OFFICIAL
Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI/2025/097
To Trav S
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Trav S
I refer to your request of 29 April 2025 to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, made under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). This request was transferred to the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (the department) on 15 May 2025 under section 16(1) of the FOI Act.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request.
Scope of request
You requested access to the following:
Please refer to the file OPC holds with number 12/5946 relating to the Humanitarian Overseas
Service Medal Amendment Regulation: Iraq clasp. OPC previously identified 29 documents
within the file.
Please refer to the document titled "AMENDMENT OF HUMANITARIAN OVERSEAS SERVICE
MEDAL (IRAQ) DECLARATION 2004 TO EXTEND TO SPECIFIC COMMERCIAL CONTRACTORS"
which PM&C disclosed via FOI/2020/1610IC. Please provide me with a copy of the attachments
cited on the last page ( 5 of 5 ) of that disclosure. The attachments being:
"1. Letter to the Governor-General
2. Proposed Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (Iraq) Declaration 2011
3. Letter from Director-General of AusAID".
Request decided out of time
A decision on your request was due 19 June 2025. Unfortunately the department was unable to
complete the processing of your request by the due date. In these circumstances the department
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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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
Authorised decision-maker
I am a delegate of the Secretary of the department authorised to make decisions under section 23 of
the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
In reaching my decision I have had regard to the following:
•  the terms of your request
•  searches and inquiries undertaken by the department
•  the document relevant to your request
•  the FOI Act
•  the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act (the
Guidelines)
Document in scope of request
The department has identified one document that fal s within the scope of your request, being that
which you specified in your request as: Letter from Director-General of AusAID.
Decision
I have decided to grant access in ful , with irrelevant material deleted, to the document responsive to
item 3 of your request.
A copy of the document is enclosed.
I have decided to refuse access to the documents referred to in items 1 and 2 of your request under
section 24A of the FOI Act on grounds document do not exist. The document in the decision of
FOI/2020/160IC ("AMENDMENT OF HUMANITARIAN OVERSEAS SERVICE MEDAL (IRAQ)
DECLARATION 2004 TO EXTEND TO SPECIFIC COMMERCIAL CONTRACTORS") is a draft brief that was
prepared in October 2011, and the documents listed as attachments do not exist. In addition, our

1 Paragraph 3.161 of the Guidelines
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searches have not been able to verify that the brief was ever finalised. As such, these corresponding
records were ultimately not prepared.
Reason for decision
My findings of fact are set out below.
1. Section 22 – 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
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.
I am satisfied that part of the document is irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the FOI Act. The
remaining parts of the document have been released to you as they are relevant to your request
2. Section 24A(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.
The department has conducted a search for any relevant records that would meet the terms of your
request within the file you identified as 12/5946.
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 for this request, and in previous requests to access the same material, we confirm there
are no documents in the possession of the department.
I am satisfied the measures taken by the department to locate the documents 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.
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Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for Information Commissioner review of the decision.
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 Form2 .
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 Form3.
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 June 2025

2 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
3 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
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Document Outline