ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI
FOI/2020/238
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
Trav S
DECISION BY: Peter Rush
Assistant Secretary
Parliamentary and Government Branch
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Trav S
I refer to your request of 12 October 2020, made 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:
In 2010 the Director-General of AusAID wrote in support of a Humanitarian
Overseas Service Medal application by an Australian government contractor. The
application's purpose was to test the eligibility of contractors engaged by the
Australian government to assist in the reconstruction effort in Iraq. AusAID officials
subsequently met with the Department responsible for honours policy to advocate.
This led to the Department producing instructions to draft an amendment of HOSM
(Iraq) declaration 2004 to extend to specified commercial contractors. Drafting was
done with the proposed text being promulgated for review in March 2012. The
Department proposed to brief PSPM McLucas soon thereafter.
I would like to ask for a copy of the following documents under the FOI Act:
1. the Department's document/email informing PSPM McLucas or her staff of the
proposed amendment or the related case
2. the document/email recording the decision to reject the proposed amendment
3. the document/email informing AusAID and the applicant that the proposed
amendment was rejected.
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
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised to make this decision in accordance with arrangements approved by the
Department’s Secretary under section 23 of the Act.
Decision
I have decided to refuse your request under section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.
Reasons
Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document;
and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i)
is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii)
does not exist.
The Department did not submit any advice to the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime
Minister, the Hon Jan McLucas, or her staff regarding a proposed amendment to the
Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (Iraq) Declaration 2004. No decision was made
regarding a proposed amendment to the
Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (Iraq)
Declaration 2004 while Ms McLucas was Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Therefore, there was no communication informing AusAID or the applicant “that the
proposed amendment was rejected” at that time.
In light of the facts detailed above, I am satisfied that no documents within the scope of your
request exist in the Department’s possession.
I have therefore decided to refuse your request under section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.
Processing and access charges
I have decided not to impose charges in respect of your request.
Review rights
Information about your rights of review under the FOI Act is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/.
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Complaint rights
You may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner about the Department’s actions
in relation to a request. Making a complaint about the way the Department has handled an
FOI request is a separate process to seeking review of the Department’s decision. Further
information about how to make a complaint is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-
of-information/reviews-and-complaints/. Yours sincerely
Peter Rush
Assistant Secretary
Parliamentary and Government Branch
5 November 2020
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Document Outline
