Customer Service
Telephone: 1300 352 000 – family law matters
Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
Telephone: 1300 720 980 – general federal law matters
GPO Box 9991 in your capital city
Email: xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
27 February 2023
Mr Welton
by ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Welton
Your FOI request sent on 27 January 2023
I refer to your email sent to the Attorney-General’s Department on 27 January 2023 requesting
documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the ‘FOI Act’). I also refer to
the email sent to you from the Attorney-General’s Department on 21 February 2023, advising
that your request had been transferred to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (the
‘Courts’) under s 16 of the FOI Act.
Authorised decision maker
I am authorised under s 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions on behalf of the Courts in relation
to your request.
Scope of request
The scope of your request as set out in your email sent on 27 January 2023, as follows:
Can I please have a report that details how many complaints of judicial misconduct have been
requested against Justice Jillian Williams. This includes her time spent in the Federal Circuit
Court.
I believe that I am the victim of such judicial misconduct, so I expect to see my name on the list.
This is another request completed for the Welton investigation.
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Decision
Section 5(1B) of the FOI Act provides that the Act does not apply for any request for access to
documents relating to complaints about judges. On that basis, I have decided that a valid
request, pursuant to the FOI Act, has not been made. Alternatively, if a valid request has been
made, the documents requested are exempt under s 5(1B) of the FOI Act.
In making my decision I have had regard to:
a. the terms of your request set out in your email sent to the Attorney-General’s
Department on 27 January 2023;
b. the relevant provisions of the FOI Act and case law considering those provisions; and
c. the FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
under section 93A of the FOI Act (the ‘Guidelines’).
Reasons for decision
Complaints about judges
Section 5(1B) of the FOI Act provides as follows:
This Act does not apply to any request for access to a document of a court (other than a court
of Norfolk Island) that relates to a complaint handler (or a body consisting of complaint
handlers):
(a)
exercising powers or performing functions under paragraph 47(2)(d) and subsection
48(1) of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021
; or
(b)
assisting in exercising those powers or performing those functions.
The information sought, being documents or information containing details relating to
complaints made against Justice Williams, comprises a category of documents that relate to the
exercise of, or assisting in the exercise of, the powers or functions of a complaints handler
within the meaning of s 5(1B) of the FOI Act. As such this category of documents is not
accessible under the FOI Act, and a valid request cannot be made for these documents.
Charges
You have not been charged for the processing of this request.
Your Review Rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision you may apply for internal review or to the Information
Commissioner for review of the decision. You are encouraged to seek internal review as a first
step.
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1. Internal review
Under s 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing for an internal review of my decision.
The internal review application must be made within 30 days of the date of this letter. Where
possible, attach reasons why you consider a review is necessary. Any internal review will be
carried out by another officer within 30 days of receipt of any request for review.
Application for a review of the decision should be addressed to:
The FOI Officer
Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
GPO Box 9991
CANBERRA ACT 2601
by ema
il: xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
2. Information Commissioner review
Under s 54L of the FOI Act you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review the decision. An application under this section must be made in writing within 60 days
of the date of this letter in one of the following ways:
• online (www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-review-process)
• post (Australian Information Commissioner GPO Box 2999 Canberra ACT 2601)
• in person (Level 3, 175 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000)
Yours sincerely
Michael Raine
Freedom of Information Officer
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