Kathryn Dan
University Archivist
Associate Director, Records
and Archives
Scholarly Information
Services Division
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
23 October 2023
Robert
Via Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Freedom of Information Request-202300091
Dear Robert,
On 29 August 2023, the Australian National University received your request seeking
access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act)
.
On 27 September 2023, the University wrote to you and advised that due to the content
of the documentation obtained through the search and retrieval process, third party
consultation was required. You were informed of the consultation delay of a period of
30 days in that email, with the revised decision date being 30 October 2023.
1.
Scope of Request
I have taken the scope of your request to be as follows:
‘Under the FOI Act 1982 (Cth), I request access to any and al documents pertaining
to the engagement of services from:
a) PricewaterhouseCoopers,
b) Ernst & Young,
c) KPMG, and
d) Deloitte,
in relation to public interest disclosures made to relevant officials in the ANU since
1 January 2014.
Date Range: 1 January 2014 - 29 August 2023.’
The Australian National University
Canberra 2600, ACT Australia
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University)
CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access
under the Act.
2.
Authority to Make Decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23 of the Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate records.
3.
Relevant Material
In reaching my decision I referred to the following:
• The terms of your request
• Documents relevant to your request
• Advice from University staff with responsibility for matters relating to the
document(s) to which you sought access
• Information received during the consultation process
• The FOI Act
• Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(OAIC) under section 93A of the Act (the FOI Guidelines)
4.
Decision
I have identified one document deemed to be within the scope of your request. I have
decided that that document is partially exempt and will be supplied to you with
redactions for the reasons outlined below.
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that exemptions apply to the document in
question are set out below.
4.1
Section 22 of the Act – Irrelevant to request, impractical to provide edited version of
document
I have determined that document 1 contains material which is outside the scope of your
request, and these parts of the document have been redacted in accordance with
section 22 of the Act. No information, which relates to you or your request, was
The Australian National University
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
identified in the redacted parts of the documents. Accordingly, the information was
deemed irrelevant and therefore excluded from disclosure.
4.2
Section 47G of the Act – Public Interest Conditional Exemptions - Business
Section 47G(1)(a) of the Act provides that material is exempt if its disclosure under this
Act would disclose:
- Information concerning a person in respect of his or her business or professional
affairs concerning the business, commercial or financial affairs of an
organisation or undertaking, in a case in which the disclosure of the information:
o Would, or could reasonably be expected to affect that organisation or
undertaking in respect of its lawful business, commercial or financial
affairs.
The document contains information of fees that are of commercial value to third
parties operating in a competitive market. The exempt material is not available from
publicly accessible sources. I am satisfied that the disclosure of the redacted
information within the documents could reasonably be expected to diminish or destroy
its commercial value and would adversely impact the organisation to which it relates in
respect of it carrying on its lawful business, commercial or financial affairs.
4.3
Public Interest Test – Section 47G
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 s.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 favouring disclosure:
• access to the documents would promote the objects of the Act by disclosing
some contextual information regarding a decision made by the University.
The Australian National University
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I have identified the following factors against disclosure of the material I consider to be
conditionally exempt under section 47G:
• The disclosure of personal information which is conditionally exempt under
section 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act could reasonably be expected to impact the
financial, business or commercial affairs of the entity to which the material
relates.
• The information which is conditionally exempt under section 47G(1)(a) is not
generally well known to the public.
• The exempted material is not part of a document that is available from publicly
accessible sources. Further, the disclosure could reasonably be expected to
cause undue adverse impacts on the entity to which it relates.
I have had regard to the fact that disclosure of information under the FOI Act must be
considered to be a disclosure to the world at large and not just to you as the applicant
when weighing these factors.
I have also had regard to section 11B(4) of the Act which sets out the factors which are
irrelevant to my decision, which include:
• Access to the documents could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government;
• Access to the documents could result in any person misinterpreting or
misunderstanding the documents;
• The authors of the documents were (or are) of high seniority in the agency to
which the request for access to the documents was made;
• Access to the documents could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
I have not taken into account any of the above factors in this decision. After balancing
all of the above relevant public interest considerations, I have concluded that the
disclosure of the conditionally exempt information contained within the documents is
not in the public interest and therefore is exempt from disclosure under the Act.
A copy of the document schedule is enclosed with this letter.
The Australian National University
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Your review rights are outlined on the final page of this letter.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss this decision further, please contact me at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours Sincerely
Kathryn Dan
Associate Director
Records and Archives
The Australian National University
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Your review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or
Information Commissioner review of the decision. We encourage you to seek internal
review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Application for Internal Review of Decision
Section 54A of the Act, gives you the right to apply for an internal review of my
decision.
It 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 the decision should be reviewed.
The application should be addressed to Freedom of Information at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx. Application for Information Commissioner Review of decision
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information
Commissioner to review my decision. An application must be made in writing within 60
days of the date of this letter, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
Form: online
:https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?
formCode=ICR_ 10 or downloadable at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0013/6520/ic-review-form.docx
email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
More information is available on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
website. Go to
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-
information-rights/freedom-of-information-reviews
The Australian National University
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Document Outline
