OFFICIAL
NSW Fair Trading
Our Ref: 2024/010331
24 July 2024
Miss Anonymous
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Re: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – INFORMAL NOTICE OF DECISION
Dear Miss Anonymous,
I refer to your informal request received by NSW Fair Trading on 20 June 2024, under the
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the Act), for access to information relating to the
Residential Tenancies Act 2010. Specifically, you request access to any report or similar outlining the
number of penalty notices issued by NSW Fair Trading relevant to the Act.
I am authorised by the principal officer of NSW Fair Trading, for the purposes of section 8(6) of the
Act, to decide your access application.
Informal Release
In accordance with the Act your request was treated as an informal request to access information
under section 8 of the GIPA Act. In dealing with your informal request, I have considered the
following:
• The information you sought and whether an overriding public interest may prevent release or
whether it contained someone else’s personal information.
• Whether the imposition of reasonable conditions would assist the release of the information.
• The resources and time that would be required to search for and retrieve the information.
• How the information could be supplied to you and whether it could be presented in a form that
would provide you with access without affecting the interests of others.
Searches
In response to your request, the team responsible for tenancy matters were requested to provide
any records they may hold that fall within the scope of your request.
Decision
PO Box 972, Parramatta NSW 2124
Ph 13 32 20
ABN 91 913 830 179
www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au
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OFFICIAL
Following my consideration of your request, I have decided that there are no overriding public
interest factors against disclosure of the information you have sought access to you and have today
decided to provide the information to you in full. Although I have decided to provide you with the
information, as this decision relates to an informal request for information, it cannot be reviewed.
Section 75 of the GIPA Act states that an agency is not prevented from providing access to
information held by the agency by making and providing access to a new record of that information.
As such, a table has been created to provide you with access to the number of penalties issued by
NSW Fair Trading under the
Residential Tenancies Act 2010.
The information is attached with this letter.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Harmoni Curry-Babushkin
Advisor
Extracts of the GIPA Act
Section 8
8 Informal release of government information
(1) An agency is authorised to release government information held by it to a person in response to an informal
request by the person (that is, a request that is not an access application) unless there is an overriding public
interest against disclosure of the information. (2) An agency can release government information in response to an informal request subject to any reasonable
conditions that the agency thinks fit to impose. (3) An agency cannot be required to disclose government information pursuant to an informal request and cannot
be required to consider an informal request for government information. (4) An agency can decide by what means information is to be released in response to an informal request. (5) An agency can facilitate public access to government information contained in a record by deleting matter
from a copy of the record to be released in response to an informal request if inclusion of the matter would
otherwise result in there being an overriding public interest against disclosure of the record. (6) The functions of an agency under this section may only be exercised by or with the authority (given either
generally or in a particular case) of the principal officer of the agency.
PO Box 972, Parramatta NSW 2124
Ph 13 32 20
ABN 91 913 830 179
www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au
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