OFFICIAL

Office of General Counsel

GPO Box 367
CANBERRA CITY   ACT   2601
Andrew Terhorst

www.airservicesaustralia.com
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
ABN 59 698 720 886

Dear Mr Terhorst

FOI 25-29 - Decision on Access

I refer to the request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to
Airservices Australia (Airservices) on 8 May 2025 (the request). It seeks access to:

Audio recordings and/or transcripts of comms between the Hobart Tower and VA1330 that
capture the reason for breaching the NAP for the following dates and times:

•  8 May 2025 at approx 20:50
•  25 April 2025 at approx 20:45
•  23 April 2025 at approx 20:34

Your decision was due Saturday 7 June 2025, however, given this fell on a weekend, I have
provided this decision on the next available working day, being Tuesday 10 June 2025 (as Monday
9 June 2025 was a public holiday).

I am authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act and the Airservices Instrument of Delegation and
Authorisation to make decisions on primary requests under the FOI Act.

Decision

Access in part

I have decided to grant access to the documents sought by the request in part as they contain
material that is:
  •  conditionally exempt under sections 47F (personal privacy), and/or
•  irrelevant to the scope of the request under section 22 of the FOI Act.

The documents and my decision in relation to each are set out in the schedule of documents at
Attachment A (the Schedule).

The reasons for my decision are set out in the Statement of Reasons at Attachment B.

Provision of documents
Our technical subject matter experts are stil  applying the relevant redactions to the audio files and
therefore, the documents are not ready to provide with this decision. Airservices also does not
currently have access to a transcription service or software platform that would enable us to
transcribe the audio and apply redactions to the transcript document. We wil  provide you with the
documents by Friday 20 June 2025, if not sooner.

However, to avoid any misunderstanding, while we are providing you with copies of the relevant
audio, we confirm they do not evidence any breach of the NAP given that all flights fell within the
‘operational reasons’ exclusion criteria.

OFFICIAL

Review rights and complaints

Information about your rights of review and how you can make a complaint about the handling of
your request is at Attachment C.

Contact

If you wish to discuss my decision, please contact me at xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.

Yours sincerely

Digitally signed by
BOURGET_ BOURGET_MR
Date: 2025.06.10
MR
14:50:38 +10'00'
Marcus Bourget
Authorised FOI Decision Maker

10 June 2025

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OFFICIAL

ATTACHMENT A

SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS

Doc No. Description
Decision
1.

Audio file: ML CEN and HB APP (1001z to 1030z)_23APR25.m4a
Release in part

Section 22 – deletion of material that is not relevant to the scope of the
Subject: VA1330 - 23APR25 - Enroute, Melbourne Centre (ML
request.
CEN) frequency where the initial STAR clearance was given,
Section 47F – names/identity of Airservices personnel.
through to hand over to (Hobart Approach) HB APP and then
handover to Tower (TWR)

2.
Audio file: FOR F25-27 ML CEN_HB APP_1012z to
Release in part
1013.35z)_25APR25.m4a
Section 22 – deletion of material that is not relevant to the scope of the

request.
Subject: VA1330 – 25APR25 - Enroute, Melbourne Centre (ML
Section 47F – names/identity of Airservices personnel.
CEN) frequency

3.
Audio file: FOI F25-27_VA1330_ML CEN (1010z to
Release in part
1011.40z)_08MAY25.m4a
Section 22 – deletion of material that is not relevant to the scope of the

request.
Subject: VA1330 – 8MAY25 - Enroute, Melbourne Centre (ML
Section 47F – names/identity of Airservices personnel.
CEN) frequency

OFFICIAL
ATTACHMENT B

STATEMENT OF REASONS

Material on which the decision is based

I relied on the following material in coming to this decision:
  •  the terms of the request;
•  the documents subject to the FOI request;
•  advice from subject matter specialists within Airservices Australia (Airservices) regarding
the nature and sensitivity of the documents subject to the request;
•  the FOI Act; and
•  the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of the
FOI Act (FOI Guidelines).

Section 22 - Irrelevant material

Section 22 of the FOI Act relevantly provides that if an agency may delete information from a
document where it is irrelevant to a request.

I have found that the documents (identified in the Schedule) contain irrelevant matter and have
deleted it pursuant to section 22 of the FOI Act.

Section 47F - personal privacy

Section 47F of the FOI Act relevantly provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its
disclosure under this Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about
any person (including a deceased person). Access to the conditionally exempt document may only
be withheld where it is contrary to the public interest.

Certain documents subject to the request (identified in the Schedule) contain personal information,
specifically the names of Airservices’ personnel. I am satisfied that this personal information is not
publicly available, nor are the individuals concerned well known to be involved in the matters
described in the documents.

I therefore find that disclosure of this personal information would be unreasonable and conditionally
exempt under section 47F(1) of the FOI Act.

When considering whether access to this personal information is contrary to the public interest, I
acknowledge that access would inherently promote the objects of the FOI Act, demonstrating full
transparency of government. However, providing access to this personal information would also
intrude on the privacy of the individuals to whom the personal information relates whilst also not
providing great insight into the decision-making processes of Airservices. This adverse effect
outweighs any benefit that could flow from disclosing that personal information.

As a result, I am satisfied that access to the personal information would be contrary to the public
interest and have decided to withhold access to it.

OFFICIAL

ATTACHMENT C

INFORMATION ON REVIEW RIGHTS

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) gives you the right to apply for a review of this
decision via:

(a)
an internal review; or
(b)
the Australian Information Commissioner (Information Commissioner).

Internal review

If you apply for internal review, it wil be carried out by a different decision-maker who will make a
fresh decision on your application. An application for review must be:

(a)
made in writing;
(b)
made within 30 days of receiving this letter; and
(c)
sent to xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.

No particular form is required, but it is desirable to set out in the application the grounds upon which
you consider the decision should be reviewed.

If the internal review results in you not being provided access to all of the documents to which you
have requested access, you have the right to seek a review of that decision by the Information
Commissioner.

Information Commissioner review
You can opt to instead seek external review by the Information Commissioner. To seek review, you
must apply to the Information Commissioner within 60 days of the receipt of this decision letter.
Further details on this process can be found on their website at ht ps://www.oaic.gov.au/.
You wil also have the opportunity to seek Information Commissioner review of an Internal Review if
you are dissatisfied with its outcome.

Complaints to the Information Commissioner

Information Commissioner

You may also complain to the Information Commissioner concerning action taken by an agency in
the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act. There is no fee for
making a complaint. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in writing. Further
details on this process can be found on their website at https:/ www.oaic.gov.au/.

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Document Outline