OFFICIAL
Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI/2025/195
To Mr Hamiltonshire
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Mr Hamiltonshire
I refer to your request of 19 August 2025 to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
(the department), made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (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:
For context, I reference the following article published in The Age
(https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/peter-dutton-ends-post-election-silence-to-weigh-
into-security-debate-20250805-p5mkdj.html), which reads as follows:
"But the alleged attempted hijacking of a Jetstar flight at Avalon Airport by a 17-year-old in
March and communications issues about the Dural caravan incident in January convinced the
government to move the agencies back under Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to speed up
intelligence-sharing."
I seek access to all documents held by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
referencing the "alleged attempted hijacking" and the "Dural caravan incident", held by the
government, relating to the decision to issue the latest Administrative Arrangement Order to
allocate certain agencies to the realm of the Home Affairs Minister.
Please exclude duplicates and documents already publicly released, including media releases,
reports, articles and statements to the media.
Please limit emails to the final message in the chain as long as previous messages are captured.
I agree to having the names and direct contact details of non-senior staff removed, however I
request that redactions do not include non-personally identifying information. For example,
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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please leave the domain and job titles when redacting email addresses or signature blocks on
emails.
I preemptively agree to requests for third party consultation if necessary, but would prefer that
my information about my identity is not shared with those consulted.’
On 31 August 2025, you clarified your request as fol ows:
I amend my original request to clarify that this request is inclusive of March 7 2025 ongoing.
I further clarify that these documents sought include briefs, memos, reports, recommendations,
and other similarly described documents, which may be called different things from time to time.
The department has understood that you are seeking records about the changes as set out in the
Administrative Arrangement Order dated 13 May 2025 which identifies matters and legislation for the
Department of Home Affairs, and which contain reference to the fol owing terms:
•  "alleged attempted hijacking"
•  "Dural caravan incident”
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 undertaken by the department
•  the FOI Act
•  the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act (the
Guidelines).
Decision
I have decided to refuse your request under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act as documents do not exist.
Reason for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding to refuse your request are set out below.
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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 excessive.1
The department conducted searches for any records that would meet the terms of your request.
The Domestic Security Branch has responsibility for records that would be related to the subject of
your request. They conducted searches of their systems to identify records that fal  within the terms of
your request. This includes searches in Microsoft Outlook, the Parliamentary Document Management
System (used to manage official ministerial and departmental correspondence), and Share+ (the
department’s official records management system).
I am satisfied the measures taken by the department to locate documents in response to your request
are appropriate and suitable given the circumstances.
I have decided to refuse your request for access under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act, as the
documents you have requested do not exist.
Additional information
The Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO) formal y al ocates executive responsibility among
ministers. It sets out which matters and legislation are administered by which department or portfolio.
On 13 May 2025 the AAO was amended. As part of this amendment responsibility for law
enforcement policy and operations transferred from the Attorney-General’s portfolio to the Home
Affairs portfolio.
See: Administrative Arrangements Order - 13 May 2025 | PM&C

1 Paragraph 3.88 of the Guidelines
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Review rights
If you disagree with my decision you may apply for a review of the decision. I have included
information on your review rights below.
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 internal 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 Form.2
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 in writing using the OAIC Web
Form.3

Yours sincerely

Andrew Rose
Assistant Secretary
Domestic Security Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
18 September 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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