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Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI/2025/057
To Trav S
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Trav S
I refer to your request to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), received on 24 March 2025.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the
FOI Act.
Scope of request
You set out your request in the fol owing terms:
I will be grateful if you refer to the documents PMC partially released to FOI/2020/160IC. Please
provide a copy of:
(1)  Page 1 of 5 with the s22 redaction removed;
(2)  The letter to the Governor-General cited as Attachment 1 on page 5 of 5
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
•  searches and inquires undertaken by the Department
•  the document relevant to your request
•  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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•  the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner1 (the Guidelines)
Document in scope of request
The Department has identified one document in response to your request, being that which you
specified in part 1 of your request: Page 1 of 5 with the s22 redaction removed.
As you have only specified one page as relevant to this request I have only identified and extracted
that page from the previous referenced FOI documents for FOI/2020/160IC
Decision
Part 1
I have decided to grant access in part, with exempt material deleted, on grounds the document
contains information exempt under:
•  section 42 of the FOI Act (legal professional privilege)
•  section 47F of the FOI Act (personal privacy)
Part 2
I have decided to refuse access to part 2 of your request under section 24A of the FOI Act on grounds
the Department has taken al  reasonable steps to find a document and that document does not exist.
Reason for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is exempt is set out below.
1. Documents cannot be found or do not exist
Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
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 excessive2.

1 s 93A of the FOI Act
2 Paragraph 3.88 of the Guidelines (footnotes omitted)
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The Department has conducted a search for any relevant records that would meet the terms of part 2
of your request. The Parliamentary and Government Branch has responsibility for records that would
be covered by the subject of your request. Based on the knowledge of the subject matter and
searches of our record repositories no documents were found to be in the possession of the
Department.
Furthermore, the brief referencing the attachment was in a draft form and the letter which it makes
reference to was not prepared by the Department.
I am satisfied the measures taken by the Department to locate the document you requested are
appropriate and suitable given the circumstances.
I am refusing your request for access under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act, as the documents you have
requested do not exist.
2. Legal professional privilege
Section 42 of the FOI Act provides that a document is an exempt document if it is of such a nature
that it would be privileged from production in legal proceedings on the ground of legal professional
privilege.
The Guidelines discuss the requirement for the decision maker to turn their mind to the common law
concept of legal professional privilege. To determine whether a communication is privileged requires
a consideration of:
•  whether there is a legal adviser-client relationship
•  whether the communication was for the purpose of giving or receiving legal advice, or use in
connection with actual or anticipated litigation
•  whether the advice given is independent
•  whether the advice given is confidential3.
I am satisfied that part of the requested document meets the common law requirements for
establishing a claim of legal professional privilege. I also note that the Department is the holder of the
privilege, and has not waived that privilege.
I am satisfied that part of the requested document is exempt under section 42 of the FOI Act.

3 Paragraph 5.149 of the Guidelines (footnotes omitted)
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3. Section 47F of the FOI Act - 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 individuals4. Further the Guidelines set out key
factors for determining whether disclosure is unreasonable, this includes:
a)  the author of the document is identifiable
b)  the documents contain third party personal information
c)  release of the documents would cause stress on the third party
d)  no public purpose would be achieved through release5.
The document contains the names of APS staff, including non-SES. Reasons disclosure would be
unreasonable include:
•  the personal information is not well known or in the public domain
•  the staff were “cc” recipients, meaning they were included for information purposes only
•  the staff 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’
•  release of personal information in the circumstances is reasonably expected to cause stress to
the individuals concerned.

4 Paragraph 6.133 of the Guidelines (footnotes omitted)
5 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 that this
information is personal information and falls within the scope of section 47F of the FOI Act and that
disclosure of this information would be unreasonable in this instance.
I am satisfied that the personal information is exempt from release under section 47F(1) of the FOI Act.
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 interest6. 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
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 Act7 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:
•  The disclosure of the limited amount of material that is conditional exempt under section 47F(1)
would not bring further clarity to the documents in questions and not material y promote the
objects of the FOI Act
•  the conditional y exempt elements of the documents do not seem to have the character of
public importance, being mainly limited to names and contact details of individuals who held
agency positions 13 years ago, which may only be of interest to a narrow section of the public
•  the subject matter within the conditional y exempt documents does not offer any insights into
public expenditure
•  I am satisfied that your personal information is not contained within the conditional y exempt
parts of the documents and therefore section 11B(3)(d) is not a relevant factor to favour access
The FOI Act does not set out any public interest factors against disclosure and require that agencies
are to have regard to the Guidelines in order to work out if disclosure would, on balance, be contrary

6 section 11A(5) of the FOI Act
7 section 3 of the FOI Act
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to the public interest8. 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.
The disclosure of the material I have found to be the conditional y exempt could reasonably be
expected to prejudice the protection of individuals’ right to privacy. Such disclosure would not
advance the public interest in transparency or scrutiny of government activities. I give weight to this
factor against disclosure.
After careful consideration of al  relevant factors, I have decided that, on balance, the factors against
disclosure outweigh those favouring disclosure. Accordingly, I am of the view that disclosure of the
requested material in the documents would be contrary to the public interest and this material is
exempt under section 47F of the FOI Act.
Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner
review of the decision.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Department for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days after the date of this letter,
please attach the reasons why you disagree with the decision.
Applications for review should be sent to xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
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 Form9 .
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 Form10.

8 section 11B(5) of the FOI Act
9 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
10 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 and Government Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
23 April 2025
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Document Outline