  Notice of Decision

1.
Summary of access application
  On 30 August 2020, Northern Beaches Council received your access application under the Government Information (Public
Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). You asked for the following information:

•  Could you please attach the fol owing information regarding beach parking permits.

1. The number of beach parking permits sent to ratepayers, specifically in the August Rates Notice.

2. The cost of manufacturing said beach parking permits, alongside the name of the organisation, business or person(s) in
charge of manufacturing said beach parking permits.

3. Any cost analysis regarding the use of beach parking, both in terms of all monies made from non-residents and
information regarding residents usage and monies not made from residents using beach parking.

4. Any information relating to the monies, and percentage of monies from rates, to pay for repair and general upkeep of
areas wherein the beach parking permit may be used within the Northern Beaches Council area.

  2.  Decision
I am authorised by the principal officer, for the purposes of section 9(3) of the GIPA Act, to decide your access application.
I have decided, under section 58(1)(a) of the GIPA Act, to provide access to the information
In this Notice of Decision I wil  explain my reasons. To meet the requirements of section 61 of the GIPA Act, I need to tell you:
(a)
the reasons for my decision and the findings on any important questions of fact underlying those reasons; and
(b)
the general nature and format of the records containing the information you asked for, with reference to the
relevant public interest considerations against disclosure (see the attached Schedule of Documents).
You can ask for a review of this decision. For details about how to do so, see part 9 of this Notice.

3.
Searches for information

Under the GIPA Act, we must conduct reasonable searches for the government information you asked for in your application. I
have searched our records to find any information that fal s within the scope of your application.

The fol owing searches were conducted:

•  Northern Beaches Council Document Management System (TRIM)
•  Property & Rating System
•  Relevant Council departments
•  Office 365
4.  Consultation
  Northern Beaches Council has not been required to consult with third persons in relation to the information sought.

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  Notice of Decision
5.
Reason for decision

Under s. 9(1) of the GIPA Act, you have a legal y enforceable right to be provided with access to the information sought, unless
there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information. In making such a determination, agencies must apply
the public interest test under s. 13, which provides that there wil  only be an overriding public interest against disclosure where
public interest considerations in favour of disclosure are, on balance, outweighed by those against disclosure. Under s. 5 of the
GIPA Act, there is a presumption in favour of disclosing government information sought.

  6.  The public interest test
Under section 9(1) of the GIPA Act, you have a legal y enforceable right to access the information you asked for, unless there
is an overriding public interest against its disclosure.
  Further, under section 5 of the GIPA Act, there is a presumption in favour of disclosing government information unless there
is an overriding public interest against its disclosure.
  To decide whether or not there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information you asked for, I applied
the public interest test, which is set out in section 13 of the GIPA Act.
  I applied the public interest test by:

(a)  identifying any public interest considerations in favour of disclosure;

(b)  identifying any relevant public interest considerations against disclosure; and

(c)  deciding where the balance between them lies.
  I did this in the way required by section 15 of the GIPA Act, which is:

(a)  in a way that promotes the objects of the GIPA Act;

(b)  with regard to any relevant guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner;

(c)  without taking into account the fact that disclosure of information may cause embarrassment to, or a loss
of confidence in, the Government (as that fact is irrelevant);

(d)  without taking into account the fact that disclosure of information might be misinterpreted or
misunderstood by any person (as that fact is irrelevant); and

(e)  with regard to the fact that disclosure cannot be made subject to any conditions on the use or disclosure of
information.



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  Notice of Decision
7.
Notice of Decision
I have decided under section 58(1)(a) of the GiPA Act to provide access to the information sought in your access email.
Attached to this Notice of Decision is a schedule of Documents that wil  be released.

Document/s
Decision
Reason

Delivery Program 2020-2024
Ful  Release

Questions:

1. The number of beach parking permits sent to ratepayers, specifically in the August Rates Notice?

Answer:
206,000 permits (on 103,000 notices)

2. The cost of manufacturing said beach parking permits, alongside the name of the organisation, business or person(s) in
charge of manufacturing said beach parking permits.

Answer:

Council is not able to place conditions on information released in response to a Formal GIPA Application. If a competitor to
these businesses came to know the amounts they charged Council for provision of goods and/or services, it would place
them at a disadvantage in relation to any further work they may wish to provide to Council as once this information is in
the public domain, it may be made available to the competitors of these businesses

•  I refer you to section 14(4) of the GIPA which states:

There is a public interest consideration against disclosure of information if disclosure of the information could
reasonably be expected to have one or more of the fol owing effects:

(c)  diminish the competitive commercial value of any information to any person
(d)  prejudice any person's legitimate business, commercial, professional or financial interests

3. Any cost analysis regarding the use of beach parking, both in terms of all monies made from non-residents and
information regarding resident’s usage and monies not made from residents using beach parking.

Answer:
Last financial year this was $6,314,848,43

4. Any information relating to the monies, and percentage of monies from rates, to pay for repair and general upkeep of
areas wherein the beach parking permit may be used within the Northern Beaches Council area.

Answer:
Please refer to the Delivery Program attached to this Notice of decision, also the link is provided below

https://files.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/delivery-program-2020-2024.pdf



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  Notice of Decision
8.
Access

8.1  Form of access

You wil  be provided with the Notice of Decision and Schedule of Documents via email
This decision is reviewable under section 80(i) of the GIPA Act.
  8.2  Processing charges

No processing charges apply to this application.
   9.  Your rights of review
  If you are aggrieved by any of the reviewable decisions in this Notice of Decision, you may seek a review under Part 5 of the
GIPA Act. Before you do so, I would encourage you to speak with the officer responsible for your access application, whose
contact details are below.
  For your information, there are three avenues of review: internal review by a senior officer, external review by the
Information Commissioner or external review by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (“Tribunal”). Please refer to the link
below if you require additional information about the review process: http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/gipa-reviews

You should note that the time for seeking internal review is four weeks or, for external review, eight weeks from the date you
were notified of this decision. You may obtain further information about your rights under the GIPA Act by contacting the
Office of the Information and Privacy Commission on 1800 472 679 or at the fol owing website: http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/

If you have any queries about this notice or require further information on your rights of review, please contact me by email
on xxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx

  Regards

  Cameron Peters
  Access to Information Team Leader
Information Management
t 02 8495 6172
northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

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  10.

Schedule of Documents

Description of record that contains the information
Format of record  Released or withheld  Relevant public interest consideration(s) against disclosure
F - Delivery Program 2020-2024
PDF
Ful  Release

Document Outline