Section 24A — Freedom of Information Act 1982: Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not exist or have not been received

Document lost or non-existent (1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if: (a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and (b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document: (i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or (ii) does not exist. Document not received as required by contract (2) An agency may refuse a request for access to a document if: (a) in order to comply with section 6C, the agency has taken contractual measures to ensure that it receives the document; and (b) the agency has not received the document; and (c) the agency has taken all reasonable steps to receive the document in accordance with those contractual measures.