Email Letter
From
Date
FOI Officer
12 August 2025
Phone
Email
1300 002 642
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
To
Organisation
Email
Dale Webster
foi+request-12973-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Our Ref: 2518404
Dear Dale,
Notice of decision – request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic)
1. This letter contains my decision on behalf of the City of Greater Bendigo in relation to your request for
documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (
FOI Act).
2. In making my decision, I have considered the object of the FOI Act, which is to create a general right
of access to information, limited only by exceptions and exemptions necessary to protect essential
public interests, privacy, and business affairs.
3. My decision and reasons are provided below. A schedule of documents, which outlines my decision is
also attached to this letter.
Background
4. On 27 March 2025 you requested:
I request a copy of the 2019 Bendigo Showgrounds Masterplan and Business case.
I also request any documents related to its development, including but not limited to, any documents
referencing/demonstrating community consultation on proposed works before the tender process for
the Sport and Recreation Victoria-funded redevelopment started in September 2024.
5. On 12 May 2025 we advised your request was not valid under section 17(2) of the FOI Act because
the terms of your request were not clear enough to enable us to reasonably identify documents relevant
to your request.
6. After you clarified your request, we considered it to be valid under section 17 of the FOI Act. Your
request sought access to:
In reference to my original request, I have since obtained a copy of the master plan and business case
so request a change of scope to the fol owing: Any documents related to the development of the Bendigo Showgrounds Master Plan and Business
case and redevelopment of the Bendigo Showgrounds. As part of this I seek documents associated
with the grants awarded to the CoGB under the Stronger Regional Communities Plan in 2018-19 and
2019-20, including but not limited to the grant applications and acquittals.
Greater Bendigo City Council
Address: Galkangu Bendigo Gov Hub
189-229 Lyttleton Terrace Bendigo Vic 3550
Postal Address: PO Box 733, Bendigo Vic 3552
T:
1300 002 642
If you are
please ca
deaf, hearing or speech impaired,
E: xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
ll us via the National Relay Service
W: www.bendigo.vic.gov.au
on 133 677 or
www.relayservice.com.au
A.B.N. 74 149 638 164
7. On 26 June 2025 you asked to have the Bendigo Showgrounds Masterplan added back into the scope.
We confirmed the addition of the masterplan to the scope via email on the 27 June 2025.
8. On 15 June 2025 you paid the application fee and we considered your request valid.
Documents relevant to your request
9. A thorough and diligent search for documents within the terms of your request was undertaken. The
following searches were conducted: City officers conducted searches within the City’s electronic
document management system.
10. On this basis, we located 5 documents relevant to the terms of your request.
11. These documents include grant application information for Bendigo Showgrounds and Regional
Development Bendigo Showgrounds Agreement, Bendigo Showgrounds Masterplan and other grant
related information.
12. The FOI Act does not apply to some of the documents you requested because the document has
previously been released in full to you by another agency.
Decision on each document
13. I have decided to:
(a) release 3 in part;
(b) release 1 in full;
(c) release 1 outside the FOI Act
Reasons for decision
14. In making my decision, I have applied sections 25, 34(4)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act
Section 25 of the FOI Act – deletion of exempt or irrelevant information
15. Section 25 of the FOI Act requires an agency to grant access to an edited copy of a document
containing exempt or irrelevant information if it is practicable for the agency to delete that information,
and if the applicant is agreeable to receiving an edited copy.
16. Determining what is ‘practicable’ requires us to consider the effort involved in making the relevant
deletions and the effectiveness of those deletions – that is, whether editing the document would render
it meaningless.
17. Some of the information in the documents is not relevant to the scope of your request because it
includes the name of City officers and other personal details which you agreed to exclude from the
scope of your request.
18. In the current circumstances, I found it was practicable to provide you with an edited copy of the
documents with exempt information deleted.
Section 34(4)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
19. I applied the exemption in section 34(4)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act to 3 of the documents as pursuant to the
FOI Act, as they contain business, commercial, or financial information of a third party undertaking.
20. A document is exempt under section 34(4)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act if two conditions are satisfied:
(a) The agency is engaged in trade or commerce; and
(b) The document contains information of a business, commercial or financial nature; and
(c) Disclosure of the information would be likely to expose the agency unreasonably to disadvantage.
21. The City is engaged in trade and/or commerce in relation to these documents, and the information
contained in these documents is of a business, commercial and/or financial nature.
22. ‘Business’, ‘commercial’ and ‘financial’ have been considered on the basis of their ordinary meaning,
and accordingly the documents contain information which is of a business, commercial, or financial
nature as they detail budgeted amounts and financial statements.
23. It is our view that disclosure of such information would likely expose the City to unreasonable
disadvantage. Such disclosure of budgets and financial statements in advance of a contractor tender
process would impinge and disadvantage the ability to negotiate the best value from contractors in a
competitive process.
Access Charges
24. In this instance, I decided to waive the access charges, and you do not need to pay anything.
Receiving a copy of the documents
25. I note that in this instance third parties have the right to apply for a review of my decision to release
their information. The third parties have 60 days from the date they are notified of this decision to apply
for a review.
26. I cannot release this information until the end of the 60-day appeal period, and I have confirmed that
no application for review has been made by a third party.
27. As I noted previously, I cannot release certain documents to you until the expiry of the 60 day third
party appeal period. If you believe you wil be unsatisfied with my decision you should make an
application to the Information Commissioner to preserve your review rights.
28. The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner’s (
OVIC) website has a review form you may
download, which contains more information about the review process and what you can expect. OVIC’s
contact details are:
Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner
PO Box 24274
Melbourne VIC 3001
Email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
Phone: 1300 00 6842 (1300 00 OVIC)
www.ovic.vic.gov.au
Informal release of some documents:
29. We note, among other things, you have requested the ‘Bendigo Showgrounds Masterplan’ as this
documentation has been released to you previously by another agency. We note it is available for access
online
here.
More information
30. If you have any questions about this decision, please contact me on 1300 002 642 or by email at
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
FOI Officer
Attachments
1. Schedule of documents
