LEGAL, INTERNATIONAL AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS
RMS Ref: F23/18755
11 July 2023
David Stafford
Via email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear David,
REQUEST FOR ACCESS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
I refer to your email dated 16 May 2023 seeking access to documents under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the Act). Your request was for:
Could you please provide documentation of the number of CIRRIS reports by the occurrence
type from Dec 2019 to present day for the Hobart Airspace.
The date range for your access request is 1 December 2019 to 16 May 2023.
On 17 May 2023, I wrote to you seeking clarification regarding the scope of your request
namely if you were seeking documentation of the number of CIRRIS reports, or the actual
CIRRIS reports themselves. I further advised CASA receives these reports from Airservices
and that we only receive a limited suite. Additionally, CASA does not maintain documents
that captures data on the number of CIRRIS reports received.
On 18 May 2023, you responded to my email ‘
could you please provide the limited suite of
CIRRIS reports from Airservices Australia (AA) regarding Hobart Airspace., Additionally, as
per Recommendation 2 of the CASA - Airspace Review of Hobart - December 2019, I
request CASA provide the aeronautical risk review or if this was not done documentation
outlining why it was not conducted.’
On 18 May 2023, I acknowledged the revised scope of your request to be as follows:
Please provide the limited suite of CIRRIS reports from Airservices Australia (AA) regarding
Hobart Airspace.
Additionally, as per Recommendation 2 of the CASA - Airspace Review of Hobart - December
2019, I request CASA provide the aeronautical risk review or if this was not done
documentation outlining why it was not conducted.
On 23 May 2023, I emailed you regarding the second part of your request,
Recommendation
2 of the CASA - Airspace Review of Hobart - December 2019. I informed I had been advised
that the review referenced only had 1 recommendation.
On 23 May 2023, you responded to my email
‘Appears the recommendation 2 was answered
in the 2019 report p14, therefore please remove second part of my request.’
On 23 May 2023, I acknowledged the revised scope of your request to be as follows:
GPO Box 2005 Canberra ACT 2601
Please provide the limited suite of CIRRIS reports from Airservices Australia (AA) regarding
Hobart Airspace.
Decision
I am the decision maker for your request. I have identified 1 document containing 7 pages,
relevant to your request, as listed in the below schedule. I have decided to release
Document 1 to you with redactions as it is exempt in part for the reasons set out below.
No. Date of Document
Description of document
Decision
1 Undated
CIRRIS Reports - Hobart Airspace
Part Exempt
s47F, s47G
Consultation
In accordance with and as required by section 27 of the Act, consultation with a third-party
took place regarding Document 1. The third-party did not object to the release of the
document.
Regardless of third-party consultation, I am required to make an impartial decision regarding
release. I have decided that parts of Document 1 that include third parties’ names, and
Aviation Reference Numbers are exempt in part under section 47F and 47G.
Conditional exemption - personal information
Section 47F of the Act provides that material is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this
Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person.
Document 1 contains personal information about individuals other than you, including third-
party names and Aviation Reference Numbers (ARN’s). This information is not publicly
available and is a unique identifier allocated to individuals, which is cited during liaison between
CASA and ARN holders to ensure CASA are liaising with authorised individuals. CASA is not
in receipt of an authority to provide this information to you from the persons concerned. This
information is also not generally known and is not available through a public source. Therefore,
considering the nature of this information and the circumstances in which it has been obtained,
I have decided that the disclosure of the individuals’ personal records would be unreasonable
disclosure of personal information about individuals other than you.
On this basis I consider that parts of Document 1 are conditionally exempt under section 47F
on the grounds that disclosure would or could reasonably be expected to breach a person’s
right to privacy.
The Public Interest
Even though I have decided that parts of Document 1 is conditionally exempt under section
47F, I am also required to consider whether disclosing this information would on balance be
contrary to the public interest. If I am not satisfied of that, access must be given.
Section 31B of the Act provides that material is exempt if it is conditionally exempt under
Division 3, and access to the material would also, on balance, be contrary to the public interest
for the purposes of section 11A(5) of the Act.
In applying this test, I have weighed the factors in favour of disclosure against those against it.
I have identified the following factors for disclosure:
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• it would promote the objects of the Act, as described in section 3.
I have identified the following factors against disclosure:
• it could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of the right to privacy of
individuals other than you.
In weighing the public interest factors for the purposes of this exemption, I have determined
that access to this information would not be characterised as a matter of public importance
telling in favour of disclosure.
On the other hand, disclosure of the personal information would intrude on the right to privacy
of the individual concerned by providing personal information which is not available from
publicly accessible sources.
On balance, I consider that the public interest favours the protection of this personal
information. I am satisfied that disclosure of the abovementioned parts of the document would
be contrary to the public interest.
Conditional exemption – business information
Section 47G(1)(a) of the Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure
under the Act would disclose information concerning the business, commercial or financial
affairs of an organisation or undertaking, in a case in which the disclosure of the information
would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect the lawful business,
commercial or financial affairs of that organisation or undertaking.
Document 1 contains the Aviation Reference Number (ARN) of the third party organisations.
This information is not publicly available and is a unique identifier allocated to these
organisations for business purposes. This information is cited during liaison between CASA
and ARN holders to ensure CASA are liaising with authorised organisations. Should this
information be made publicly available, individuals with no association to the ARN holder
may unlawfully cite the reference to present themselves as the ARN holder.
On this basis, I consider that parts of Document 1 is conditionally exempt under section 47G
on the grounds that full disclosure would disclose information concerning an organisation’s
business affairs and would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect the
lawful business, commercial or financial affairs of these organisations.
The Public Interest
Even though I have decided that parts of Document 1 is conditionally exempt under section
47G, I am also required to consider whether disclosing this information would on balance be
contrary to the public interest. If I am not satisfied of that, access must be given.
Section 31B of the Act provides that a
document is exempt if it is
conditionally exempt under
Division 3, and access to the
document would also, on balance, be contrary to the public
interest for the purposes of section 11A(5) of the Act.
In applying this test, I have weighed the factors in favour of disclosure against those against
it.
I have identified the following factor for disclosure:
• it would promote the objects of the Act.
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I have identified the following factor against disclosure:
• it could reasonably be expected to unreasonably adversely affect the business,
commercial or financial affairs of these organisations.
In weighing the public interest factors for the purposes of this exemption, I have determined
that the granting of full access to the documents would not further the objects of the Act, nor
could access to this information be characterised as a matter of public importance telling in
favour of disclosure.
On balance, I consider that the public interest favours the protection of this information. I
consider it would be contrary to the public interest to release this information to you. I am
satisfied that disclosure of the abovementioned parts of Document 1 would be contrary to the
public interest.
Application for internal review of decision
Section 54 of the Act gives you the right to apply for an internal review of my decision. An
application for internal review of my decision must be made in writing within 30 days of
receipt of this letter.
No particular form is required, but it is desirable to set out in the application the grounds on
which you consider that the decision should be reviewed. An application for review should be
addressed to Freedom of Information at the address below:
Freedom of Information
Advisory and Drafting Branch
Legal, International and Regulatory Affairs Division
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
GPO Box 2005
Canberra ACT 2601
Review by the Australian Information Commissioner
Alternatively, under section 54L of the Act, you may apply to the Australian Information
Commissioner to review my decision. An application for review by the Information
Commissioner must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of this letter, and be lodged
in one of the following ways:
online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR_10
email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post:
Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, OAIC, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
phone:
02 9284 9666
Yours sincerely,
Keeley Phengrasmy
Freedom of Information Of icer
Advisory and Drafting Branch
Legal, International and Regulatory Affairs Division
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
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