Australian Government
Department of Home Affairs
30 September 2019
Sean
BY EMAIL: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
1n reply please quote:
FOi Request:
FA 19/07/00943
File Number:
OBJ2019/42443
Dear Sean
Freedom of Information (FOi) request - Access Decision
On 15 July 2019, the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) received a request for access
to documents 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 for access under the
FOi Act.
1
Scope of request
You have requested access to the following documents:
Documentation that explains the cause of the failure at passport control gates at
airports around Australia on 15 July 2019.
2
Deci1si1on on access
The Department's decision in relation to your request is
attached for your reference.
3
Contact
Should you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the FOi Section
at
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
[electronically signed]
Tina Pholsena
FOi Officer I!
Freedom of lInformatfon Section
FOi and Records Management Branch
Data Management Division Department of Home Affairs
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 Belconnen ACT 2616 • Telephone: 02 6264 1111 • Fax: 02 6225 6970 •
www.homeaffairs.gov.au
Freedom of Information - Decision on Access
1
Request for access to documents
The Department received a number of requests for access to documents relating to the
SmartGates failures on 29 April 2019 and 15 July 2019. These requests were received
between 15 July 2019 and 26 July 2019 and are considered as requests seeking access
to the same material.
This notice contains the Department's decision on access to the documents subject to your
request.
2
Authority to make decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOi Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate records.
3
Relevant material
In reaching my decision I referred to the following:
• the terms of your request
• the FOi Act
• Guidelines published by the Office of the Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOi Act (the FOi Guidelines)
4
Documents in scope of request
I have identified a total of ten documents which fall within the scope of all requests received
by the Department.
These ten documents consist of 2 Major Incident Reviews, four Post Incident Reports and
four media related enquiries.
Attachment A is a schedule which describes the relevant documents and sets out my
decision in relation to each of them.
5
Decision
The decision in relation to the documents in the possession of the Department which fall
within the scope of your request is as follows:
• Release nine documents in part with deletions
6
Reasons for Decision
Detailed reasons for my decision are set out below.
Where the schedule of documents indicates an exemption claim has been applied to a
document or part of document, my findings of fact and reasons for deciding that the
exemption provision applies to that information are set out below.
- 2 -
6.1 Section 22 of the FOi Act - irrelevant to request
Section 22 of the FOi Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose
information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, it is possible for
the Department to prepare an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions,, ensurin9
that the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded
as irrelevant to the request.
On 1'7 Jul1y 2019, the Department advised you that its pol'icy is to exclude the personal1
details of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES), as well as the mobile and work
telephone numbers of SES staff, contained in documents that fall within scope of an FOi
request.
I have therefore decided that parts of documents marked 's22(1 )(a)(ii)' would disclose
informahon that could reasonably be regarded as irrellevant to your request, and have
therefore prepared an edited copy of the documents, with the irrelevant material deleted
pursuant to section 22(1 )(a)(ii) of the FOi Act.
The remainder of the documents have been considered for release to you as they are
relevant to your request.
6.2 Section 47E of the FOi Act - Operations of Agencies
Section 47E(d) of the FOi, Act provides that documents are conditionally exempt if
disclosure would, or could reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on
the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of an agency.
I' consider that the diIsdosure of the parts of documents marked 's47E(d)' would, or coulld
reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient
conduct of the operations of the Department.
Managing the security and integrity of Australia's borders is integral to the operations of the
Department. Any prejudice to the effectiveness of the Department's Information
operational methods and procedures with regards to its l'nformation Technolog1y (IT)
systems used in undertaking that role would result in a substantial adverse effect on the
operations of the Department.
Any disclosure resulting in the prejudice of the effectiveness of the Department's
operational methods and procedures would result in the need for this Department, and
potentially its law enforcement partners, to change i1ts systems to avoid jeopardising their
future effectiveness.
Accordi,ng1ly, I have decided that the documents are conditionally exempt under section
47E( d) of the FOi Act. Access to a conditionaUy exempt document must genera Uy be given
unless it would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether
disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest,. and have included my
reasoning i'n that regard below.
6.3 Section 47F of the FOi Act - Personal Privacy
Section 47F of the FOi Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure
under the FOi Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of
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any person. 'Personal information' means information or an opinion about an identified
individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion
is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not
(see s 4 of the FOi Act and s 6 of the
Privacy Act 1988).
I consider that disclosure of the information marked 's47F' in the documents would disclose
personal information relating to third parties. The information within the documents would
reasonably identify a person, either through names, positions or descriptions of their role
or employment circumstance.
The FOi Act states that, when deciding whether the disclosure of the personal information
would be 'unreasonable', I must have regard to four factors set out in s.47F(2) of the
FOi Act. I have therefore considered each of these factors below:
•
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 publicly available resources;
•
any other matters that I consider relevant.
The information relating to the third parties is not well known and would only be known to
a limited group of people with a business need to know. As this information is only known
to a limited group of people, the individual(s) concerned is/are not generally known to be
associated with the matters discussed in the document. This information is not available
from publicly accessible sources.
I do not consider that the information relating specifically to the third parties would be
relevant to the broader scope of your request, as you are seeking access to the failure of
SmartGates rather than information which wholly relates to other individuals.
I am satisfied that the disclosure of the information within the documents would involve an
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about a number of individuals.
I have decided that the information referred to above is conditionally exempt under section
47F of the FOi Act. Access to a conditionally exempt document must generally be given
unless it would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether
disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my
reasoning in that regard below.
6.4 The public interest - section 11 A of the FOi Act
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditionally exempt, I am now required
to consider whether access to the conditionally exempt information would be contrary to
the public interest (section 11A of the FOi Act).
A part of a document which is conditionallly exempt must also meet the public interest test
in section 11A(5) before an exemption may be claimed in respect of that part.
In summary, the test is whether access to the conditionally exempt part of the document
would be, on balance, contrary to the public interest.
-4-
In applying this test, I have noted the objects of the FOi Act and the importance of the other
factors listed in section 118(3) of the FOi Act, being whether access to the document would
do any of the following:
(a)
promote the objects of this Act (including all the matters set out in sections 3 and
3A);
(b)
inform debate on a matter of public importance;
( c)
promote effectiive oversight of publi1c expendi1ture;
( d)
allow a person to access his or her own personal information.
Having regard to the above:
• I am satisfied that access to the documents would promote the objects of the
FOi Act.
• I consider that the subject matter of the documents does not seem to have the
character of public importance. The matter has a very limited scope and, in my
view, would be of interest to a very narrow section of the public.
• I consider that no insights into public expenditure will be provided through
examination of the documents.
• I am satisfied that you do not require access to the documents in order to
access your own personal information.
I have also considered the following factors that weigh against the release of the
conditionally exempt information in the documents:
• Information about IT service and systems affected: disclosure to the world at
large of the conditionally exempt information contained within documents 1-6
would have a substantial adverse effect on the IT operations of the
Department This conditionally exempt informafiion is of value to individuals or
organisations who may be interested in crafting a hostile cyber security attack
on the IT systems of the Department. I consider that this would be contrary to
the public interest and that this factor weighs strongly against disclosure.
• disclosure of the personal information which is conditionally exempt under
sect.ion 47F of the FOi Act coulldl reasonably be expected to prej1udice the
protection of those individuals' right to privacy.
• The Department is committed to complying with its obligations under the
Privacy Act 1988, which sets out standards and obligations that regulate how
the Department must handle and manage personal information. It is firmly in
the public interest that the Department uphold the rights of indivi,duals to their
own privacy and meets its obligations under the Privacy Act. I consider that
non-compliance with the Department's statutory obligations concerning the
protection of personal information would be contrary to the public interest and
that this factor weighs strongly against disclosure.
I have also had regard to section 118(4) which sets out the factors which are irrelevant to
my decision, which are:
a) access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government;
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b) access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or
misunderstanding the document;
c) the author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the
request for access to the document was made;
d) access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
I have not taken into account any of those factors in this decision.
Upon balancing all of the above relevant public interest considerations, I have concluded
that the disclosure of the conditionally exempt information in the documents would be
contrary to the public interest and it is therefore exempt from disclosure under the FOi Act.
7
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.
8
Your Review Rights
Internal Review
If you disagree with this decision, you have the right to apply for an internal review by the
Department of this decision. Any request for internal review must be provided to the
Department within 30 days of you being notified of the decision. Where possible please
attach reasons why you believe a review of the decision is necessary. The internal review
will be carried out by an officer other than the original decision maker and the Department
must make a review decision within 30 days.
Applications for review should be sent to:
By email to:
xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
OR
By mail to:
Freedom of Information Section
Department of Home Affairs
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2617
Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
You may apply directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for
a review of this decision. You must apply in writing within 60 days of this notice. For further
information about review rights and how to submit a request for a review to the OAIC,
please see Fact Sheet 12 "Freedom of information - Your review rights", available online
at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-review-process.
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9
Mlakiing1 a Compl;ai.nt
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken by the
Department in relation to your request.
Your enquiries to the Australian 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 Australian 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 Home Affairs as the relevant agency.
10 Contacting the FOi Section
Should you wish to discuss this decision, pl!ease do not hesitate to contact the FOi Section
at
foi@homeaffairs.g,ov.au.
atty
Authorised Decision Maker
Department of Home Affairs
-7-
ATTACHMENT A
SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS
REQUEST UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
FOi request: FA 19/07/00943; FA19/07/00952; FA19/07/01294; FA 19/07/01851
File Number: OBJ2019/42443; OBJ2019/42460; OBJ2019/43157; OBJ2019/44624
No Date of No. of Description
document pages
Decision on release
1. 29.04.2019
4
Major Incident Review
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
2. 29.04.2019
3
Post Incident Report
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
3. 29.04.2019
4
Post Incident Report
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
4. 25.07.2019
3
Major Incident Review
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
5. 15.07.2019
4
Post Incident Report
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
6. 15.07.2019
4
Post Incident Report
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
7. 15.07.2019
2
Media Enquiry
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47E(d)
8. 29.04.2019
2
Email
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47F(1)
9. 30.04.2019
3
Email
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47F(1)
10. 15.07.2019
Email
Release in
22(1 )(a)(ii)
part
47F(1)
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