Simon Coote, David Cooney, David Turner and Alan Colton v Development Assessment Commission & Oceanic Victor
Dan Monceaux made this Freedom of Information request to SA Courts Administration Authority
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear SA Courts Administration Authority FoI Officers,
I am writing to request a digital copy (scans) of transcripts of all proceedings of "Simon Coote, David Cooney, David Turner and Alan Colton v Development Assessment Commission & Oceanic Victor (ERDC Nos. 9 of 2016 and 10 of 2016)".
I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act 1991.
Yours faithfully,
Dan Monceaux
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For your query to be answered in the best possible manner it has been necessary to forward your query to the Environmental, Resources and Development Registry.
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Dear Mr Monceaux
You may be able to access the transcripts. If you would like to request a
copy of transcript for the above matters you will need to make a Formal
Application and state your reasons as to why you would like the
transcripts.
Furthermore, you will need to undertake to pay the relevant fees. The
court provides transcripts as per the following fees:
$23.10 search fee of the file.
$7.75 copy fee per page.
Environment, Resources and Development Court
Phone: (08) 8204 0289
Email: [1][email address]
Website: [2]www.courts.sa.gov.au
Sir Samuel Way Building
241-259 Victoria Square
Adelaide SA 5000
GPO Box 2465
Adelaide SA 5000
DX 458
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. The Higher Courts Registries
will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period from COB Friday, 23
December 2016 and we reopen Tuesday, 3 January 2017.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/
Dear Environment Resources and Development Registry (CAA) FoI Officers,
Thankyou for providing details for a typical access request for ERD Court transcripts.
However, I am making my request under the Freedom of Information Act 1991, and as such, the fees you have quoted me are not relevant. My request is restated below:
"I am writing to request a digital copy (scans) of transcripts of all proceedings of "Simon Coote, David Cooney, David Turner and Alan Colton v Development Assessment Commission & Oceanic Victor (ERDC Nos. 9 of 2016 and 10 of 2016)"."
I understand that there is a lodgement fee payable on my part (of approximately $30, from memory) and that a form with my postal address etc. may also be required. I wish to pay this fee and formalise this request as soon as possible.
Please advise me of next steps to proceed with this request under the Freedom of Information Act 1991.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Monceaux
Thank you for your email to the Civil Registry of the Supreme Court of SA,
District Court of SA and The Environment, Resources & Development Court.
This email account is monitored and emails processed regularly. If
necessary a team member will contact you shortly.
Higher Courts Registry
Postal address:
Lower Ground Floor
Sir Samuel Way Building
241- 259 Victoria Square
Adelaide, South Australia, 5000
Civil Enquiries:
p: + 61 8 8204 0289
f: +61 8 8115 1357
Dan Monceaux left an annotation ()
Thanks for looking into this and sharing your knowledge on the topic, Locutus. It will be very interesting to see how the courts administration choose to respond.
Dear Mr Monceaux,
Thank you for your email. If you wish to proceed with a Freedom of Information Act application please request via the Court Administration Authority website. The website explains what information is accessible and the procedure.
If you decide to request the information from the Registrar of the ERD Court, please request via email with details for consideration. Information has already been provided as to costs.
Yours sincerely,
Glenda
A/Deputy Registrar
ERD Courts Registry
Registry Office Hours: Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm
Phone Number: (08) 8204 0289
Fax Number: (08) 8204 8434
Email: [email address] Website: www.courts.sa.gov.au
Sir Samuel Way Building Postal: GPO Box 2465
241-259 Victoria Square ADELAIDE, SA 5001
Lower Ground Floor
ADELAIDE, SA 5000
DX 458
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. The Higher Courts Registries will be closed over the Christmas and New Year period from COB Friday, 23 December 2016 and we reopen Tuesday, 3 January 2017.
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #2866 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
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Dear Glenda,
Could you please clarify that the cost per page would remain the same, irrespective of whether this information were requested under the Freedom of Information Act, or via the typical fee-for-service process?
Also, could you please advise me of the number of pages of written transcription associated with the proceedings of "Simon Coote, David Cooney, David Turner and Alan Colton v Development Assessment Commission & Oceanic Victor (ERDC Nos. 9 of 2016 and 10 of 2016)"?
This will assist me in deciding whether the full transcription cost is within or beyond my financial means.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Monceaux
Dear Mr Monceaux
Unfortunately, I do not know how much request for transcript will cost under the Freedom of Information Act. However, I can tell you that if you decide to request the information via the ERD Court, there are 436 pages altogether at a cost of $7.75 per page.
Regards
Environment, Resources and Development Court
Phone: (08) 8204 0289
Email: [email address]
Website: www.courts.sa.gov.au
Sir Samuel Way Building
241-259 Victoria Square
Adelaide SA 5000
GPO Box 2465
Adelaide SA 5000
DX 458
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
The applicant has made an error. He would like to avoid the search-and-copy costs associated with requesting a court transcript by making his request for the document under the Freedom of Information Act, 1991 (SA). But claiming that that it is a request under Freedom of Information will not help.
In the information legislation (whether Freedom of Information or Right to Information) of the Commonwealth of Australia and of each of the states and territories of Australia, there is a section in the legislation that is pointed against avoidance of a normal fee. In the Commonwealth Act, this is s 12(1)(c) that says, "A person is not entitled to obtain access under this Part to: ... a document that is available for purchase by the public in accordance with arrangements made by an agency." In the Act for the state of South Australia, it is s 20(1)(c) that says, "An agency may refuse access to ... a document that is usually and currently available for purchase". The FOI Act for South Australia does not require that the document be available for purchase "by the public"; it might only be available for purchase by a single person (!) but it there is a normal fee and a normal method to obtain a document from an agengy that involves the fee, then the fee cannot be avoided by trying to use FOI.
We can add to this anti-avoidance section the fact that s 53 of the Act says that fees can be fixed by regulation. Then if we look at the Freedom of Information (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2003 of South Australia, we can see that there is an application fee of $33.50 (maybe it is more in 2016 because of indexation) and then there are also charges for copying, transcribing and more.
However, it is my interpretation of s 20(1)(c) that the agency is allowed to impose standard charges documents available for purchase. The real question is whether the document that has been requested is available for purchase ... but this is a different story.