Attachment B: Reasons – Freedom of Information
Request No. LEX9254
Authority
1. As a Senior Government Lawyer, Legal Services Branch at the Australian Electoral Commission
(
AEC), I am an authorised decision-maker under section 23 of the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (
FOI Act).
Your FOI Request
2. On 11 June 2025, you wrote to the AEC seeking access under the FOI Act as follows:
I seek access to the latest Party Constitution, received by the AEC, from the registered political
party The Australian Citizens Party.
3. I address the process and response to your FOI Request below.
Retrieval process 4. To identify documents for your FOI Request, I arranged for relevant staff likely able to identify
documents to undertake a comprehensive search of the relevant electronic holdings used by the
AEC.
5. From those searches 1 document was identified as falling within the scope of your FOI Request
(Document 1). This document is identified in At achment A.
Comments on Document 1
6. For your awareness, Document 1 is a copy of the constitution of the Citizens Electoral Council of
Australia. The Australian Citizens Party was previously registered with the AEC with the name
‘Citizens Electoral Council of Australia’. The party changed its name to the Australian Citizens
Party on 13 January 2020.
7. The AEC does not require registered political parties to provide updated versions of the party’s
constitution. I confirm that Document 1 is a copy of the most recent constitution of the Australian
Citizens Party held by the AEC.
Decision
8. I have decided to grant access to an edited copy of Document 1 from which exempt matter has
been redacted under section 47F of the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
9. I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
(a) the content of the documents that fall within the scope of your FOI Request;
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(b) the FOI Act;
(c) the guidelines (
‘FOI Guidelines’) issued by the Australian Information Commissioner
under section 93A of the FOI Act;
(d) t
he FOI Guidance Notes, July 2011 issued by the Department of Prime Minister and
Cabinet; and
(e) the
Privacy Act 1988.
Exemptions – section 47F
Findings
10. I consider that section 47F applies to certain personal information within Document 1. This is
because I found that the document contained the personal information of a third party.
11. I confirm that I consulted with another relevant third party regarding the proposed release of the
information contained within the document, including their own personal information. The third party
confirmed they were content with the release of the information contained within the document.
Consideration
12. Section 47F of the FOI Act conditionally exempts a document if its disclosure under the FOI Act
would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (with certain
exceptions regarding the disclosure to a person of their own personal information).
13. Subsection 47F(1) of the FOI Act provides:
(1) A document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure under this Act would involve the unreasonable
disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased person).
14. In making my decision I had regard to:
a. the extent to which the information is well known
b. 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
c. the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources, and
d. Part 6 (Conditional Exemptions) of the FOI Guidelines.
15. I determined that the personal information identified – that is the name and signature of a third party
– in the identified document is not well known, nor is it available from publicly accessible sources.
Weighing of public interest factors
16. Under subsection 11A(5) of the FOI Act, access to a document covered by a conditional exemption
must be given unless it would be contrary to the public interest.
17. My weighing of public interest factors follows.
18. I consider that the public interest in releasing the full name of this third party and their personal
signature is extremely low. I have considered the relevant factors in s 11B of the FOI Act, and the
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release of this information would not aid the public in scrutinising, commenting or reviewing the
activities of the AEC, nor would it further inform any public debate on a matter of importance.
19. I have also balanced this public interest with the consideration of whether this disclosure of personal
information would be unreasonable. However, I am satisfied that the disclosure of this information
could reasonably be considered to prejudice the relevant individual’s right to privacy.
20. In accordance with subsection 11B(4) of the FOI Act I excluded from my consideration the following
matters:
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, or
d. access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
21. In my view, having regard to the above considerations and the factors set out in sections 11B and
47F of the FOI Act, I have decided that the balancing of considerations weighs in favour of not
releasing the personal information in the released document.
Final Outcome
22. Accordingly, I am satisfied that certain personal information within the document identified in
Attachment A is conditionally exempt under section 47F and, because disclosure would be contrary
to the public interest, that this information should be treated as exempt from disclosure under the
FOI Act.
Preparation of edited copy
23. In accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, I considered whether it is possible and practicable to
prepare an edited copy of Document 1 from which exempt material is redacted.
Findings
24. With respect to the requirements of section 22, I found that:
a. it is possible to prepare an edited copy of Document 1 modified by deletions, ensuring that:
i. access to the edited copy would be required to be given under section 11A (access
to documents on request) of the FOI Act. And
ii. the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the FOI Request,
b. it is reasonably practicable for the AEC to prepare the edited copy of Document 2, having
regard to:
i. the nature and extent of the modifications, and
ii. the resources available to modify the document, and
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c. it is not apparent that you would decline access to the edited copy.
Outcome
25. I concluded that it is both possible and practicable to prepare an edited copy of Document 1 from
which exempt matter is redacted.
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Document Outline
