A WOMAN'S 'obsessive' and 'relentless' pursuit over eight years to discover the identity of people who objected to her pool privacy fence has seen her banned from making any further freedom of information requests to Port Stephens Council.
Telina Webb made 50 formal and 93 informal applications to the council under Government Information Public Access (GIPA) since July 2011, including 37 formal applications since March 2017.
It started when Ms Webb and her husband Paul McEwan bought a Raymond Terrace house on an odd-shaped block with neighbours on five sides.
In 2011, the couple started building a $4500 fence in the backyard, but a complaint was made to council about the height of the screen.
Council then requested a development application be submitted and neighbours made objections.
Ms Webb and Mr McEwan have since spent more than $100,000 in legal fees battling council over the fence and access to information about who objected to it.
Despite the fact that the couple sold the house and left Raymond Terrace more than six years ago, the battle has continued.
Between March 2017 and January 2020 council spent 327.5 hours processing formal access applications brought by Ms Webb, which equated to 54 per cent of the time spent processing all GIPA applications lodged by the public.
A further six informal applications and two formal applications were lodged by Mr McEwan since 2012.
In his ruling last month, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) principal member Frank Marks described Ms Webb as 'relentless'.
"I am left with the conclusion that Ms Webb's primary motivation for her conduct was an obsessive, compulsive type need to ascertain the identity of the persons, presumably neighbours, who objected to the privacy screen...," he said.
"Her persistent, irrational and vexatious conduct, and the adverse consequences for the council are such that it is appropriate that a restraint order be made."
Justice Marks said some of the GIPA applications were motivated by concerns about how Ms Webb believed she was treated by the council.
"This conclusion is corroborated by the many complaints made by Ms Webb to external agencies including the Information Commissioner, the Legal Services Commissioner, NSW Police and the many Code of Conduct complaints made against Mr [Tony] Wickham [council's governance section manager] and others."
The Newcastle Herald has previously reported that the couple were determined to find out why the council told NCAT that releasing the documents to them "may expose a person to a risk of harm or of serious harassment or serious intimidation".
Ms Webb was restricted from making any further applications without NCAT's permission.
"Ms Webb's conduct in pursuing the council by way of applications made under the GIPA Act may be characterised as persistent, having no apparent rational basis, and having the effect of seriously impacting upon the resources and work of the council," Justice Marks said.
"It may be characterised in the aggregate as being vexatious."
Ms Webb has lodged an appeal against the decision that will be heard on June 12.
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