Department Reference: FOI 1933
Mr Reason
via email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Reason
NOTICE OF DECISION
I refer to your request of 31 August 2020 to the Department of Health (department)
seeking access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) in the
following terms:
The job description, duties and obligations for the following members of the
Department's executive leadership team:
The Secretary
Associate Secretary
Acting Chief Medical Officer
Deputy Secretary for Health Resourcing
Deputy Secretary for Health Products Regulation
Deputy Secretary for Ageing and Aged Care Special Advisor
Deputy Secretary for Primary and Community Care
Acting Chief Operating Officer
The prescribed role, responsibilities, duties and obligations for the Department's
executive leadership team during a declared public health emergency.
I am authorised under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation
to Freedom of Information requests. I am writing to notify you of my decision on
your request.
Decision
I have identified five documents falling within the scope of your request. The
documents are set out in the schedule at Attachment A.
I have decided to give access to four documents in their entirety and one document
subject to the deletion of irrelevant information as indicated in the attached
schedule. My reasons for this decision are set out at Attachment B.
Freedom of Information Unit (MDP 516) GPO Box 9848 Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6289 1666 ABN: 83 605 426 759
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Further information about Departmental Secretary positions, including roles and
responsibilities, appointment and terminations, is set out in Part 7 of the
Public
Service Act 1999 (Cth)
(the PS Act).
Review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for a review.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the department for an
internal review of my decision. The internal review application must be made within
30 days of the date of this notice (or such further period as the department allows).
Where possible please provide reasons why you consider review of the decision is
necessary. The internal review will be carried out by another officer of this
department within 30 days.
An application for an internal review should be addressed to:
Email:
xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
Mail:
FOI Unit (MDP 516)
Department of Health
GPO Box 9848
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Information Commissioner Review
Alternatively, under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for a review my decision. An
application for review must be made in writing within 60 days of this notice (if you
do not request an internal review).
The OAIC can be contacted by:
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Phone:
1300 363 992
More about the OAIC review is available here:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-
complaints/information-commissioner-review/
You may also make a complaint to the OAIC about action taken by the department
in relation to your application. Further information can be obtained from the website
above.
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Relevant provisions of legislation
The FOI Act, including the provisions referred to in this letter, can be accessed from
the Federal Register of Legislation website here:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2020C00246
The PS Act can be accessed from the Federal Register of Legislation website here:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00057
Publication
You should be aware that where I have decided to release documents to you, the
department may also publish the released material on its Disclosure Log. The
department will however, not publish information (such as personal or business
information) where it would be unreasonable to do so.
For your reference the department’s Disclosure Log can be found at:
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/foi-disclosure-log
Contacts
If you require clarification of any of the matters discussed in this letter, you should
contact the FOI unit on (02) 6289 1666 or email
xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Robyn White
Assistant Secretary
People Branch
23 October 2020
link to page 4
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SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS - FOI-1933
ATTACHMENT A
Document
Date
Number
Description
Decision
Exemption
no.
of pages
on access1
20 August 2018
8
Position description R
1
for Deputy Secretary
Health Financing
(PDF)
20 June 2018
2
Position description R
2
for Deputy Secretary
Health Financing
(Word version)
22 January 2020
1
Chief Medical
R
3
Officer – Position
Description
29 November 2019
1
Position description RI
section 22
4
for Deputy Secretary
HSPPC
20 November 2017
7
Position description R
5
for Chief Operating
Officer
1 R = Release, RI = Release with irrelevant information removed.
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REASONS FOR DECISION
Material taken into account
In making my decision, I had regard to the following:
• the terms of your request
• the content of the documents sought
• advice from departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the
documents sought
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act and
• guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act.
Section 22 – deletion of irrelevant and/or exempt material
Section 22 of the FOI Act applies to documents containing exempt material
(paragraph 22(1)(a)(i)) and irrelevant information (paragraph 22(1)(a)(ii)) and allows
an agency to delete such material from a document.
I have deleted irrelevant material from document 4 and prepared edited copies for
release. These documents contain the full name of a Department of Health employee
and business information. As outlined when your request was acknowledged, this
material is considered irrelevant to the scope of your request and I have deleted it.
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