VCAT has confirmed that applicant’s cannot amend FOI requests during an OVIC review. That means that they cannot tell OVIC that they are now willing to get partial access. An applicant must be held to the terms of the original request and any decision by OVIC must be in relation to the original request: Davies v Victoria Police [2022] VCAT …
No partial access unless applicants ask
VCAT has recently reminded us that partial access needs only to be provided if the applicant’s request states (or there are subsequent indications) that they are willing to obtain access to an edited copy of the relevant document with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted. Where a request for access doesn’t state that access to an edited copy of the documents …