Telephone Enquiries:
1300 88 22 33
Reference:
FOI/105
Date: 18/08/2025
Dear Maroondah City Council,
Notice of decision - request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (VIC)
1.
This letter contains my decision on behalf of Maroondah City Council in relation to
your request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (VIC) (FOI Act). I
have delegated authority to make this decision pursuant to the 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.
Background
4.
On 15/08/2025 you requested:
My wife and I would like to know who told the Council that the building work was
carried out without a building permit being issued and in force under
the Building Act 1993?
7.
On 15/08/2025 you made a request. On the 15/08/2025 we advised your request was
not valid under section 17(2A) of the FOI Act, because you did not pay the application fee.
We requested you to pay the application fee of $33.60 or provide evidence that paying the
application fee would cause you hardship.
8.
On 15/08/2025 you paid the application fee and we considered your request valid.
Information(s) relevant to your request
9.
A thorough and diligent search for the information within the terms of your request
was undertaken. The fol owing searches were conducted:
- Making enquiries with the relevant service area for document discovery
- Searching of electronic records management system for relevant documents
10.
On this basis, we located the relevant information to the terms of your request.
11.
This information was the name of the employee who discovered the building works at
154 Bayswater Road. Croydon South.
Telephone Enquiries:
1300 88 22 33
Reference:
FOI/105
Decision on the information release
12.
I have decided to:
(a)
release the information in part to you.
Reasons for decision
13.
In making my decision, I applied the fol owing exemption sections 30(1) and 33(1) of
the FOI Act to the employees name.
The building compliance issue was brought to the building department by an internal Council
department conducting an investigation in the area.
A Maroondah employee raised concerns about whether a building permit was obtained for
the veranda, deck, and shed on your property. They utilised an online satel ite mapping
system to identify these structures as part of their efforts to uncover any building works
within the municipality.
Section 33(1) of the FOI Act
14.
I applied the exemption in section 33(1) of the FOI Act to the employee’s name who
discovered the building works. This exemption relates to information which affect personal
privacy of people other than an applicant.
15.
A document is exempt under section 33(1) of the FOI Act if two conditions are
satisfied:
(a)
disclosure of the document under the FOI Act would ‘involve’ the disclosure of
information relating to the ‘personal affairs’ of a person other than an applicant; and
(b)
such disclosure would be ‘unreasonable’.
Personal affairs information of individuals other than yourself
16.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) has held a document wil
disclose personal affairs information if the document is capable of, either directly or
indirectly, identifying a particular individual whose personal affairs are disclosed. As the
nature of disclosure under the FOI Act is unrestricted and unconditional, this is to be
interpreted by the capacity of any member of the public to potential y identify a third party.
17.
The information contains the first and last name of the employee which I am satisfied
is personal affairs information.
Disclosure of the personal affairs information would be unreasonable
18.
The concept of ‘unreasonable disclosure’ involves balancing the competing public
interest in the disclosure of official information with the personal interest in privacy.
19.
I have deemed it to be unreasonable to disclose personal affairs information in these
circumstances as.
- This information is deemed not to promote public interest.
Telephone Enquiries:
1300 88 22 33
Reference:
FOI/105
- The individuals to whom the information relates to object, or would be reasonably likely to
object, to the release of the information.
- And this information is not widely available.
Deletion of exempt or irrelevant information
20.
Section 25 of the FOI Act requires an agency to grant access to an edited copy of
information 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.
21.
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.
22.
In the current circumstances, I found it was not practicable to provide you with an
edited copy of the information with exempt information deleted as editing the information
would render it meaningless.
Your review rights
23.
If you are not satisfied with my decision, you have the right to apply for a review of
my decision by the Information Commissioner under section 49A(1)(a) of the FOI Act.
24.
A review application must be in writing, identify the decision to be reviewed and the
agency who made it.
25.
An application must be made to the Information Commissioner within 28 days from
the day you receive this letter.
More information
26.
If you have any questions about this decision, please contact us by the phone
number listed above, quoting the FOI Request Reference number, or by return email
(xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx).
Yours sincerely,
Brendan Tauro
Risk and Integrity Advisor
Maroondah City Council | Realm
xxxxxxx.xxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
www.maroondah.vic.gov.au
Telephone Enquiries:
1300 88 22 33
Reference:
FOI/105
