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Andrew McCullagh and Northern Midlands Council

Mr Andrew McCullagh is an elected member of the Northern Midlands Council (Council).

On 19 April 2023, Mr McCullagh submitted an application for assessed disclosure under the Right to Information Act 2009 (the Act) to Council seeking information in relation to a planning application and other Council business.

Council applied ss30, 31 and 36 to exempt some information and maintained this position on internal review. Mr McCullagh sought external review.

The Ombudsman determined:

exemptions claimed pursuant to ss30 and 31 were not made out; and
exemptions claimed pursuant to s36 were varied.

Andrew McCullagh and Northern Midlands Council (PDF, 279.1 KB)

Feb 2025 Sections 30 31 36 Section 30 Section 31 Section 36 Northern Midlands Council

Q and Northern Midlands Council

On 9 July 2020, Q made an application for assessed disclosure under the under the Right to Information Act 2009 (the Act)to the Northern Midlands Council (Council) requesting all correspondence from John Wayne Millwood to the Northern Midlands Council referring to his criminal conviction or [Q]. The information identified as being responsive to the request was a single page letter written by Mr Millwood’s lawyer and sent to the Mayor of Council.

Consistent with s36(2), Council contacted Mr Millwood to seek his view as to whether the information could be released. He objected to the release. Council then determined the letter was exempt from release under s36. Q sought internal review and this position was maintained by Council. Q then sought external review.

The Ombudsman determined that the Council’s use of s36 should be varied, finding that the letter could be released except for two small sections which identified other parties.

Q and Northern Midlands Council (PDF, 156.0 KB)

Sep 2023 Section 36 Northern Midlands Council Third Party Review

Andrew McCullagh and Northern Midlands Council

Mr Andrew McCullagh is a ratepayer in the Northern Midlands Council (Council) municipality who operates a Facebook group entitled Northern Midlands Council Watch and takes a keen interest in Council’s fiscal management and operations. On 26 May 2020, Mr McCullagh made an application under the Right to Information Act 2009 to Council for information regarding various projects being undertaken or proposed in the municipality. On 19 June 2020, Council released a decision to Mr McCullagh refusing to provide the information sought pursuant to ss20(a) and (b) as it considered part of the request to be a repeat and part to be vexatious. This position was maintained on internal review and Mr McCullagh then sought external review of the decisions.

The Ombudsman determined that ss20(a) and (b) did not apply to Mr McCullagh’s application and directed Council to assess the information requested for disclosure in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Andrew McCullagh and Northern Midlands Council (PDF, 162.1 KB)

Jun 2022 Section 20 Northern Midlands Council