Commonwealth Numbered Acts

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 No. 3 of 1982 - SECT 25

25. (1) Nothing in this Act shall be taken to require an agency or Minister to
give information as to the existence or non-existence of a document where
information as to the existence or non-existence of that document, if included
in a document of an agency, would cause the last-mentioned document to be an
exempt document by virtue of section 33 or sub-section 37 (1).

(2) Where a request relates to a document that is, or if it existed would be,
of a kind referred to in sub-section (1), the agency or Minister dealing with
the request may give notice in writing to the applicant that the agency or the
Minister, as the case may be, neither confirms nor denies the existence, as a
document of the agency or an official document of the Minister, of such a
document but that, assuming the existence of such a document, it would be an
exempt document under section 33 or sub-section 37 (1) and, where such a
notice is given -

   (a)  section 26 applies as if the decision to give such a notice were a
decision
referred to in that section; and

   (b)  the decision shall, for the purposes of Part VI, be deemed to be a
decision refusing to grant access to the document in accordance with
the request for the reason that the document would, if it existed, be an
exempt document under section 33 or sub-section 37 (1), as the case
may be.