When Does The Public Interest Require FOI Fees To Be Waived?

In Re Stephanie Peatling and Department of Employment and Workplace Relations [2007] AATA 1011, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered whether the fees for processing a media outlet's request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) should be reduced on the grounds of public interest. The Tribunal decided that even though there were considerable public interest grounds to support a waiver of the fees, the countervailing "commercial benefit" that a media outlet would derive from the release of the documents outweighed the public interest in the release of the relevant documents.

The facts

Ms Peatling, in her capacity as a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald ("SMH"), lodged an application with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations for access to documents used by the Department in formulating the Government's "Welfare-to-Work" policy. As part of her request, Ms Peatling asked that any charges be halved "for the public interest".