The office refused to release one document consisting of"messages between the minister's office and an external third party",because it contained"sensitive business information". The unnamed third party,who was required to be consulted,put forward a"detailed case"arguing their correspondence with Mr Taylor's office should not be made public.
Making the third-party communications public"would not inform debate on a matter of public importance",Mr Neal decided,which is among the reasons he is allowed to consider in his role as an authorised decision maker under freedom of information laws.
Loading
Mr Taylor faced intense political pressure late last year afterhis office provided an allegedly forged version of the City of Sydney's annual report containing inflated travel expense figures toThe Daily Telegraph. The report claimed the council had spent about $15 million on travel while pushing for stronger action on climate change,but the real figure was a fraction of that. The identity of the person responsible has not been disclosed.
An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman confirmed on Monday it wasstill evaluating a referral from NSW Police into the alleged forgery of the document.
Mr Taylor has denied that he or anyone in his office altered the annual report,butapologised "unreservedly" to Cr Moore for relying on the incorrect figures. There is no suggestion Mr Taylor was responsible for altering the document.
The City of Sydney has provided metadata showing no alterations to the document on its servers.