Australian Government
Attorney-General's Department
Our ref:
FOl23/585; CM23/37066
20 December 2023
Stephen
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Stephen
Freedom of Information Request FOl23/585 - Decision letter
The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about your request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOi Act) which you submitted to the Attorney-General's Department
(the department).
Your request
On 11 November 2023, you requested access to:
the report provided by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to the OLSC under paragraph 11.l(da} of
the Legal Services Directions 2017 (Cth) about the legal services expenditure and legal work of the
Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, particularly because there is no publicly accessible
record of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman's legal services expenditures on the website
of the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman for the 2022-2023 financial year.
On 11 November 2023, the department acknowledged your request by an auto-response email.
On 8 December 2023, the department sought an extension of time under s lSAA of the FOi Act to the
11 January 2023.
On 10 December 2023, you wrote to the department and agreed to extend the processing time to the
20 December 2023.
A decision in relation to your request is due on 20 December 2023.
My
decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOi Act to make decisions in relation to freedom of
information requests made to the department.
I have identified one document that falls within the scope of your request. I did this by making inquiries of
staff likely to be able to identify relevant documents and arranging for comprehensive searches of relevant
departmental electronic and hard copy holdings.
In making my decision regarding access to the relevant documents, I have taken the following material into
account:
• the terms of your request
• the content of the documents identified as within scope of your request
3-5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 Telephone (02) 6141 6666 www.ag.gov.au ABN 92 661 124 436
• the provisions of the FOi Act
• the views of an agency with an interest in the material, and
• the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOi Act
(the Guidelines).
I have decided to grant access in part to the document you have requested, exempting certain material
under section 47F (personal privacy).
Statement of reasons
This section explains the reasons for not disclosing certain material to you in response to your request for
documents under the FOi Act.
Public interest conditional exemptions
An agency or minister can refuse access to a document or part of a document that is conditionally exempt
from disclosure under Division 3 of Part IV of the FOi Act. It is my view that material within the scope of
your request is conditionally exempt under Division 3 under section 47F (personal privacy).
Information about this conditional exemption is set out below. Additional information can be obtained
from the OAIC FOi Guidelines available
at: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi
guidelines/part-6-conditional-exemptions.
Where a document is assessed as conditionally exempt, it is only exempt from disclosure if disclosure
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest. The public interest test is weighted in favour of giving
access to documents so that the public interest in disclosure remains at the forefront of decision making.
A single public interest test applies to each of the conditional exemptions. This public interest test includes
certain factors that
must be taken into account where relevant, and other factors which
must not be taken
into account. My reasoning in regard to the public interest are set out below.
Section 47F: Public interest conditional exemption-personal privacy
Section 47F(1) of the FOi Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure would
involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased
person). For the purposes of the FOi Act, personal information is defined as:
Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably
identifiable whether the information or opinion is true or not; and whether the information or
opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
I have identified the names of a private individual in the document for your request, which constitutes
personal information.
In deciding whether to conditionally exempt the personal information described above, I have had regard
to the following factors set out in section 47F(2) of the FOi Act:
(a) the extent to which the information is well known;
(b) whether the people to whom the information relates are known to be (or to have been) associated
with the matters dealt with in the document;
( c) the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources;
(d) any other matters that the agency considers relevant.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/585 Decision letter and Attachment A
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My reasons for applying the section 47F( 1) exemption is set out below.
In my view the relevant personal information is not well known, nor is the person concerned generally
known to be (or to have been) associated with the particular matters dealt with in the documents. The
information is known only to the person whose information appears in the documents and departmental
officers with responsibility for the matters concerned.
For the reasons set out above, I have decided to exempt the personal information of individuals pursuant
to section 47F(l) of the FOi Act. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure of the information would be
contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in this regard below.
Section 11A{5): Public interest test
Access to a conditionally exempt document must generally be given unless doing so would be contrary to
the public interest. The Guidelines issued by the OAIC provide at paragraph 6.5 that the public interest test
is considered to be:
•
something that is of serious concern or benefit to the public, not merely of individual interest,
•
not something of interest to the public, but in the interest of the public,
•
not a static concept, where it lies in a particular matter will often depend on a balancing of
interests,
•
necessarily broad and non-specific, and
•
related to matters of common concern or relevance to all members of the public, or a substantial
section of the public.
In deciding whether to disclose conditionally exempt material, I have considered the factors favouring
access set out in section 11B(3) of the FOi Act. I have not taken into account the irrelevant factors listed
under section 11B(4) of the FOi Act.
Of the factors favouring disclosure, I consider that release of the conditionally exempt material identified
for your request would promote the objects of the FOi Act.
The FOi Act does not list any specific factors weighing against disclosure. However, I have considered the
non-exhaustive list of factors against disclosure in the Guidelines as well as the particular circumstances
relevant to the conditionally exempt material.
I consider the release of the conditionally exempt material could reasonably be expected to prejudice the
protection of an individual's right to privacy, the fair treatment of individuals and impede the flow of
information between Commonwealth government departments.
On balance, I consider the factors against disclosure outweigh the factors favouring access and that
providing access to the conditionally exempt material identified for your request would be contrary to the
public interest.
Additional information
I can confirm the Commonwealth Ombudsman has now published the mandatory information relating to
external legal services as required under the Legal Services Directions 2017 on its website. This information
is available
at https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/about/accountability-and-reporting.
Your review rights under the FOi Act are set out at
Attachment A to this letter.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/585 Decision letter and Attachment A
Page 3 of 5
The document to which you I have decided to grant access under the FOi Act are at
Attachment B.
Questions about this decision
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOi case officer for this matter is Leonie, who can be reached on
(02
) 6141 6666 or by email
to xxx@xx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Michael Johnson
Assistant Secretary
Office of Legal Services Coordination
Attachments
Attachment A:
Review rights
Attachment B:
Document
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/585 Decision letter and Attachment A
Page 4 of 5
Australian Government
Attorney-General's Department
Attachment A - FOi Review rights
If you are dissatisfied with the decision of the Attorney-General's Department (the department), you may
apply for internal review or Information Commissioner review of the decision.
The department encourages applicants to consider seeking internal review as a first step as it may provide
a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOi Act), applications for internal review must be
made in writing within 30 days of the date of the decision letter, and be lodged in one of the following
ways:
email:
xxx@xx.xxx.xx
post: Freedom of Information and Privacy Section
Strategy and Governance Branch
Attorney-General's Department
3-5 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600
An officer of the department other than the officer who made the original decision will complete the
internal review within 30 days of receipt of your request.
Providing reasons you believe internal review of the decision is necessary will facilitate the completion of
the internal review.
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 of the date of the decision letter, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
online:
https:/ /forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR_lO
email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
More information about Information Commissioner review is available on the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner website at https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of
information-rights/freedom-of-information-reviews/information-commissioner-review.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/585 Decision letter and Attachment A
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