Bennett, Charine

Charine is a Senior Executive Lawyer in the Dispute Resolution Administrative Law team with over 8 years’ experience with AGS and 25 years within the Australian Public Service.

Charine practises principally in information law matters, including those involving the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth), the Archives Act 1983 (Cth), the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and secrecy provisions. She regularly represents Commonwealth clients in Administrative Review Tribunal proceedings. She is also a trusted adviser for Commonwealth clients in applications for review of decisions under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) and responding to Information Commissioner complaints and reviews. Charine specialises in negotiating disputes, dealing with vexatious or high conflict applicants and supporting Commonwealth agencies in protecting nationally sensitive information from disclosure.

Charine is an experienced and accredited trainer and presenter who regularly designs and delivers training on a range of information law topics (at AGS agency and calendar training events) and presents at AGS and other government legal events.

Charine brings deep understanding of the legal and policy issues dealt with across agencies, having managed legal teams with responsibility for freedom of information (FOI), privacy, records management and litigation in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and the agriculture and health departments. She has also undertaken a number of outposts and reviews of agency FOI and privacy governance arrangements. Prior to becoming a practising lawyer, Charine also worked in a range of policy and program roles related to law enforcement and crime prevention with the Attorney-General’s Department and investigated complaints at the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.