Our reference: FOIREQ18/00166
Ms Verity Pane
By e
mail: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Your Freedom of Information request – Decision on access
Dear Ms Pane,
I refer to your request for access to documents, made under the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 25 October 2018.
You have sought access to:
I seek copy under FOI of the OAIC policy regarding gifts and copy of the FY17/18 Gift Register.
Decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I have identified eight documents within the scope of your request. I have decided to grant
you access to four documents in full. I have decided to grant you access to four documents in
part, with exempt material deleted under s 47F of the FOI Act.
A schedule describing each document and the access decision I have made is at Appendix A
to this decision.
Reasons for decision
Material taken into account
In making my decision, I have had regard to the following:
your freedom of information request of 25 October 2018
the documents at issue
the FOI Act, in particular ss 11A(5) and 47F
1300 363 992
T +61 2 9284 9749
GPO Box 5218
www.oaic.gov.au
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
F +61 2 9284 9666
Sydney NSW 2001
ABN 85 249 230 937
the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of the
FOI Act to which regard must be had in performing a function or exercising a power
under the FOI Act (the FOI Guidelines), particularly at [6.1]-[6.27] and [6.124]-[6.157]
Personal privacy conditional exemption s 47F
I have decided that documents 1, 2, 4 and 7 are conditionally exempt in part under s 47F of
the FOI Act. The relevant material is the names of the individuals who offered the gift or
benefit to an OAIC officer.
Section 47F of the FOI Act conditionally exempts documents where disclosure would involve
the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any person (including a deceased
person). This exemption is intended to protect the personal privacy of individuals.
Personal information means:
Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is
reasonably identifiable:
a) Whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
b) Whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not
I am satisfied that the names of the relevant individuals is personal information for the
purposes of the FOI Act.
In determining whether disclosure of personal information would be unreasonable, s 47F(2)
of the FOI Act requires me to have regard to the following matters:
the extent to which the information is well known
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
the availability of the information from publically accessible sources
any other matters I consider relevant.
Based on internet searches, I am satisfied that the persons to whom the information relates
are not known to be associated with the matters dealt with in the document and the
information is not available from publically accessible sources.
I am therefore satisfied that the names of the individuals who offered the gift or benefit to an
OAIC officer, are conditionally exempt under s 47F of the FOI Act.
2
Public interest test (s 11A (5))
Under s 11A(5) access must be given to a conditionally exempt document unless in the
circumstances giving access would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
The public interest factor that would favour disclosure is that the disclosure would promote
the objects of the FOI Act.
Against this factor, I consider that the specific harm in disclosing an individual’s name
without agreement, and where this information has not been previously disclosed, would be
an interference with an individual’s right to privacy.
In considering where the public interest lies, I must consider the factors that favour
disclosure balanced against the factors that favour non-disclosure.
On balance, I find that the factor against disclosure, that is, that disclosure could reasonably
be expected to interfere with an individual’s right to privacy, outweighs the factor in favour
of disclosure. Therefore I have determined that disclosing the information, conditionally
exempt under s 47F of the FOI Act, would be contrary to the public interest.
Yours sincerely,
Megan McKenna
FOI Officer
Legal Services
26 November 2018
3
If you disagree with my decision
Internal review
You have the right to apply for an internal review of my decision under Part VI of the FOI Act.
An internal review will be conducted, to the extent possible, by an officer of the OAIC who
was not involved in or consulted in the making of my decision. If you wish to apply for an
internal review, you must do so in writing within 30 days. There is no application fee for
internal review.
If you wish to apply for an internal review, please mark your application for the attention of
the FOI Coordinator and state the grounds on which you consider that my decision should be
reviewed.
Further Review
You have the right to seek review of this decision by the Information Commissioner and the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
You may apply to the Information Commissioner for a review of my decision (IC review). If
you wish to apply for IC review, you must do so in writing within 60 days. Your application
must provide an address (which can be an email address or fax number) that we can send
notices to, and include a copy of this letter. A request for IC review can be made in relation to
my decision, or an internal review decision.
It is the Information Commissioner’s view that it will usually not be in the interests of the
administration of the FOI Act to conduct an IC review of a decision, or an internal review
decision, made by the agency that the Information Commissioner heads: the OAIC. For this
reason, if you make an application for IC review of my decision, it is likely that the
Information Commissioner will decide (under s 54W(b) of the FOI Act) not to undertake an IC
review on the basis that it is desirable that my decision be considered by the AAT.
Section 57A of the FOI Act provides that, before you can apply to the AAT for review of an FOI
decision, you must first have applied for IC review.
Applications for internal review or IC review can be submitted to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Alternatively, you can submit your application by email
to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or by fax on
02 9284 9666.
4
Accessing your information
If you would like access to the information that we hold about you, please
contac
t xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx. More information is available on th
e Access our
information page on our website.
Disclosure log
Section 11C of the FOI Act requires agencies to publish online documents released to
members of the public within 10 days of release, except if they contain personal or business
information that it would be unreasonable to publish.
The documents I have decided to release to you do not contain business or personal
information that would be unreasonable to publish. As a result, the documents will be
published on our disclosure log shortly after being released to you.
5
Appendix A: Schedule of documents – Freedom of Information request no FOIREQ18/00166
Document no.
Date
Description
Decision on access
Exemption
1
13 July 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in part
47F
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
2
13 July 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in part
47F
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
3
13 September 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in full
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
1300 363 992
T +61 2 9284 9749
GPO Box 5218
www.oaic.gov.au
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
F +61 2 9284 9666
Sydney NSW 2001
ABN 85 249 230 937
4
31 October 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in part
47F
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
5
3 November 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in full
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
6
17 November 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in full
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
7
21 December 2017
Record of gift or benefit
Release in part
47F
offered to the Office of
the Australian
Information
Commissioner
2
8
January 2017
Office of the Australian
Release in full
Information
Commissioner Gift Policy
3
