce all of the documents responsive to his request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. The documents, dated from April to December 2009, all pertained to the Victorian government’s position on climate change issues and options for reconciling Victorian and federal climate policy. The Tribunal evaluated arguments relating to each of 11 contested documents and ultimately concluded that the interest of the public weighed on both sides of the case: the public had an interest in knowing how the Victorian and federal governments had negotiated issues related to climate change policy; but the public also had an interest in the Victorian government’s staff being free to deliberate without concern that those deliberations should be public. On this basis, the Tribunal upheld the government’s refusal to produce the 11 contested documents.