6 June 2025
Mr Squiggle (Right To Know)
BY EMAIL: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request:
FA 25/02/00104
File Number:
FA25/02/00104
Dear Mr Squiggle (Right To Know)
Freedom of Information (FOI) request – Decision
On 3 February 2025, the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) received a request for
access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the
FOI Act.
1
Scope of request
You have requested access to the following documents:
I refer to the 'Annual disclosure of airline lounge memberships (2024-2025) ' table at the
following link:
https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-publications/reports/corporate-plans-and-
reports/gifts-and-benefits-register
The table lists 11 officials who have declared memberships of Qantas Chairman's Lounge
or Virgin's Beyond lounge.
Also listed with declared memberships are the partners of departmental officials
Stephanie Foster PSM Secretary, Gavan Reynolds ABF Commissioner, Michelle
McGuinness, and Hamish Hansford.
I request the following documents under the FOI Act:
1. For each of the named individuals, their total number of flights and total expenditure,
by airline, for the most recent available 12 month period (only flights funded by Home
Affairs)
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 Belconnen ACT 2616 • www.homeaffairs.gov.au
2. Any documents that detail any assessments made as to the 'estimated value' of these
memberships (including those made by the individuals, or Home Affairs).
3. Any documents that detail any reasons for accepting (or declining) invitations to these
exclusive airline lounges.
4. Any documents that are requests for advice from these individuals, or advice given to
these individuals, that touch on whether the memberships are in accordance with
applicable policies in relation to conflict of interest, gifts, etc.
5. Any requests sent by the named officials to the airlines in relation to their partners'
memberships (including any initial requests for their partners to be given membership)
and any airline response to these requests.
I expand the scope of this item to also include any invitations the airlines have sent in
which the officials partners were invited to join the lounges.
6. The declarations made by the officials with respect to their partners membership,
including the names of their partners, and any reasons given as to why the membership
was sought, offered, or accepted.
7. All correspondence between the airlines and the officials/their partners/the department
with respect to any aspect of the partners membership (including but not limited to any
initial invitations/requests for membership, renewals, use of the membership, or anything
else)
2
Authority to make decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate records.
3
Relevant material
In reaching my decision I referred to the following:
• the terms of your request
• the documents relevant to the request
• the FOI Act
• Guidelines published by the Office of the Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (the FOI Guidelines)
• advice from Departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the
documents to which you sought access
4
Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified 27 documents as falling within the scope of your request. These
documents were in the possession of the Department on 3 February 2025 when your request
was received.
Attachment A is a schedule which describes the relevant documents and sets out my decision
in relation to each of them.
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5
Decision
The decision in relation to the documents in the possession of the Department which fall within
the scope of your request is as follows:
• Part 1 - one document released in full
• Part 2 - three documents released in part
• Part 3 - fifteen documents released in part and two documents released in full
• Part 4 - four documents released in part
• Part 5 - two documents released in part
• Part 6 - three documents released in part
• Part 7 - two documents released in part
Please note that some documents were responsive to multiple parts of your request.
6
Reasons for Decision
Where the schedule of documents indicates an exemption claim has been applied to a document
or part of document, my findings of fact and reasons for deciding that the exemption provision
applies to that information are set out below.
6.1 Section 22 of the FOI Act – irrelevant to request
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose information
that would reasonably be 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.
On 4 February 2025, the Department advised you that its policy is to exclude the personal details
of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES), as well as the mobile and work telephone
numbers of SES staff and non-public facing email addresses, contained in documents that fall
within scope of an FOI request.
I have decided that parts of documents marked
‘s22(1)(a)(ii)’ would disclose information that
could reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to your request. I have prepared an edited copy of
the documents, with the irrelevant material deleted pursuant to section 22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
The remainder of the documents have been considered for release to you as they are relevant
to your request.
6.2 Section 47E of the FOI Act – Operations of Agencies
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act provides that documents are conditionally exempt if disclosure
would, or could reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and
efficient conduct of the operations of an agency.
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I consider that the disclosure of part of document 2.1 marked ‘
s47E(d)’ would, or could reasonably
be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the
operations of the Department.
Managing the Department’s gift register is integral to the integrity of departmental staff and the
operations of the Department. Any prejudice to the effectiveness of the operational methods and
procedures used in undertaking that role would result in a substantial adverse effect on the
operations of the Department.
Any disclosure resulting in the prejudice of the effectiveness of the Department’s operational
methods and procedures would result in the need for this Department, and potentially its law
enforcement partners, to change those methods and/or procedures to avoid jeopardising their
future effectiveness.
Information marked ‘s47E(d)’ consists of an operational web address used by this Department
for reporting gifts. This web address is not otherwise publicly available, and disclosure of this
information could reasonably be expected to result in potential vexatious use of the portal. I
consider there is no public interest in disclosing this operational portal. Vexatious use of the portal
may interfere with reliable entries and necessitate alternative reporting measures for staff. Such
a diversion of the resources of the responsible business area could reasonably be expected to
have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of this
Department.
I have decided that part of the document 2.1 is conditionally exempt under section 47E(d) of the
FOI Act. Access to a conditionally exempt document must generally be given unless it would be
contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure of the
information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in that
regard below.
6.3 Section 47F of the FOI Act – Personal Privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure
under the FOI Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any
person. ‘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 (see section 4 of the FOI
Act and section 6 of the
Privacy Act 1988).
I consider that disclosure of the information marked
's47F(1)' in the documents would disclose
personal information relating to third parties. The information within the documents would
reasonably identify a person, either through names, positions or descriptions of their role or
employment circumstance.
The FOI Act states that, when deciding whether the disclosure of the personal information would
be ‘unreasonable’, I must have regard to the following four factors set out in s.47F(2) of the
FOI Act:
•
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 available resources;
•
any other matters that I consider relevant.
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I have considered each of these factors below.
The information relating to the third parties is not well known and would only be known to a limited
group of people with a business need to know. As this information is only known to a limited
group of people, the individuals concerned are not generally known to be associated with the
matters discussed in the document. This information is not available from publicly accessible
sources. Specifically, personal details relating to senior executives’ partners’ names and
employment details.
I do not consider that this level of personal information relating specifically to the third parties
would illuminate any broader understanding of complimentary airline lounge memberships, but
rather would be an unreasonable disclosure of senior executives’ partners’ personal information.
I am satisfied that the disclosure of the information within the documents would involve an
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about a number of individuals.
I have decided that the information referred to above is conditionally exempt under section 47F
of the FOI Act. Access to a conditionally exempt document must generally be given unless it
would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure of
the information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in that
regard below.
6.4 Section 47G of the FOI Act – Business Affairs
Section 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act permits conditional exemption of documents containing
business information where disclosure of that information would, or could reasonably be
expected to, unreasonably affect the organisation adversely in respect of its lawful business,
commercial or financial affairs.
I have considered that document 5.1 and parts of documents 5; 6 and 8 contain information
concerning the business, commercial or financial affairs of two organisations.
The information is in the nature of names and contact details of the organisations’ employees.
In determining whether disclosure of the information within the documents would or could
reasonably be expected to adversely affect the lawful business, commercial or financial affairs of
an organisation, I have had regard to the following factors:
(a)
The extent to which the information is well known;
(b)
Whether the organisation or undertaking is known to be associated with the matters
dealt with in the documents;
(c)
The availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
(d)
Any other matters that the Department considers relevant.
The information marked
‘s47G(1)(a)’ contained within these documents is not in the public
domain, the organisation concerned is generally known to be associated with the matters referred
to in these documents, and the information is not available from publicly accessible sources, such
as the organisations’ websites. I am therefore satisfied that the disclosure of the information
would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect the organisations in respect of
its lawful business, commercial or financial affairs.
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I have decided that the parts of documents 5; 6 and 8 are conditionally exempt under section
47G of the FOI Act. Access to a conditionally exempt document must generally be given unless
it would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure
of the information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in
that regard below.
6.5 The public interest – section 11A of the FOI Act
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditionally exempt, I am now required to
consider whether access to the conditionally exempt information would be contrary to the public
interest (section 11A of the FOI Act).
A part of a document which is conditionally exempt must also meet the public interest test in
section 11A(5) before an exemption may be claimed in respect of that part.
In summary, the test is whether access to the conditionally exempt part of the document would
be, on balance, contrary to the public interest.
In applying this test, I have noted the objects of the FOI Act and the importance of the other
factors listed in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, being whether access to the document would do
any of the following:
(a)
promote the objects of this Act (including all the matters set out in sections 3 and
3A)
(b)
inform debate on a matter of public importance
(c)
promote effective oversight of public expenditure
(d)
allow a person to access his or her own personal information.
Having regard to the above I am satisfied that:
•
Access to the documents would promote the objects of the FOI Act.
•
The subject matter of the documents may have a general characteristic of public
importance.
•
Insights into public expenditure will be provided through examination of the
documents.
•
You do not require access to the documents in order to access your own personal
information.
I have also considered the following factors that weigh against the release of the conditionally
exempt information in the documents:
•
Disclosure of the operational web address which is conditionally exempt under
section 47E(d) of the FOI Act would have a substantial adverse effect on the ability
of the relevant operational areas to conduct their business as usual. The information
entered into this portal is used to support reporting at Senate Estimates and ensure
Australian Public Service Commission external reporting requirements are met. I
consider that there is a strong public interest in ensuring that the integrity of the gift
register is maintained so that the responsible operational area within the Department
is able to carry out their functions in an effective and accurate manner. I consider that
disclosure of the web address would be contrary to the public interest and that this
factor weighs strongly against disclosure of the exempt information.
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•
Disclosure of personal information which is conditionally exempt under section 47F
of the FOI Act could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of third
parties’ right to privacy. It is firmly in the public interest that the Department uphold
the rights of individuals to their own privacy, and this factor weighs strongly against
disclosure.
•
I am satisfied that if the Department were to release personal information without that
person’s express consent to do so, it would seriously undermine public confidence in
the Department’s ability to receive, retain and manage personal information. I
consider such a loss of confidence to be against the public interest, and this factor
weighs strongly against disclosure.
•
Disclosure of the personal information of individuals contained in these documents
could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of those individuals' right to
privacy. Disclosing the names of the Department officers’ partners may invite
inappropriate approaches by third parties and may prejudice the safety of those
officers and their families when the documents are made available to the public at
large. The names of these particular officers’ partners are not available through any
other publicly available source.
•
Disclosure of the parts of the documents that are conditionally exempt under section
47G of the FOI Act could reasonably be expected to adversely affect the lawful
business, commercial or financial affairs of third party organisations. I consider that
this would be contrary to the public interest and that this factor weighs strongly
against disclosure.
I have also had regard to section 11B(4) which sets out the factors that are irrelevant to my
decision, which are:
a)
access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government
b)
access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or
misunderstanding the document
c)
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
d)
access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
I have not taken into account any of those factors in this decision.
Upon balancing all of the above relevant public interest considerations, I have concluded that the
disclosure of the conditionally exempt information in the documents would be contrary to the
public interest and it is therefore exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act.
7
Legislation
A copy of the FOI Act is available at https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02562. If you
are unable to access the legislation through this website, please contact our office for a copy.
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8
Your review rights
Internal review
You do not have the right to seek an internal review of this decision. This is because section
54E(b) of the FOI Act provides that, when an agency is deemed to have refused an FOI request
under section 15AC of the FOI Act, the applicant does not have the right to seek an internal
review of the deemed decision.
The Department was deemed to have refused your request under section 15AC of the FOI Act
because it did not make this decision within the statutory timeframes for the request.
While the Department has now made a substantive decision on your request, section 15AC of
the FOI Act continues to apply to your request, which means that any request you make for
internal review will be invalid.
Information Commissioner review
You can instead request the Australian Information Commissioner to review this decision. If you
want to request an Information Commissioner review, you must make your request to the Office
of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) within 60 days of being notified of this
decision.
You can apply for an Information Commissioner review at: Information Commissioner review
application form on the OAIC website.
If you have already applied for an Information Commissioner review, there is no need to make a
new review request. The OAIC will contact you shortly to give you an opportunity to advise
whether you wish the review to continue, and to provide your reasons for continuing the review.
You can find more information about Information Commissioner reviews on the OAIC website.
9
Making a complaint
You may make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner if you have concerns
about how the Department has handled your request under the FOI Act. This is a separate
process to the process of requesting a review of the decision as indicated above.
You can make an FOI complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(OAIC) at: FOI Complaint Form on the OAIC website.
10
Contacting the FOI Section
Should you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section at
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Electronically signed
Tracy
Position number: 60002984
Authorised Decision Maker
Department of Home Affairs
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