Your Ref
Our Ref
1715
Jordan Blake (Right to Know)
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Jordan
Your Freedom of Information request - decision
I refer to your request, received by the Department of Education (department) on 17 August
2025 under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the following:
“…all computer desktop wallpapers used by the Department of Education from 2001
to 2025, including current wallpapers, historical image files, and any related
documentation.”
Following consultation with the department, you clarified your request on 21 August 2025 as
follows:
“To clarify the scope of my request: I was originally seeking computer desktop
wallpapers. However, if the department uses default computer wallpapers (which
would not need to be included), then I am satisfied with your interpretation to
provide desktop lock screens instead. Your understanding of 'any related documents'
referring to documentation containing instructions to facilitate the publication of the
desktop lock screens is also acceptable.
Regarding the timeframe, I accept your proposal to reduce the date range to 1 July
2022 to 17 August 2025, covering the period since the department was established in
its current form.”
My decision
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
The department holds 153 documents (totalling 173 pages) that fall within the scope of your
request. Most of these pages are lockscreens. In accordance with your clarification dated
GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | www.education.gov.au | ABN 12 862 898 150
21 August 2025, your request also captures the instructions used to facilitate the publication
of the lockscreens.
This page count does not include duplicate lockscreens where there was no visible difference
in the images. I confirm that duplicate documents have been removed.
I have decided to:
• grant you
access in full to 7 documents (documents 17, 95, 104, 109, 136, 148 and
153)
• grant you
access in part to 146 documents (documents 1-16, 18-94, 96-103, 105-
108, 110-135, 137-147 and 149-152) with some of the content removed.
I have decided that certain parts of documents that you have requested are exempt under
the FOI Act because they contain:
• personal information, the disclosure of which would be unreasonable and contrary
to the public interest (section 47F conditional exemption) and,
• certain operations of agencies information, the disclosure of which would or could
reasonably be expected to have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and
efficient conduct of the operations of the department and contrary to the public
interest (section 47E(d) conditional exemption).
A schedule of the documents and the reasons for my decision are set out at
Attachment A.
Charge
On 3 September 2025, the department made a preliminary assessment of the charge
payable to process your request in the amount of $367.12. On 4 September 2025, you
contended that the charge should not be imposed on public interest grounds.
On 2 October 2025, I notified you that while I consider there are grounds for a processing
charge to be imposed for the processing of your FOI request, on this occasion, I have decided
to exercise my discretion to not impose the charge of $367.12.
How we will send your documents
The documents for release are attached.
You can ask for a review of my decision
If you disagree with any part of the decision, you can ask for a review. There are two ways
you can do this. You can ask for an internal review by the department or an external review
by the Australian Information Commissioner.
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You can find information about your rights of review under the FOI Act, as well as
information about how to make a complaint at
Attachment B.
Further assistance
If you have any questions, please email xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Hannah
Authorised decision maker
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
13 November 2025
3
Lockscreen requests
Grant access in
N/A
Irrelevant material (staff details)
full
deleted under section 22 on pages 153-
153
153-173
173.
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REASONS FOR DECISION
What you requested
On 17 August 2025 you requested access under the FOI Act to the following documents:
I request all computer desktop wallpapers used by the Department of Education from
2001 to 2025, including current wallpapers, historical image files, and any related
documentation
On 21 August 2025, the department wrote to you to acknowledge and clarify the scope of
your request. In that correspondence, the department advised you that it would treat the
names, signatures, position titles, staff identification numbers and direct contact details of
Commonwealth employees as irrelevant in accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, unless
you advised otherwise.
On the same day, you clarified the scope of your request as follows:
“To clarify the scope of my request: I was originally seeking computer desktop
wallpapers. However, if the department uses default computer wallpapers (which
would not need to be included), then I am satisfied with your interpretation to
provide desktop lock screens instead. Your understanding of 'any related documents'
referring to documentation containing instructions to facilitate the publication of the
desktop lock screens is also acceptable.
Regarding the timeframe, I accept your proposal to reduce the date range to 1 July
2022 to 17 August 2025, covering the period since the department was established in
its current form.”
You also confirmed that you “do not require employee details such as names, signatures,
position titles, staff identification numbers, or direct contact details.” As a number of the
documents falling within the scope of your request include photographs of departmental
employees, I have redacted those photographs under section 22 of the FOI Act based on
your confirmation that you do not require employee details.
On 3 September 2025, the department advised you of the preliminary estimate of the
charge for processing your request, being $367.12. The department also notified you that
the processing period for your request had been extended by 30 days to enable consultation
with relevant third parties.
On 4 September 2025, you contended that the charge for processing your request under the
FOI Act should be reduced or not imposed on public interest grounds. On 2 October 2025, I
advised you that while I consider there are grounds for imposing a processing charge, I had
exercised my discretion to not impose a charge for processing your request on this occasion.
6
In this decision, I reminded you that the processing period had been extended by 30 days to
enable consultation with relevant third parties.
What I took into account
In reaching my decision, I took into account:
• your request dated 17 August 2025 and your clarification dated 21 August 2025
• other correspondence with you
• the documents that fall within the scope of your request
• consultation with third parties about the documents which contained information
concerning them
• consultations with departmental officers about the nature of the documents and the
operating environment and functions of the department
• the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (FOI Guidelines)
• the
Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019 • the FOI Act.
Reasons for my decision
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
I have decided that certain small parts of the documents that you requested are exempt
under the FOI Act. My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that exemptions apply to
those documents are discussed below.
Section 22 of the FOI Act: access to edited copies with irrelevant matter deleted
I have decided that several of the documents falling within the scope of your request contain
small amounts of exempt or irrelevant material. In this regard, sections 22(1) and (2) of the
FOI Act provide that:
Scope
(1)
This section applies if:
(a) an agency or Minister decides:
(i)
to refuse to give access to an exempt document; or
(ii)
that to give access to a document would disclose information that would
reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request for access; and
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(b)
it is possible for the agency or Minister to prepare a copy (an edited copy) of the
document, 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); and
(ii)
the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably
be regarded as irrelevant to the request; and
(c)
it is reasonably practicable for the agency or Minister to prepare the edited copy,
having regard to:
(i)
the nature and extent of the modification; and
(ii)
the resources available to modify the document; and
(d)
it is not apparent (from the request or from consultation with the applicant) that
the applicant would decline access to the edited copy.
Access to edited copy
(2)
The agency or Minister must:
(a) prepare the edited copy as mentioned in paragraph (1)(b); and
(b) give the applicant access to the edited copy.
The documents identified in the Schedule of Documents include exempt or irrelevant
material.
In accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, I have deleted exempt and irrelevant material
where possible from the pages identified in the Schedule of Documents and have decided to
release the remaining material to you.
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act – operations of agencies
I have applied the conditional exemption in section 47E(d) of the FOI Act to small parts of
the documents identified in the Schedule of Documents.
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act provides that:
A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would, or could reasonably
be expected to, do any of the following:
…
(d) have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the
operations of an agency.
Paragraph 6.115 of the FOI Guidelines provides, in relation to section 47E(d) of the FOI Act,
that:
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The predicted effect must bear on the agency’s ‘proper and efficient’ operations, that is, the
agency is undertaking its expected activities in an expected manner. Where disclosure of the
documents reveals unlawful activities or inefficiencies, this element of the conditional
exemption will not be met and the conditional exemption will not apply.
Documents 1-16, 18-94, 96-103, 105-108, 110-135, 137-147 and 149-152 contain an internal
phone number that is used by departmental employees within the department to contact
the information technology service area. It is also the same number used by several other
Commonwealth departments and agencies for information technology and other support.
This number is an established internal communication channel and is not publicly available.
Commonwealth departments have established contact methods for the public in relation to
public services which enable the Commonwealth to manage the volume of correspondence
and communications received across the APS. These methods include dedicated telephone
numbers, external email addresses, postal addresses and other online mechanisms. The
release of this internal phone number could reasonably be expected to circumvent these
established methods for contacting APS departments by allowing members of the public to
contact departmental employees through additional avenues, thereby disrupting and
undermining the usual operations of Commonwealth departments.
I consider that the release of this internal phone number would, or could reasonably be
expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper efficient conduct of the
operations of this department and other Commonwealth departments serviced by the
department which provides information technology and other support as it would, or could
reasonably be expected to circumvent established practices for communicating with the
department.
Given the above, I have decided that references to this internal phone number are
conditionally exempt under section 47E(d) of the FOI Act. I have discussed the public interest
considerations below under the heading ‘Public interest’.
Section 47F of the FOI Act – personal information
I have applied the conditional exemption in section 47F(1) of the FOI Act to small parts of the
documents identified in the Schedule of Documents.
Section 47F of the FOI Act relevantly provides:
9
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).
In determining whether the disclosure of the document would involve the unreasonable
disclosure of personal information, an agency or Minister must have regard to the following
matters:
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
d.
any other matters that the agency or Minister considers relevant.
Personal information
Personal information is information or an opinion about an identifiable individual, or an
individual who is reasonably identifiable:
• whether the information or opinion is true or not
• whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
Paragraph 6.125 of the FOI Guidelines provides that personal information can include the
name, address, telephone number, date of birth and signature. I am satisfied that a photo of
a person is personal information.
I find that the documents identified in the Schedule of Documents contain personal
information about certain individuals, being photos of people.
Unreasonable disclosure
In addition to the factors specified in section 47F(2) of the FOI Act, paragraph 6.133 of the
FOI Guidelines provides:
The personal privacy conditional exemption is designed to prevent the unreasonable invasion
of third parties’ privacy. The test of ‘unreasonableness’ implies a need to balance the public
interest in disclosure of government-held information and the private interest in the privacy
of individuals.
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I am satisfied that the disclosure of some of the above personal information (namely, various
photos of people) would be unreasonable for the following reasons:
• the information is not well-known and is not available in full or in part from publicly
accessible sources
• the identity of the individuals concerned is readily apparent or could be easily
ascertained
• no public purpose would be achieved through release of the information
• disclosure of the information would not advance the public interest in government
transparency and integrity.
On this basis, I have decided that the personal information in the documents is conditionally
exempt under section 47F(1) of the FOI Act. I have discussed the public interest
considerations below under the heading ‘Public interest’.
For completeness, I have not redacted photos of people where their images are already
publicly available in the context in which they appear in the documents; where the image is
of a well-known individual; or where the image is a stock image.
Public interest
Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act provides:
The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally
exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that time
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
When weighing the public interest for and against disclosure under section 11A(5) of the FOI
Act, I have taken into account relevant factors in favour of disclosure. In particular, I have
considered the extent to which disclosure would:
• promote the objects of the FOI Act and,
• promote effective oversight of public expenditure
I have also considered the relevant factors weighing against disclosure, indicating that access
would be contrary to the public interest. In particular, I have considered the extent to which
disclosure could reasonably be expected to:
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• adversely harm the interests of an individual,
• prejudice the right of an individual to privacy and,
• circumvent established communication channels for the public, which in turn could
have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the
operations of various agencies.
Based on these factors, I have decided that, in this instance, the public interest in disclosing
the information in the documents is outweighed by the public interest against disclosure.
I have not taken into account any of the irrelevant factors set out in section 11B(4) of the FOI
Act in making this decision.
Conclusion
In summary, I am satisfied that small parts of the documents, as set out in the Schedule of
Documents, are conditionally exempt under sections 47F(1) and 47E(d) of the FOI Act.
Furthermore, I have decided that, on balance, it would be contrary to the public interest to
release this information. Accordingly, I have decided not to release these parts of the
documents to you.
I have deleted the exempt material and released the remaining material to you in
accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act.
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Attachment B
YOUR RIGHTS OF REVIEW
Asking for a formal review of an FOI decision
If you believe the decision is incorrect, the FOI Act gives you the right to apply for a review of
the decision. Under sections 54 and 54L of the FOI Act, you can apply for a review of an FOI
decision by:
• an internal review officer in the department and/or
• the Australian Information Commissioner.
There are no fees for applying for a formal review.
Applying for an internal review by an internal review officer
If you apply for internal review, a different decision maker to the decision maker who made
the original decision will review your request. The internal review decision maker will
consider all aspects of the original decision afresh and decide whether the decision should
change.
An application for internal review must be made in writing within 30 days of receiving this
letter. You can lodge your application by email to
xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Applying for external review by the Australian Information Commissioner
If you do not agree with the original decision or the internal review decision, you can ask the
Australian Information Commissioner to review the decision.
You will have 60 days to apply in writing for a review by the Australian Information
Commissioner.
You can lodge your application in one of the following ways:
Online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post:
Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner
Australian Information Commissioner
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken by an
agency in the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act.
A complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner must be made in writing and can be
lodged in one of the following ways:
Online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post:
Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
