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Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI 2024/238 and 2025/014
Trav S
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Trav S
I refer to your requests made under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), received on 23 July 2024 and 29
January 2025.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your requests for access under the
FOI Act.
Scope of request
You set out your request in the fol owing terms [numbered for reference]:
2024/238
1. Please provide a copy of the document recording the Department's initial advice to the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister informing the PSPM that the HOSM with 'Indian
Occean' clasp was awarded to commercial security contractors supporting the General Electric
humanitarian operation in Banda Aceh
2. Mr Peter Rush held delegated duties to administer the HOSM program. Please provide a copy
of any document recording Mr Rush's advice regarding the commercial security contractors
serving with the GE contingent in Banda Aceh
2025/014
3. A copy of the Department’s initial advice to the Minister responsible for the Humanitarian
Overseas Service Medal (HOSM) program, informing the Minister that the HOSM with the
‘Indian Ocean’ clasp was awarded to commercial security contractors supporting General
Electric’s humanitarian operation in Banda Aceh following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
4. Any document recording advice provided by Mr. Peter Rush, who held delegated duties to
administer the HOSM program, regarding the commercial security contractors serving with the
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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General Electric contingent in Banda Aceh.
5. Any document recording advice provided by Mr. John Reid regarding the involvement of
commercial security contractors in the General Electric contingent, including any
communications related to informing the Minister or correcting the public record.
As the requests are similar and the responsive documents relate to both requests, we have decided to
combine them and provide you with one decision.
Request decided out of time
A decision on your request was due 5 September 2024 and 28 February 2025. Unfortunately the
Department was unable to complete the processing of your request by the due date. In these
circumstances the Department fol ows the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under
section 93A of the FOI Act (the Guidelines) which states:
Where an access refusal decision is deemed to have been made before a substantive
decision is made, the agency or minister continues to have an obligation to provide a
statement of reasons on the FOI request.1
Section 55G of the FOI Act
Section 55G(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides that after an application is made to the Information
Commissioner for review, an agency or Minister may (at any time during IC review) revoke or vary an
access refusal decision to favour the applicant by giving access to a document in accordance with the
request.
Section 55G(2) of the FOI Act provides that an agency must notify the IC of the new decision (section
55G(2)(a)) and the revised decision wil be the decision under review (section 55G(2)(b)).
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
• the documents relevant to your request
• the FOI Act
• the Guidelines issued by the Information Commission
er2 (the Guidelines)
Paragraph 3.161 of the Guidelines
2 s 93A of the FOI Act
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Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified three documents that fal within the scope of Part 2, 3 and 4.
These documents are set out in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A.
To provide clarity around which parts of your request each document is found to be responsive we
have introduced an additional column in the schedule and referenced the request number and item
number.
Decision
I have decided to refuse Part 1 and 5 of your request under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act on grounds
documents do not exist.
Additional y, I have decided to refuse access in ful to two documents; and grant access in part to one
document, with exempt material deleted, on the basis that the documents contain information
exempt under:
• section 47C of the FOI Act – deliberative processes
• section 47E of the FOI Act – operations of an agency
• section 47F of the FOI Act – personal privacy
• section 47G of the FOI Act – business information.
Irrelevant information has been deleted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
Reason for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding to refuse part of your request is set out below.
Part 1 and 5
1. Documents cannot be found or do not exist
Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides:
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:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
While the FOI Act does not define ‘al reasonable steps’, the Guidelines discuss the meaning of
‘reasonable’. Reasonable searches are moderate and of such an effort to be appropriate or suitable to
the circumstances, rather than extravagant or excessive
3.
3 Paragraph 3.88 of the Guidelines
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The Department has conducted a search for any relevant records that would meet the terms of Part 1
and 5 of your request in its document holdings, including:
• HPE Content Manager (hard copy files)
• Share+ Document Management System
• Group mailboxes and local drives
• Slipstream Document Management System, the official register for official correspondence to
and from the Department for records created and received before 2016.
I am satisfied that the measures taken by the Department to locate documents in response to Part 1
and 5 of your request under the FOI Act, as outlined above, are appropriate and suitable given the
circumstances. After taking al reasonable steps to find the documents, no documents relevant to your
request have been identified.
Accordingly, I am refusing your request for access under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act as the
documents you have requested do not exist.
Part 2, 3 and 4
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is exempt or irrelevant is set out
below.
1.
Section 47C – Public interest conditional exemption – Deliberative processes
Section 47C of the FOI Act provides:
(1) A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would disclose matter
(deliberative matter) in the nature of, or relating to, opinion, advice or recommendation
obtained, prepared or recorded, or consultation or deliberation that has taken place, in the
course of, or for the purposes of, the deliberative processes involved in the functions of:
(b) an agency; or
(c) a Minister; or
(d) the Government of the Commonwealth.
Deliberative matter includes ‘opinion, advice, and recommendation’ and ‘consultation and
deliberation’ that is recorded or reflected in a document.3 There is no reason general y to limit the
ordinary meanings given to the words ‘opinion, advice or recommendation, consultation or
deliberation.’
Documents 1 and 3 contain the opinion and advice of departmental officials prepared for the purpose
of briefing the then Cabinet Secretary on matters related to the Humanitarian Overseas Services
Medal (HOSM).
The FOI Guidelines set out three stages for deciding that information is conditional y exempt due to
deliberative processes.
4 The first and second stage requires me to consider the nature of the
4 Paragraph 6.46 of the Guidelines
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document, and whether it was recorded for a deliberative process. As outlined above, I am satisfied
the identified content is deliberative in nature and amounts to the ‘thinking processes’ discussed in
the FOI Guidelines
5.
Thirdly, I must be satisfied the deliberative process involves the function exercised by an agency,
Minister or the Commonwealth government. Considering the nature of the document, I am satisfied
the deliberative process was entered into for the purpose of exercising the functions of an
agency. The material is not merely descriptive, incidental administrative content or procedural day-to-
day content, but rather is deliberative material on specific matters to the HOSM. I am therefore
satisfied these documents contain information that is deliberative in nature.
Section 47C(2)(b) of the FOI Act provides that deliberative matter does not include purely factual
material. However, as explained by the Guidelines ‘purely factual material’ does not extend to factual
material that is embedded in or intertwined with the deliberative content such that it is impractical to
excise it.4 The factual material contained within the documents is so closely intertwined with the
deliberative content such that it is not reasonably practicable to edit the documents to permit the
factual information to be disclosed.
I am satisfied the documents are exempt in part under section 47C of the FOI Act.
2.
Section 47E – Public interest conditional exemption – Certain operations of agencies
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act provides:
A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would, or could reasonably be
expected to, do any of the following:
(a) prejudice the effectiveness of procedures or methods for the conduct of tests, examinations or
audits by an agency;
(b) prejudice the attainment of the objects of particular tests, examinations or audits conducted
or to be conducted by an agency;
(c) have a substantial adverse effect on the management or assessment of personnel by the
Commonwealth, by Norfolk Island or by an agency;
(d) have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of an
agency.
The Guidelines explain that for this conditional exemption to apply ‘the predicted effect needs to be
reasonably expected to occur’.
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Parts of documents 1 and 3 contain opinion and advice. It is a primary function of the Department to
provide comprehensive and timely advice, including through the preparation of briefings to support
effective delivery of Government priorities and programmes.
The disclosure of the identified material would, or could reasonably be expected to inhibit the
Department’s ability to carry out its functions, including its ability to record and support the
5 Paragraph 6.54 of the Guidelines
6 6.101 of the Guidelines
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preparation of accurate advice to portfolio Ministers. Considering this I find the documents are of a
nature that fal s within the Department’s operations.
I am satisfied that disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to have an adverse
effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the Department’s operational responsibilities.
I am satisfied that the parts of the documents are exempt under subsection 47E(d) of the FOI Act.
3.
Section 47F – Public interest conditional exemption - Personal privacy
Section 47F(1) of the FOI Act provides:
A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person. .
For the purposes of the FOI Act the term ‘personal information’ has the same meaning as it has in the
Privacy Act 1988.
Section 47F(2) of the FOI Act provides that in determining whether the disclosure of personal
information would be unreasonable, an agency must have regard to the fol owing matters:
•
the extent to which the information is well known;
•
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;
•
the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
•
any other matters that the agency considers relevant.
The Guidelines discuss a need to balance the public interest in disclosure of government-held
information and the private interest in the privacy of individuals
7. Further the Guidelines set out key
factors for determining whether disclosure is unreasonable, this includes:
•
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 release8.
Document 2 contains the names, positions and information of a personal nature that would
reasonably identify individuals. Reasons disclosure would be unreasonable include:
• the personal information is not well known or in the public domain
• the individuals are not known to be associated with the matters discussed within the
documents
• nothing within the FOI Act limits what an applicant may do with the released documents and
the requirement of publication wil result in these documents becoming accessible to the
‘world at large’.
Further it is reasonable to assume the individuals would not expect their information to be released,
given the confidential nature in which their information was col ected by the Department.
7 Paragraph 6.133 of the Guidelines (footnotes omitted)
8 Paragraph 6.137 of the Guidelines (footnotes omitted)
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Having considered the FOI Act and the relevant paragraphs of the Guidelines, I am satisfied the
material is personal information and falls within the scope of section 47F of the FOI Act and disclosure
of this information would be unreasonable in this instance.
I am satisfied the personal information is exempt from release under section 47F(1) of the FOI Act.
4.
Section 47G – Business information
Section 47G(1) provides:
A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would disclose information
concerning a person in respect of his or her business or professional affairs or concerning the
business, commercial or financial affairs of an organisation or undertaking, in a case in which the
disclosure of the information:
(a) would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect that person adversely in
respect of his or her lawful business or professional affairs or that organisation or
undertaking in respect of its lawful business, commercial or financial affairs.
Parts of documents 1-3 contains confidential information related to a third party organisation.
Paragraph 6.186 of the FOI Guidelines provide that the decision maker needs to be satisfied that if the
document was disclosed there would be an unreasonable adverse effect, on the business or
professional affairs of an individual, or on the lawful business, commercial or financial affairs of an
organisation.
I consider disclosure of the information would reasonably be expected to adversely affect the third
party organisation. The information is not in the public domain and disclosure would amount to an
unreasonable adverse effect on the organisation’s business and commercial affairs.
I am satisfied parts of the documents containing this material are conditional y exempt under
subsection 47G(1) of the FOI Act.
5.
Public interest
The FOI Act provides that a conditional y exempt document must nevertheless be disclosed unless its
disclosure would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest
9. In determining whether its disclosure
would be contrary to the public interest, the FOI Act requires a decision-maker to balance the public
interest factors.
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditional y exempt, I am now required to
consider the public interest factors, in doing so I have not taken into account the irrelevant factors as
set out in section 11B(4) of the FOI Act, this includes:
a) access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss in confidence in the Commonwealth Government
b) access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or misunderstanding
the document
9 section 11A(5)) of the FOI Act
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c) the author of the documents was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the
request for access to the document was made
d) access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate
In applying the public interest, I have noted the objects of the FOI Act
10 and the factors favouring
access as listed in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act. Having regard to the material before me and the
circumstances of the documents found to be conditional y exempt I am satisfied of the fol owing:
• access would promote the objects of the FOI Act
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I have considered the other factors favouring access as set out in the FOI Act and find them to be
neutral in the circumstances, this is due to the passage of time and the requested documents would
not appear to be of a kind that would be of public importance, and would not appear to contribute to
broader community debate on government programs. The information does not offer insights into
government expenditure and your information is not contained within these documents.
The FOI Act does not set out any public interest factors against disclosure and require that agencies
are to have regard to the Guidelines to work out if disclosure would, on balance, be contrary to the
public interest
12. The Guidelines contain a non-exhaustive list of factors that, depending on the
circumstances of the documents found to be conditional y exempt, may weigh against disclosure.
In the circumstances I consider the fol owing factors weigh against disclosure of the material I have
found to be conditional y exempt:
• Disclosure would, or could reasonably be expected to impact the agency’s ability to provide
comprehensive advice to portfolio Ministers, on the basis the level of detail in future internal
correspondence may be diminished if there were a risk of such deliberations and discussions
being publicly released.
• Disclosure would inhibit officers in the recording of sensitive advice, opinion and
recommendations in briefing material.
• Disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of individuals’ right to
privacy, and is expected to cause distress to the impacted individuals. Such disclosure would
not advance the public interest in transparency or scrutiny of government activities.
• Disclosure of the business information of third parties could reasonably be expected to
adversely affect the business interests of the third party.
In addition, I am satisfied the potential for damage to a government program and subsequent
disruption to the work of the Department that could reasonably arise from the release of the
conditionally exempt material in this instance outweighs the factors in favour of disclosure.
6.
Deletion of irrelevant matter
Section 22 of the FOI Act authorises the Department to give access to an edited copy of a document
if giving access to a document would disclose information that would be reasonably regarded as
10 section 3 of the FOI Act
11 section 11B(3)(a) of the FOI Act
12 section 11B(5) of the FOI Act
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irrelevant to the request, and it is possible for the Department to prepare an edited copy, modified by
deletions, ensuring that the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the request.
On 29 July 2024 and 11 March 2025, the Department advised you of its 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.
Additional y, parts of the documents contain information that does not relate to commercial security
contractors serving with the GE contingent in Banda Aceh. I consider this information to be irrelevant
to your FOI request.
Accordingly I am satisfied that parts of the documents are irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the
FOI Act. The remaining parts of the documents have been released to you as they are relevant to your
request.
Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for review with the Information Commissioner.
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. You can apply using the
OAIC Web Form.13
The FOI Guidelines state that a revised decision does not automatical y conclude the IC review. The
revised decision wil be the decision under review. The OAIC wil general y consult the applicant as to
whether they wish to continue the IC review on the basis of the revised decision.
14 More information about Information Commissioner review is available
here.15
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. We may be able to rectify the problem. 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. You can make a complaint using the
OAIC Web Form.16
13 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
14 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-
agencies/foi-guidelines/part-10-review-by-the-information-commissioner
15 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review
16 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
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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
David Belgrove
Assistant Secretary
Parliamentary & Government Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
30 July 2025
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