28 August 2020
Dr A Vogl
BY EMAIL: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request:
FA 20/03/00704
File Number:
OBJ2020/8086
Dear Dr Vogl,
Freedom of Information (FOI) request - Access Decision
On 09 March 2020, 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 fol owing documents:
I am writing to request access to the following documents or information:
[1] All documents relating to the review or evaluation of both the Community Sponsorship Program
(CSP) and the Community Proposal Pilot (CPP), including the final report of any formal evaluation,
or internal or external review, undertaken of either program.
[1.1] In particular, I request access to the documents (including reports, outcomes,
recommendations and Departmental responses) arising from the fol owing evaluations, undertaken
either by the Department or external organisations including ARTD Consultants:
a. The Stage 1 evaluation of the CPP conducted in early 2014 and finalised by mid-2014; b. The
Stage 2 evaluation of the CPP, completed in December 2014; and c. The Stage 3 comprehensive
evaluation of the CPP, which assessed the CPP after the first entrants under the program had spent
up to 12 months in Australia
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.
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 Belconnen ACT 2616 Telephone: 02 6264 1111 Fax: 02 6225 6970 www.homeaffairs.gov.au
3
Relevant material
In reaching my decision I referred to the fol owing:
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)
advice from Departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the
documents to which you sought access
4
Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified 12 documents as fal ing within the scope of your request.
These documents were in the possession of the Department on 09 March 2020 when your
request was received.
Attachment A is a schedule which describes al relevant documents that are in scope 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 fal
within the scope of your request is as fol ows:
Release 8 documents in part with deletions
Exempt 4 documents from release
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.
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, ensuring
that the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded
as irrelevant to the request.
The Department’s policy is to exclude the personal details of officers not in the Senior
Executive Service (SES), as wel as the mobile and work telephone numbers of SES staff,
contained in documents that fal within scope of an FOI request. Keeping in mind the
Department’s policy, though not guided by it, I have considered the personal details,
including names, business email addresses and phone numbers of officers not in the SES,
as wel as the mobile and work telephone numbers of SES officers and the relevance of
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this information to the broader context of the document. I find that these details can,
reasonably, be regarded as irrelevant to the scope of the request and to the context of the
documents.
I have therefore decided that parts of documents marked ‘s22(1)(a)(i )’ would disclose
information that could reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to your request, and have
prepared an edited copy of the documents, with the irrelevant material deleted pursuant to
section 22(1)(a)(i ) 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 34 of the FOI Act – Cabinet documents
The documents I have exempted under section 34(3) of the FOI Act contain information
that would reveal a Cabinet deliberation or decision. I have conducted checks and believe
that this information has not been official y disclosed.
6.3 Section 47C of the FOI Act – Deliberative processes
Section 47C(1) of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditional y exempt if its release
would disclose deliberative matter, which includes matter in the nature of, or relating to
opinion, advice or recommendation that is obtained for, or prepared for, or recorded for a
consultation or deliberation that has taken place in the course of, or for the purposes of,
the deliberative processes involved in the functions of an agency, a Minister or the
Government of the Commonwealth.
I find that some documents, or parts of the documents, include correspondence that was
developed during a consultative process. The documents in scope include col aborative
correspondence circulated in the process of preparing a submission, which related to the
Community Proposal Pilot (CPP), where col ective and/or competing viewpoints that may
have had a bearing on the eventual development of the CPP, and/or its successor/affiliate
program – the Community Support Program, were presented and weighted. I find that this
content is deliberative matter to which section 47C(1) applies.
I have considered whether any exceptions, per section 47C(2), apply to these documents
or parts of documents and I am satisfied that these exceptions do not apply. I find that the
documents are neither operational information for the purposes of section 8A, nor
information that is purely factual.
I consider that the release of the documents, or some information within the documents,
were it to be identified within the public sphere, carries a reasonable risk that the aims and
objectives of the CPP (or affiliate program) may be undermined. I find that the Department’s
ability to run its programs effectively, including engagement with essential stakeholders for
the purposes of delivering the CPP (or affiliate program), is too important to subject to any
such risk. I find therefore that the Department’s ability to deliver, monitor and/or review the
CPP (or affiliate program) may be significantly and adversely impacted by the release of
these documents.
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
potential y its law enforcement partners, to change those methods and/or procedures to
avoid jeopardising their future effectiveness.
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Accordingly, I find that the documents are conditional y exempt under section 47C(1) of the
FOI Act. Access to a conditional y exempt document must general y 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 Section 45 – Documents containing material obtained in confidence
Section 45 of the FOI Act provides that a document is an exempt document if its disclosure under
this Act would found an action, by a person (other than an agency, the Commonwealth or Norfolk
Island), for breach of confidence.
Parts of the documents contain information from Approved Proposing Organisations (APOs),
which has been extracted from the surveys and reports of those APOs and may also contain
personal information about CPP clients on their settlement experiences in Australia. This
information is held by the Department on an ‘in-confidence’ basis. Any disclosure under the FOI
Act would result in a breach of confidence.
I am satisfied that the nature of the information is inherently confidential as:
The information is specifical y provided by Approved Proposing Organisations in
circumstances giving rise to the obligation of confidence;
The information has the necessary quality of confidentiality as it contains
information that is not common knowledge or in the public domain;
The information was provided to the Department and received on the basis of a
mutual understanding of confidence;
If the information was disclosed, it would be without the authority of the Approved
Proposing Organisations or any of the clients they serve, and
Disclosure of the information may cause detriment to the Approved Proposing
Organisations or any of the clients they serve.
I am satisfied that the disclosure of the information within the documents would found an action
by the APOs for a breach of confidence and as such I have decided that these documents are
exempt from disclosure under section 45 of the FOI Act.
6.5 Section 47F of the FOI Act – Personal Privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure
under the FOI Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of
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, system identifiers or
descriptions of their circumstances.
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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 wel 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 wel 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 individuals concerned are not general y 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 specifical y to the third parties would be
relevant to the broader scope of your request, as you are seeking access to evaluative
information about a program 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 conditional y exempt under section
47F of the FOI Act. Access to a conditional y exempt document must general y 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.
6.6 The public interest – section 11A of the FOI Act
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditional y exempt, I am now required
to consider whether access to the conditional y exempt information would be contrary to
the public interest (section 11A of the FOI Act).
A part of a document which is conditional y 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 conditional y exempt part of the document
would be, on balance, contrary to the public interest.
In applying this test, I have noted the objects of the FOI Act and the importance of the other
factors listed in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, being whether access to the document would
do any of the fol owing:
(a)
promote the objects of this Act (including al the matters set out in sections 3 and
3A);
(b)
inform debate on a matter of public importance;
(c)
promote effective oversight of public expenditure;
(d)
al ow a person to access his or her own personal information.
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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 wil 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 fol owing factors that weigh against the release of the
conditional y exempt information in the documents:
I consider there to be a strong public interest in the Department being able to
manage its programs effectively towards the attainment of strategic outcomes.
In finding that these strategic outcomes may be undermined through potential
damage to important stakeholder relationships through the release of
conditional y exempt information marked ‘s.47C(1)’, I therefore consider that
the release of this information is not in the public interest.disclosure of the
personal information which is conditional y exempt under section 47F of the
FOI Act could reasonably be expected to prejudice 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 individuals 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 11B(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;
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 al of the above relevant public interest considerations, I have concluded
that the disclosure of the conditional y exempt information in the documents would be
contrary to the public interest and it is therefore exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act.
- 6 –
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
wil 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.
9
Making a Complaint
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 cal 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.
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10
Contacting the FOI Section
Should you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section
at xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Signed electronical y
Position number 60081621
Authorised Decision Maker | Freedom of Information Section
FOI and Records Management Branch
Data Division | Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs
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ATTACHMENT A
SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS
REQUEST UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
FOI request: FA 19/08/00851
File Number: OBJ2019/46476
No
Date of
No. of Description
.
document pages
Decision on release
1.
-
4
Community Proposal Pilot (CPP)
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
Evaluation – detailed brief
2. 26/03/2014
30
CPP Evaluation Report, Stage 1
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
47C(1)
45(1)
3. 01/04/2014
4
Minute – Evaluation of the Community
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
Proposal Pilot – Stage one
47C(1)
47F(1)
4.
Submission # SM2014/00925
Exempt
34(3)
5.
12/2014
31
CPP Evaluation Report, Stage 2
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
47C(1)
45(1)
6.
3
Minute – Evaluation of the Community
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
Proposal Pilot – Stage two
47C(1)
47F(1)
7.
Submission # MS15-001922
Exempt
34(3)
8.
12
CPP – Settlement Outcomes Analysis
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
47C(1)
45(1)
9.
11/2015
36
CPP Evaluation Report, Stage 3
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
47C(1)
45(1)
10. 8/12/2015
4
Minute – Evaluation of the Community
Partial
22(1)(a)(i )
Proposal Pilot – Final Report
47C(1)
11.
Submission # MS15-024497
Exempt
34(3)
12.
Submission # SM2014/00306
Exempt
34(3)
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