Outcomes - Selected Case Summaries
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Tourism sponsorship business cases and agreements to be disclosed
Decisions | 14 September 2023
Department of Tourism
An applicant made a request to the Department of Tourism for records related to overseas sponsorship and partnership agreements, and public relations campaigns, as well as related business cases and costs from 2020-2022. Over a period of several months, the DOT granted access to a number of records, some of which were partially redacted, but it withheld the business cases and exempted part of the sponsorship/partnership agreements, claiming prejudice to commercial values and interests.
The Ombudsman found that the records withheld did not contain trade secrets, and the disclosure of the business cases and agreements would not prejudice any commercial value or commercial interests. As well, the names, positions and official contact information of DOT employees were not personal information, and it was reasonable to disclose them. However, the contact details and signatures of the private entities that received a sponsorship or engaged in a partnership were found to be personal information, and they could be withheld.
The Ombudsman ordered the business cases and agreements to be disclosed in full, except for the above-mentioned personal information of the private persons. She also pointed out a number of procedural issues, including the fact that no internal review had been conducted, and that delays of a full year had been encountered.