Our reference: CB 25-024
Daniel M
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Daniel M
Decision on your Freedom of Information Request
On 10 July 2024, you submitted a request to the Classification Board (the Board), seeking access to documents
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
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Your request
You requested access to:
1. Al documents relating to the classification of the video game 'Minecraft':
- Classification Date: 28 February 2012
- File Number: T12/0678
- Classification Number: CLAS-214763
2. Al documents relating to the classification of the video game 'Minecraft':
- Classification Date: 2 August 2023
- File Number: T12/0678
- Classification Number: 252343
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Authority to make decision
I am authorised to make decisions in relation to Freedom of Information requests under section 23(1) of the
FOI Act.
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Decision
I have identified 13 documents that I consider contain information that is relevant to your request. These
documents were in the possession of the Board when your request was received.
GPO Box 594, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
1800 075 001 infrastructure.gov.au | arts.gov.au
I have decided to:
grant access in ful to relevant information in seven documents,
grant partial access to six documents.
A schedule setting out the documents relevant to your request, with my decision in relation to these
documents, is at ATTACHMENT A.
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Finding of facts and reasons for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that exemptions apply to parts of documents relevant to your
request are set out below.
4.1 Section 47F Documents affecting personal privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure would involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased person).
Personal Information
Personal information has the same meaning as in the Privacy Act. Specifical y, section 6 of the Privacy Act
provides that personal information means 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.
Paragraph 6.131 of the FOI Guidelines states that for particular information to be personal information, an
individual must be identified or reasonably identifiable.
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telephone number, date of birth, medical records, bank account details, taxation information and signature.
An individual is a natural person rather than a corporation, trust, body politic or incorporated association.
I am satis
individuals.
Unreasonable Disclosure of Personal Information
Section 47F(2) of the FOI Act provides that, in determining whether the disclosure would involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information, I must have regard to the fol owing matters:
(a) the extent to which the information is wel known
(b) whether the person to whom the information relates is 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 or Minister considers relevant.
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Paragraph 6.138 of the FOI Guidelines states that:
privacy.
government-held information and the private interest in the privacy of individuals. The test does not,
however, amount to the public interest test of s 11A(5), which fol ows later in the decision making
process. It is possible that the decision maker may need to consider one or more factors twice, once to
determine if a projected effect is unreasonable and again when assessing the public interest balance.
I note that the AAT, in Re Chandra and Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs [1984] AATA 437 at paragraph
259, stated that:
the nature of the information that would be disclosed, the circumstances in which the information was
obtained, the likelihood of the information being information that the person concerned would not wish
necessary in my view to take into consideration the public interest recognised by the Act in the disclosure
personal privacy of a third party ...
Paragraphs 6.142 and 6.143 of the FOI Guidelines state:
6.142
Key factors for determining whether disclosure is unreasonable include:
the author of the document is identifiable
the documents contain third party personal information
release of the documents would cause stress on the third party
no public purpose would be achieved through release
6.143
As discussed in the leading s 47F IC review decision of
[2015] AICmr 26, other factors considered to be relevant include:
the nature, age and current relevance of the information
any detriment that disclosure may cause to the person to whom the information relates
any opposition to disclosure expressed or likely to be held by that person
the fact that the FOI Act does not control or restrict any subsequent use or dissemination
of information released under the FOI Act
any submission an FOI applicant chooses to make in support of their application as to their
reasons for seeking access and their intended or likely use or dissemination of the
information, and
whether disclosure of the information might advance the public interest in government
transparency and integrity
I am satisfied that the disclosure of personal information contained within the documents would, in the
circumstances, constitute an unreasonable disclosure of personal information for the fol owing reasons:
the conditional y exempt personal information is not wel known
the person to whom the personal information relates is not known to be (or to have been) associated
with the matters dealt with in the document
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the conditional y exempt personal information is not available from publicly accessible sources
the individuals whose personal information is contained in the document is identifiable
release of this information would cause stress to the individuals concerned
no further public purpose would be achieved through the release of the personal information
the information is current and has not lost its sensitivity through the passage of time
the individuals would not expect the information to be placed in the public domain, and detriment
may be caused to the individuals to whom the information relates, and
the FOI Act does not control or restrict any subsequent use or dissemination of information released
under the FOI Act.
For the reasons outlined above, I decided that the
exempt from disclosure under section 47F of the FOI Act.
Where information is found to be conditional y exempt, I must give access to that information unless access at
this time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest. I have addressed the public interest
considerations below.
4.2 Public interest considerations
Pursuant to section 11A(5) of the FOI Act, I must give access to conditional y exempt information unless access
to that information at that time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest. I have therefore
considered whether disclosure of the conditional y exempt information would be contrary to the public interest.
I note that paragraph 6.5 of the FOI Guidelines states 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 wil often depend on a balancing of interests
necessarily broad and non-specific and
relates to matters of common concern or relevance to al members of the public, or a substantial
section of the public.
Factors favouring disclosure
Section 11B of the FOI Act provides that factors favouring access to conditional y exempt information in the
public interest include whether access to that information would do any of the fol owing:
promote the objects of the FOI Act (including al matters set out in sections 3 and 3A)
inform debate on a matter of public importance
promote effective oversight of public expenditure
al ow a person to access his or her own personal information.
Having regard to the above, I consider that disclosure of the conditional y exempt information at this time:
would provide access to documents held by an agency of the Commonwealth which would promote
the objects of the FOI Act by providing the Australian community with access to information held by
the Australian Government.
would not inform debate on a matter of public importance
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would not promote effective oversight of public expenditure
would not al ow you access to your own personal information.
Factors weighing against disclosure
I consider that the fol owing factors weigh against disclosure of the conditional y exempt information at this
time, on the basis that disclosure:
could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of a number of individuals right to personal
privacy
o The Board is committed to complying with its obligations under the Privacy Act 1988, which sets
out standards and obligations that regulate how we must handle and manage personal
information. I consider it is firmly in the public interest that we uphold the rights of individuals to
their own privacy and meet our statutory obligations under the Privacy Act.
o I note that the substance of the information that is relevant to your request has been released to
you and disclosure of the conditional y exempt personal information would not provide you with
any further insight into the workings of government beyond that substantive information.
In making my decision, I have not taken into account any of the irrelevant factors set out in section 11B(4) of
the FOI Act, which are:
access to the conditional y exempt information could result in embarrassment to the
Commonwealth Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government
access to the conditional y exempt information could result in any person misinterpreting or
misunderstanding that information
the author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the request for
access to the document was made
access to the conditional y exempt information could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
Conclusion disclosure is not in the public interest
For the reasons set out above, after weighing al public interest factors for and against disclosure, I decided
that, on balance, disclosure of the conditional y exempt information would be contrary to the public interest. I
am satisfied that the benefit to the public resulting from disclosure of the conditional y exempt information is
outweighed by the benefit to the public of withholding that information.
4.3 Section 22 deletion of material from documents released to you
Section 22 of the FOI Act applies to documents containing irrelevant material and al ows an agency to delete
such material from a document. I decided that the documents captured by your request contain material which
can reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to your request.
The documents contain personal identifiers of public servants. When your request was acknowledged, we
notified you that personal information of public servants below the SES level and al email addresses, signatures
and direct telephone numbers would be considered irrelevant to the scope of your request unless you told us
that you were expressly seeking access to that information. On the basis that you did not notify us otherwise,
I decided this information is irrelevant to your request.
As such, an edited copy of the documents has been prepared in accordance with section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the FOI
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Material taken into consideration
In making my decision, I had regard to the fol owing:
the terms of your request
the provisions of the FOI Act
the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act
(the FOI Guidelines)
advice from officers with responsibility for the subject matter contained in the documents captured
by your request
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Legislative provisions
The FOI Act, including the provisions referred to in my decision, are available on the Federal Register of
Legislation website: www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02562.
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Your review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for a review of it.
7.1 Information Commissioner review or complaint
An application for IC review must be made in writing to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(OAIC) within 60 days of the decision.
If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your FOI request, you can lodge a complaint with the
OAIC. However, the OAIC suggests that complaints are made to the agency in the first instance.
More information about the Information Commissioner reviews and complaints is available on the OAIC website
here: www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-review-process.
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Publication of material released under the FOI Act
Where I have decided to release documents to you, we may also publish the released material on our Disclosure
Log. We wil not publish personal or business affairs information where it would be unreasonable to do so.
For your reference our Disclosure Log can be found here: www.infrastructure.gov.au/about-us/freedom-
information/freedom-information-disclosure-log.
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