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Agency reference:
FOI 25-26/153
Contact:
FOI Team
E-mail:
xxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
O via the Right to Know website
By email only:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear O,
Decision and Statement of Reasons issued under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 – FOI 25-26/153
On 15 January 2026, the Department of Finance (Finance) received your email, in which
you sought access under the Commonwealth
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)
to the following:
…any reports from on the total expenditure on paid media placement by year (financial or calendar)
since 2019-20 with information broken down by platform and outlet.
The report must include information on paid media placement expenditure broken down by online
social media platform e.g. Twitter (or X), Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Youtube, TikTok and media
outlet e.g. Nine, News Corporation, Seven West Media, Guardian, Australian Community Media,
Southern Cross Media Group, Network Ten etc.
On 3 February 2026, Finance acknowledged your request and advised you that Finance
publishes Campaign Advertising by Australian Government Department and Agencies
reports which provide a breakdown of campaign advertising expenditure by media channel
as well as by campaign. We asked if this material was sufficient to satisfy your request.
Later that same day, you advised that you would like to continue with your FOI request
as the publicly available information did not satisfy your request.
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised by the Secretary of Finance under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make
decisions in relation to FOI requests.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with notice of my decision under the FOI Act.
My Decision
I have created
six (6) documents within the scope of your request. I have decided to
refuse
access to these documents on the basis that disclosure would destroy or diminish the
One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603 • Internet www.finance.gov.au
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commercial value of the information in the documents and therefore the documents are
exempt under section 47 of the FOI Act.
Locating and identifying documents
Section 17 of the FOI Act permits an agency to produce a written document containing
information sought by an applicant in a discrete form by the use of a computer or other
equipment that is ordinarily available to the agency for retrieving or collating stored
information.
As such, Finance is able to create
six (6)
documents setting out the total expenditure
on Government advertising by financial year in accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act
containing the information requested in a discrete form.
Material taken into account In accordance with section 26(1)(a) of the FOI Act, my findings on any material question
of fact, the material on which those findings were based, and the reasons for my decision
to refuse access to the documents follow.
In making my decision, I have considered the following:
• the terms of your FOI request;
• the content of the documents that fall within the scope of your request;
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act; and
• the FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(FOI Guidelines)1.
Reasons for decision
I have decided to refuse access to the material within scope of your request under the
following provision of the FOI Act.
Section 47 – Documents disclosing commercially valuable information
Section 47 of the FOI Act relevantly provides:
(1) A document is an exempt document if its disclosure under this Act would disclose:
…
(b) any other information having a commercial value that would be, or could reasonably
be expected to be, destroyed or diminished if the information were disclosed.
The FOI Guidelines provide:
[5.235] It is a question of fact whether information has commercial value, and whether disclosure
would destroy or diminish that value. The commercial value may relate, for example, to the
profitability or viability of a continuing business operation or commercial activity in which an agency
or person is involved. The information need not necessarily have ‘exchange value’, in the sense that
it can be sold as a trade secret or intellectual property. The following factors may assist in deciding
whether information has commercial value:
• whether the information is known only to the agency or person to whom it has value or,
if it is known to others, to what extent that detracts from its intrinsic commercial value
• whether the information confers a competitive advantage on the agency or person to whom
it relates — for example, if it lowers the cost of production or allows access to markets not
available to competitors
1 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-
agencies/foi-guidelines
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• whether a genuine ‘arm’s-length’ buyer would be prepared to pay to obtain that information
• whether the information is still current or out of date (out of date information may no longer
have any value)
• whether disclosing the information would reduce the value of a business operation or
commercial activity — reflected, perhaps, in a lower share price.
The documents you requested contain the total amount of Government media expenditure
for media vendors across multiple platforms across six financial years. This information has
a commercial value not only to the Commonwealth but to all media vendors who are subject
to the Whole of Australian Government media arrangements.
Finance and Universal McCann are the only parties able to access this information in its
totality, and this information is treated confidentially under the relevant contractual
arrangements with each media vendor. It is standard industry practice that vendor specific
information for commercial purchasers is kept confidential.
The documents, if released, would reveal the levels of Government expenditure with
individual media outlets and enable any media vendor to calculate market share/volumes
in comparison to their competitors across the relevant platforms. I consider that revealing
such commercial material would create competitive advantages or disadvantages across all
media vendors depending on their business model and size (as the case may be).
Finance also uses Government advertising expenditure information to inform annual
negotiations with media vendors. There is a commercial value to the Commonwealth
in being able to use this information to obtain value for money outcomes in any current and
future negotiations with media vendors.
The two most significant commercially sensitive data inputs to leverage competitive media
rates outcomes are volume (i.e. levels of advertising expenditure) and share (i.e. percentages
of total overall media spend or spend within a media category). The documents you have
requested would reveal commercial information about market share and volume as described
above.
Media vendors could use this information, if publicly disclosed, to leverage their
negotiations with the Government and increase rates or reduce their level of service.
As such, if the documents were released, a media outlet might offer less of a discount if they
perceived overall Commonwealth expenditure with social platforms was higher than initially
expected, or a social platform might offer a reduced service offering if they perceived their
share of overall Commonwealth spending was low compared to other social platforms.
Releasing this information would therefore have an adverse effect on Finance’s (through
Universal McCann) ability to manage current and future contracts with media vendors and
obtain competitive pricing and terms and conditions for Government advertising for future
years.
I am therefore satisfied that the documents have a commercial value which would
be destroyed or diminished if disclosed. Accordingly, I find these documents exempt under
section 47 of the FOI Act.
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Review and appeal rights
You are entitled to request an internal review or an external review by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) of my decision. The process for review and
appeal rights is set out at
Attachment A.
If you have any questions about this decision, please contact the FOI Team.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Graham
A/g Assistant Secretary
Communications Branch | Corporate Division
Department of Finance
16 February 2026
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Your Review Rights
Legislation A copy of the FOI Act is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02562.
If you are unable to access the legislation through this website, please contact our office for
a copy.
Internal Review (IR) If you disagree with this decision, you can seek a review of the original decision. The review
will be conducted by a different decision maker, usually someone at a more senior level.
You must apply for an IR within
30 calendar days of being notified of the decision or
charge, unless we agree to extend your time. You should contact us if you wish to seek an
extension.
We are required to make an IR decision within 30 calendar days of receiving your
application. If we do not make an IR decision within this timeframe, then the original
decision stands.
Your request for an IR should include:
• a statement that you are seeking a review of our decision;
• attach a copy of the decision you are seeking a review of; and
• state the reasons why you consider the original decision maker made the wrong
decision.
Email
: xxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Post
: The FOI Coordinator
Legal and Assurance Branch
Department of Finance
One Canberra Avenue
FORREST ACT 2603
Information Commissioner review You may apply directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
for an Information Commissioner review of this decision. You must apply in writing
within
60 calendar days of this notice.
For further information about review rights and how to submit a request for a review to the
OAIC, please see https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-
information-rights/freedom-of-information-reviews/information-commissioner-review.
Third parties If you are a third party objecting to a decision to grant someone else access to your
information, you must apply to the Information Commissioner within
30 calendar days of
being notified of our decision to release your information.
The OAIC asks that you commence a review by completing their online form which is
available on their website noted above.
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Your review application must include a copy of the notice of our decision that you are
objecting to, and your contact details. You should also set out why you are objecting to the
decision.
Alternate contact details for the OAIC If the online form is not available, alternate contact details for the OAIC are as follows:
Email: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge).
Making a complaint You may complain to the Information Commissioner about action taken by the Department
in relation to your request.
Your enquiries to the Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge)
Email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
There is no particular form required to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.
The request should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered
that the action taken in relation to the request should be investigated and identify the
Department of Finance as the relevant agency.
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