OFFICIAL
Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI-2023-297
To Moe
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Moe
I refer to your request to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), received on 14 October 2023.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the
FOI Act.
Scope of request
You set out your request in the fol owing terms:
I am looking for the following document related to the Australian Governments decision to
illuminate Parliament House in blue and white. Specifically, the illumination as referred to in the
Joint Statement by the Presiding Officers found in this link:
https://www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Joint_statements_by_the_Presiding_Officers/Joint_Sta
tement_by_the_Presiding_Officers_on_the_illumination_of_Australian_Parliament_House
What I am looking for is: [numbered for reference]
1. Any and all documents including, but not limited to, meeting minutes, correspondence,
talking points and file notes that relate to the decision to illuminate the Australian
Parliament House.
2. Any and all documents that relate to the costs associated with the illumination of the
Australian Parliament House in blue and white
3. Any and all documents that including communications or correspondence with a foreign
government, foreign or domestic organisations, foreign or domestic individuals either
requesting, encouraging or suggesting that the Australian Parliament House be illuminated
in blue and white.
Postal Address: PO Box 6500, CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone: +61 2 6271 5849 Fax: +61 2 6271 5776 www.pmc.gov.au ABN: 18 108 001 191
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OFFICIAL
On 22 October 2023, the Department wrote to you to advise the Department of Parliamentary
Services would be the correct agency to respond to your request. You provided the fol owing
response:
I would have thought the department would be made aware, if not directly involved in the
illumination of Parliament House and have associated documents…
On 24 October 2023, you provided the following information:
The time frame requested is from the 7 - 9 October 2023 inclusive.
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised to make this decision in accordance with arrangements approved by the
Department’s Secretary under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
In reaching my decision I referred to the fol owing:
• the terms of your request including your clarification
• the FOI Act
• the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner
1 (the FOI Guidelines)
Document in scope of request
The Department has identified one document that fal s within the scope of part 1 your request.
Decision
I have decided to refuse part 2 and 3 of your request under subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act on
grounds the Department has taken al reasonable steps to locate the documents you have requested,
and those documents do not exist.
In relation to part 1 of your request, I have decided to grant access in ful , with irrelevant material
deleted, to the document identified within the scope of your request. The document is enclosed.
Reason for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is exempt or irrelevant is set out
below.
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding to refuse part 2 and 3 of your request is set out below.
1.
Documents cannot be found or do not exist
Subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
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:
1 s 93A of the FOI Act
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OFFICIAL
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
In determining what the FOI Act means with respect to ‘al reasonable steps’, I have had regard to the
FOI Guidelines which discuss the meaning of ‘reasonable’. The term ‘reasonable’ is not designed to be
constructed so as to go beyond the limit assigned by reason, not to be extravagant or excessive,
rather to be moderate and of such an effort to be appropriate or suitable to the circumstances
.2 The Department has conducted appropriate searches, for any relevant records that would meet the
ful terms of part 2 and 3 of your request. There were no documents found to be in the possession of
the Department.
Further, the Department has undertaken inquiries with Global Interests Branch, Parliamentary &
Government Branch, Ministerial and Parliamentary Support Branch and Protocol and International
Visits Branch regarding any relevant records that would meet the terms of your request. They advised
no documents were found to be in the possession of the Department.
I am satisfied that the measures taken by the Department to locate documents in response to your
request, as outlined above, are appropriate and suitable given the circumstances.
Accordingly, I am refusing part 2 and 3 of your request for access as documents do not exist.
2.
Deletion of irrelevant matter
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose information that
would be reasonably regarded as irrelevant to the request, it is possible for the Department to
prepare an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions, ensuring that the edited copy would
not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request.
Part of the document contains a header which is automatical y added to the document when it is
extracted from the Department’s system, but which did not form part of the document as it existed at
the date of your request. I consider this information to be irrelevant to your FOI request.
Further, it is the Department’s policy to exclude the personal and direct contact details of officers not
in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and any Ministerial staff, as well as any person’s signature, and
the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers, which are contained in documents that fal within the
terms of an FOI request. This category of information is identified as irrelevant and documents can be
modified by the Department to delete the irrelevant material.
Accordingly I am satisfied that part of the document is irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the FOI
Act. The remainder of the document has been released to you as it is relevant to your request.
2 Paragraph 3.88 of the FOI Guidelines
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Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner
review of the decision.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Department for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days after the date of this letter.
Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The internal
review wil be carried out by another officer within 30 days from the date it is received.
Applications for review should be sent to
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI 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 after the date of this letter.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available
here.3
FOI Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your FOI request, please let us know what we could
have done better. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint to the
Australian Information Commissioner. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in
writing. More information about complaints is available
here.4 If you wish to discuss any aspect of your requests, you can contact the FOI Section by email at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx. Yours sincerely
Deanna Easton
Chief of Staff
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
20 November 2023
3 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-information-
reviews/information-commissioner-review
4 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-information-
complaints/make-an-foi-complaint
4
