Update on Mr Bruce Francis's FOI appeal at the Brisbane Administration Appeals Tribunal.
This AAT Hearing has now moved into a final written submissions stage.
The Sports Integrity Australia (SIA) defence team comprised of 3 lawyers from SIA (formerly ASADA) and another 3 from the Attorney General’s (AG) Dept. Mr Francis's witnesses were not called after the SIA Lawyer, who had access to the affidavits, successfully claimed that there was nothing relevant in them that hadn’t already been considered.
Following final submissions, the President will consider his decision. Given his experience with other FOI requests, Mr Francis believes this could take 6 months.
For information, Mr Francis is a former Test cricketer who has been campaigning for the Essendon players to be exonerated.
The Guardian article explains the difficulty in getting access to any information via FOI requests.
Justice for the 34 renews its call for an Independent inquiry into anti-doping with wide ranging terms of reference which allow all sporting bodies, all athletes, and all interested parties to make representations.
This is in the national interest, and it will help all athletes, not just the Essendon 34.
Please support our petition and an independent inquiry to sort this mess out.