OFF
ICIAL
5 December 2025
Ref: FOI 26/43
By email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Lex,
Freedom of information request no. 26/43
The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about access to documents that you
requested under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act).
Summary
I, Sarah, Senior Lawyer, am an officer authorised under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to
make decisions in relation to FOI requests.
On 5 November 2025, you requested access to, “the Hon Paul Brereton's paper to the third
symposium to honour Professor Leslie Zines AO” referenced in the National Anti-Corruption
Commission’s (the Commission) Annual Report for 2024 – 2025.
On 6 November 2025, we wrote to you acknowledging your request and informed you that a
decision was due to you by 5 December 2025. That acknowledgment was sent to the email
address which was the contact email you provided.
I identified
1 document which falls within the scope of your request. I did this by requesting
searches be conducted of the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s (
the Commission)
document and case management systems by members of the Commission’s Corruption
Prevention and Education team who have responsibility for the Commission's external
engagements and the office of the Commissioner. The searches were requested on 6
November 2025 and were completed on 11 November 2025.
All searches utilised the terms provided in your request.
GPO Box 605
P. 1300 489 844
CANBERRA ACT 2601
ABN 47 446 409 542
nacc.gov.au
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The attached schedule of documents provides a description of the document that falls within
the scope of your request and the access decision for that document.
DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION
Regarding the document identified in the attached schedule, I have decided to:
• Refuse access under section 47 of the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
• your request and the content of the documents that fall within the scope of your
request,
• the FOI Act, including section 47,
• consultation with the editors of the text
Current Issues in Australian Constitutional
Law,
• the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under subsection
93A of the FOI Act (
Guidelines), and
• the relevant case law cited in this decision.
I have not taken any of the matters in subsection 11B(4) into account when making this
decision.
Section 47: exemption – documents disclosing trade secrets or commercially
valuable information
Section 47 provides that a document is an exempt document if its disclosure would disclose:
(a) trade secrets or
(b) any other information having a commercial value that would be, or could reasonably be
expected to be, destroyed or diminished if the information were disclosed.
To be exempt under s 47(1)(b) a document must satisfy 2 criteria:
• the document must contain information that has a commercial value either to an agency or
to another person or body and
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• the commercial value of the information would be, or could reasonably be expected to be,
destroyed or diminished if it were disclosed.
The Guidelines state that it is a question of fact as to whether information has commercial
value, and whether disclosure would destroy or diminish that value.
1 The commercial value
may relate, for example, to the profitability or viability of a continuing business operation or
commercial activity in which an agency or person is involved. I have considered the following
factors listed in the Guidelines in deciding whether the information has commercial value:
• whether the information is known only to the agency or person to whom it has value or, if it
is known to others, to what extent that detracts from its intrinsic commercial value
• whether the information confers a competitive advantage on the agency or person to whom
it relates — for example, if it lowers the cost of production or allows access to markets not
available to competitors
• whether a genuine ‘arm’s-length’ buyer would be prepared to pay to obtain that
information
2
• whether the information is still current or out of date (out of date information may no longer
have any value)
• whether disclosing the information would reduce the value of a business operation or
commercial activity — reflected, perhaps, in a lower share price.
3
I am also required to consider the second requirement of s 47(1)(b) — that it could
reasonably be expected that disclosure of the information would destroy or diminish its value
— based on satisfactory evidence. I must be satisfied that the disclosure would destroy or
diminish the commercial value of the information.
4
The paper you have requested was presented at the Third Symposium held to honour
Professor Leslie Zines AO. The papers given at the Symposium are to be published as part of
________________
1 [5.235].
2 Re Cannon and Australian Quality Egg Farms (1994) 1 QAR 491 and Re Hassell and Department
of Health of Western Australia [1994] WAICmr 25.
3 Guidelines at 5.235
4 McKinnon and Department of Immigration and Citizenship [2012] AICmr 34 [45] and Australian
Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Fisheries Management Authority [2016] AICmr 43 [38]–
[39].
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an ongoing commercial text in the form of a series of volumes,
Issues in Australian
Constitutional Law: Tributes to Professor Leslie Zines.
5 As such, the Commission and the
Symposium organisers did not publish the paper on a website and are not otherwise available.
The series of volumes have been published by a commercial publisher, Federal Press, since
2020 and are available to the public for purchase as a resource for those with an interest in
constitutional law issues.
6 I am also satisfied that given the content of the paper and the fact
that all these volumes including from 2020 remain available for purchase, that the information
in the paper is still current and has value. Given these factors, I am satisfied that the
requested paper has a commercial value to both Federal Press and the editors of the text, and
that this market value would be diminished if the paper could be obtained under FOI as it
would circumvent the need to purchase the text.
7
I have consulted with the editors of the text in relation to release of the document. They have
confirmed that release of the paper would undermine the terms of the commercial publication
agreement for the text, and negatively impact the integrity of the academic collection and the
commercial value of the project.
I am, therefore, satisfied that the document has both commercial value, and that release of
this paper would diminish the value both of the particular paper and the text as a whole. I
consider the document to be exempt under section 47.
Your review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information
Commissioner review of the decision. We encourage you to seek internal review as a first step
as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Commission for an internal
review of my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days of the
date of this letter.
________________
5 See, for example,
Book Review - Issues in Australian Constitutional Law: Tributes to Professor
Leslie Zines - Volume 2 - Law Society of Tasmania
6
Issues in Australian Constitutional Law - The Federation Press
7
Re Hassell and Health Department of Western Australia [1994] WAICmr 25 and
Re Cannon and
Australian Quality Egg Farms (1994) 1 QAR 491 at 55.
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Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary.
The internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner
to review my decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be
made in writing within 60 days of the date of this letter, and be lodged in one of the following
ways:
online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR_10
email
: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
More information about an Information Commissioner review is available on the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner website. Go to
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-
information/reviews-and-complaints/information-commissioner-review/.
FOI Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your FOI request, please let us know what
we could have done better. We may be able to rectify the problem. If you are not satisfied
with our response, you can make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner. A
complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in writing. Complaints can be
lodged in one of the following ways:
online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICCA_1
email
: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney 2001
More information about complaints is available on the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner a
t https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-
complaints/make-an-foi-complaint/.
If you are not sure whether to lodge an Information Commissioner review or an Information
Commissioner complaint, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has more
information at:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/.
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Questions about this decision
If you wish to discuss this decision, please contact me, using the details below:
Email: xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post: FOI Coordinator
National Anti-Corruption Commission
GPO Box 605
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Phone: (02) 6141 2300 (request to speak with an FOI Officer)
Yours sincerely
Sarah
Senior Lawyer
Attachment:
1.
Schedule of documents
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Attachment 1
Schedule of documents
No. Document or category
Decision
Pages
Exemptions
description
1.
The Commonwealth Integrity Not released
6
Section 47
Branch
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