The Australian, Higher Education Supplement

Wednesday, 14 September 1994

FOI STAFF TO INVESTIGATE UNI

Two West Australian Government freedom of information
officers are likely to visit the University of Western
Australia to inquire into the whereabouts of a series of
documents sacked  archaeologist Dr David Rindos believes
have not been released despite requests to the university. 

The documents were requisitioned by Dr Rindos who said he
needed them for planned legal action against the university
and several senior academics and administrators. 

The university's FOI officer, Mr Keith Chombers [sic. =
Chambers] told 12 academics and administrators in a memo
last month that they and any of their staff who had been
involved in providing documents could expect visits from
government officers. 

Vice-chancellor Professor Fay Gale said yesterday that
visits by FOI officers were "perfectly normal procedure." 

She said Mr Chombers had been handling the document
requests, and the university believed all the available
information had been supplied.

Academics and administrators alerted to the impending visit
included the registrar, Mr Malcom Orr, and the heads of
several divisions and teaching departments. 

Dr Rindos has so far requisitioned and received more than
1000 documents from the university under the State's new
Freedom of Information Act, but he said he was denied some
documents he claimed were essential for his case, and said
that others seemed to have gone missing. 

He is fighting in the West Australian Industrial Relations
Commission for reinstatement to his position as senior
lecturer, but the university has challenged this move,
claiming that the matter should instead by heard by the
university Visitor. 

Mr Chombers stated in a memo: "Since receiving Dr Rindos's
original request for access to documents under the FOI act,
I have requested the provision of documents held by you and
your staff which might fall within the ambit of his
request. 

"A large amount of that information has been provided in
full or in edited form to him.  I have also denied him
access to some 30 odd documents."

Mr Chombers stated that Dr Rindos had appealed to Mr Orr
against denial of the documents. 

"Dr Rindos has also identified a series of documents which
have neither been provided to him nor accounted for by me,"
Mr Chombers stated. 

"The documents vary considerably in nature, and while I
intended to research the documentation held by me I am not
optimistic that this exercise will be fruitful."