ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
FOI
BARTON
FOI/2018/108
WF
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear WF
I refer to your email of 11 June 2018 in which you made a request to the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) in the following terms:
Under the FOI Act, I seek access to email correspondence, falling between the period
of 14 May 2018 to the date of this application between the Secretary of the DPMC,
Dr Martin Parkinson, and the Public Service Commissioner, Mr John Lloyd
(including email documents sent by Dr Parkinson to Mr Lloyd and email documents
sent by Mr Lloyd to Dr Parkinson).
Documents falling within the scope of my request can be quickly identified and
retrieved by searching all items (including archived items) in Dr Parkinson’s email
account profile according to persons sent to, and received from.
I am willing to agree to the redaction, from any relevant document, the personal
information of any person mentioned in that document, except where that person was,
at the relevant time: i) a public servant; or ii) a member of parliament. Noting
paragraphs 6.153-6.154 of the FOI guidelines, this refinement of my request should
negate any need for consultation with any third parties under s.27A of the FOI Act.
By email dated 18 June 2018 the Department acknowledged receipt of your FOI request and
sought your advice about whether you were seeking access to any of the following
information that the Department redacts as irrelevant information from documents that fall
within the scope of a request, unless specifically sought by an applicant:
• any person’s signature;
• the names and contact details of Australian Public Service officers not in the Senior
Executive Service (SES);
• the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers;
• the names and contact details of Ministerial staff at a level below Chief of Staff.
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
By email dated 22 June 2018 you advised the Department as follows:
Yes happy for you to blank the names of everyone other than the Secretary and the
APS Commissioner.
The authorised decision-maker for your request is Mr Peter Rush, Assistant Secretary,
Parliamentary and Government Branch.
Processing charge
The FOI Act provides that charges can be imposed for processing requests. Unless a decision
is made to waive the processing charge in whole or in part, the combined effect of section
11A(1)(b) of the FOI Act and Regulation 11(1) of the
Freedom of Information ( Charges)
Regulations 1982 (the Charges Regulations) is that an applicant is required to pay any charge
before any access is given.
The Charges Regulations specify different rates for the various activities involved in
processing a request with the first five hours of decision-making time free for all FOI
applicants.
The decision-maker has decided that you are liable to pay a charge should you wish to
proceed with your FOI request. The preliminary assessment of the charge for processing your
request is set out below:
Task
Rate
Units
Charge
Search & retrieval
$15 per hour
2 hours $
30.00
Decision-making
$20 per hour
17.2 hours $
344.00
less first 5 hours free
5 hours $
-100.00
TOTAL
$
274.00
Please note that the estimate of decision-making time includes consultation with at least 8
parties comprising third party consultation under section 27A of the FOI Act (documents
affecting personal privacy) and courtesy consultations with Australian Government agencies
and non-Australian Government entities.
Section 29 of the FOI Act requires you to exercise one of the following options in writing
within 30 days of receipt of this letter:
(1)
You can agree to pay the charge. If you agree, processing of your request will resume
as soon as the Department receives a payment, either in full or a deposit.
- Payment in full is $274.00. Payment in full entitles you to receive a decision in
relation to your request, a schedule which lists the documents relevant to your
request, and any documents released.
- Alternatively, payment of a deposit in the amount of $68.50 entitles you to receive
a decision in relation to your request and a schedule which lists the documents
relevant to your request. Relevant documents would only be released on payment
of the balance of the charge. Regulation 14 of the Charges Regulations provides
that a deposit paid by an applicant is not refundable unless the Department decides
to waive the charge or fails to make a decision on the applicant’s FOI request
within the statutory time limit, including any extension.
2
Payment should be made by cheque or postal order and made out to the “Collector of
Public Monies.” If you wish to pay by credit card, you should forward a letter which
sets out the credit card details and authorises the Department to charge that amount to
the card.
(2)
You can contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or that it should be
reduced or not imposed, or both. You should provide reasons for contending any
charge. In determining whether or not to reduce or not impose the charge, the FOI Act
requires the Department to take into account whether payment of the charge, or part of
it, would cause financial hardship and whether the giving of access would be in the
public interest. The Department may also consider any other relevant matters.
(3)
You can withdraw your request.
Processing timeframe
In accordance with section 31 of the FOI Act, the time limit for processing your request is
suspended from the day that you receive this letter and will resume on either:
• the day you pay the charge (in full or the required deposit); or
• if you contend under (2) above that charge should be reduced or not imposed and the
Department decides not to impose a charge, the day of that decision.
If you contend under (2) above that a charge should be reduced or not imposed and the
Department confirms that a charge is payable (either the original amount or a reduced
amount), the time limit for processing your request would resume on the day you pay that
charge (in full or the required deposit).
Section 29(2) of the FOI Act provides if you do not respond within 30 days of receiving this
letter, you will be taken to have withdrawn your request.
Notice of extension of time
The period for processing your request has been extended by 30 days in order to allow the
Department to consult with an individual and a foreign government.
Extension of time to consult an individual under section 27A of the FOI Act
As your request covers documents which contain another individual’s personal information,
the Department is required to consult with that individual (under section 27A of the FOI Act)
before making a decision on the release of those documents.
For this reason the period for processing your request has been extended by 30 days in order
to allow our agency time to consult with that individual (section 15(6) of the FOI Act).
The consultation mechanism under section 27A applies when we believe the individual (or
their representative) may wish to contend that the requested documents are exempt for reasons
of personal privacy. We will take into account any comments we receive from the individual
but the final decision about whether to grant you access to the documents you requested rests
with the Department.
3
Extension of time to consult a foreign government under section 15(7) of the FOI Act
As your request covers a document which concerns relations between the Commonwealth and
a foreign government, the Department is required to consult with that government under
section 15(7) of the FOI Act before making a decision on the release of that document.
For this reason, the period for processing your request has been extended by 30 days in order
to allow our agency time to consult with the foreign government (section 15(8) of the FOI
Act).
The consultation mechanism under section 15(7) applies when we believe it is appropriate to
consult a foreign government or authority of a foreign government to help us determine
whether the requested documents are exempt because their release may cause damage to
relations between the Commonwealth and the foreign government or may divulge information
communicated by that Government in confidence. We will take into account any comments
we receive from the foreign government but the final decision about whether to grant you
access to the documents you requested rests with the Department.
If you have any queries, I can be contacted by telephone on (02) 6271 5849.
Yours sincerely
Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section
10 July 2018
4
