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City of Parramatta has welcomed today’s decision by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to uphold the Council’s right to protect commercial in confidence information provided to Council by partners, tenderers and other third parties.
Council has maintained a consistent position that the information relating to the Parramatta Eels Commercial Partnership Agreement is commercial in confidence and its release could destroy or diminish the value of the Eels’ commercial information and prejudice its legitimate business and financial interests.
NCAT Senior Member Riordan recognised that the disclosure of confidential information would pose a real likelihood that commercial entities would be unwilling to tender or contract with City of Parramatta, or supply it with confidential information, if they feared their information would be disclosed to the public.
NCAT also found there was no evidence of a systemic issue in relation to the CEO’s determination of GIPA applications and declined to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
City of Parramatta Chief Executive Officer Gail Connolly PSM said the Council always takes its responsibility to protect all private and commercially sensitive information provided by members of our community seriously.
“Today’s decision has confirmed that Council’s approach to balancing transparency with good governance and procedural fairness will ensure that public confidence in the management of the City continues to be maintained at all times,” Ms Connolly said.
“As a Global City, businesses and organisations should feel confident they can have full and frank discussions with Council and its staff about matters that are commercially sensitive without fear that the information will be disclosed to the public.”
The outcome is not only a win for City of Parramatta, but a win for the local government sector as NCAT agreed that the protections afforded by confidential sessions in Council meetings under section 10A of the Local Government Act 1993 would be significantly diminished if councillors are not able to consider confidential information in a manner that protects it from the risk of disclosure.
Parramatta Eels Chief Executive Officer Jim Sarantinos thanked the City of Parramatta for its continued efforts in protecting the Eels commercial in confidence information.
“This decision supports the importance of a strong engagement process for developing strategic partnerships,” Mr Sarantinos said.
“Being able to have frank and, where necessary, commercial in confidence conversations, ensures that key partners can feel confident in their ability to engage with the City of Parramatta.”
Ms Connolly said “the City of Parramatta has and will always protect the confidential information of our partners and will always seek to balance transparency with good governance and best practice decision making.”
