OFFICIAL
Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Internal Review decision
Reference: FOI/2023/297IR
To: Moe
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Moe
I refer to your email dated 22 November 2023, seeking an internal review under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), of the decision made on 20 November 2023 (the primary decision)
by a delegate of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department).
You set out your request for internal review, as follows:
Are you able to check to see if al documents have been found.
I find it hard to believe that the only time the Prime Minister was made aware of this was after
the decision had already been made to il uminate Parliament House
Authorised decision-maker
Under section 54(2) of the FOI Act, an applicant is entitled to apply for a review of a decision refusing
to give access to a document in accordance with a request. Section 54C(2) of the FOI Act provides
that an agency must arrange for a person (other than the person who made the original decision) to
undertake a review of that decision.
I am authorised to make this decision in accordance with arrangements approved by the
Department’s Secretary under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Internal review decision
I have carefully reviewed your submissions in support of your request for internal review and
commissioned further searches of the Department’s records repositories. These additional searches
returned 2 further documents which fall within scope of part one (1) of your request. On this basis I
have decided to vary the primary decision to provide access to 2 further documents, with irrelevant
material redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
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
I have decided to affirm the remainder of the primary decision, as it relates to parts two (2) and three
(3) of your request, to refuse access under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act on grounds the Department
has taken all reasonable steps to locate the documents you have requested, and those documents do
not exist.
A Schedule of Documents released to you is provided at Attachment A.
Background
On 14 October 2023, you made a request under the FOI Act in the following terms:
I am looking for the following document related to the Australian Governments decision to
il uminate Parliament House in blue and white. Specifical y, the il umination 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 il umination of Australian Parliament House
What I am looking for is: [numbered for reference]
1. Any and al documents including, but not limited to, meeting minutes, correspondence,
talking points and file notes that relate to the decision to il uminate the Australian
Parliament House.
2. Any and al documents that relate to the costs associated with the il umination of the
Australian Parliament House in blue and white
3. Any and al 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 il uminated
in blue and white.
On 22 October 2023, the Department wrote to you to advise the Department of Parliamentary
Services (DPS) would be the correct agency to respond to your request. You provided the following
response:
I would have thought the department would be made aware, if not directly involved in the
il umination 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.
You have requested an internal review of the primary decision. The primary decision in relation to part
1 of your request granted access in full, to 1 document, with irrelevant material deleted under section
22 of the FOI Act.
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link to page 3 link to page 3
OFFICIAL
In relation to parts 2 and 3 of your request, the primary decision refused access under subsection
24A(1) of the FOI Act on grounds the Department has taken all reasonable steps to locate the
documents you have requested, and those documents do not exist.
Reasons for Internal Review decision
In reaching my decision, I have had regard to:
• the terms of your FOI request of 14 October and revised on 22 and 24 October 2023
• the primary decision of 20 November 2023
• submissions made in your request for internal review
• additional searches undertaken in response to your internal review request
• additional documents identified in those searches
• the FOI Act, and
• the FOI Guidelines.
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My findings of fact and reasons for the decision are set out below.
1.
Section 24A(1) – documents cannot be found or do not exist
As outlined in the primary decision, subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) al reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(i ) does not exist.
In determining what the FOI Act means with respect to ‘all 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 When processing your primary decision, the Department conducted multiple searches across several
areas for any relevant records that would meet the terms of part 2 and 3 of your request. There were
no documents found to be in the possession of the Department.
In processing your internal review I commissioned further searches. These searches did not return any
documents in the possession of the Department that met the terms of your request.
I am satisfied that the measures taken by the Department to locate documents in response to your
initial request and request for internal review, as outlined above, are appropriate and suitable given
the circumstances.
1 s 93A of the FOI Act
2 Paragraph 3.88 of the FOI Guidelines
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link to page 4
OFFICIAL
Accordingly, I affirm the primary decision in relation to refusing part 2 and 3 of your request for
access, as documents do not exist.
2.
Section 22 – Deletion of irrelevant material
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.
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 fall 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 Documents 1 – 3 are irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(ii) of the
FOI Act. The remainder of the documents have been released to you as they are relevant to part 1 of
your request.
3.
Other information
Having regard to the terms of your request for internal review, the Department notes that Section 6 of
the
Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 provides that the Parliamentary Precincts (which includes
Australian Parliament House) are under the control and management of the Presiding Officers. It
further provides that the Presiding Officers, subject to any order of either House, take any action they
consider necessary for the control and management of the precincts.
Further, the
House of Representatives Practice (7th Edition) provides the following
3:
For many purposes the Speaker is in effect ‘Minister’ for the Department of the House of
Representatives and jointly with the President of the Senate is ‘Minister’ for the Department of
Parliamentary Services and the Parliamentary Budget Office.
The powers and functions of a Presiding Officer under the
Parliamentary Service Act 1999
parallel those of a Minister in relation to an executive government department under the
Public Service Act 1999.
As such, I wish to reiterate the advice that DPS is the most relevant agency to address your request.
3 Chapter 6, page 183 of the
House of Representatives Practice (7th edition). Available at
House of Representatives Practice –
Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au).
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link to page 5
OFFICIAL
Review rights
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 at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review.
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 OAIC.
A complaint to the OAIC must be made in writing.
More information about complaints is available on the OAIC websit
e here.4
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request, you can contact the FOI Section by email at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx. Yours sincerely
Andrew Walter
First Assistant Secretary
Government Division
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
22 December 2023
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https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/make-an-foi-complaint
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