ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI
FOI/2020/273
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
Mr Elmer Fudd
DECISION BY: Mr Matthew Roper
Assistant Secretary
Industry, Science and Communications
Branch
By email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Mr Fudd
I refer to your email of 18 November 2020 in which you made a request (the
FOI request)
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) to the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet (the
Department) in the following terms:
I request copies of any documents containing or disclosing the existence of any
allegation or finding that Scott Morrison as Managing Director of Tourism Australia
breached or acted inconsistently with any of the following:
a) the Tourism Australia Values or Code of Conduct;
b) the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997;
c) the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines;
d) the Commonwealth Grant Guidelines.
I have requested the same documents from Tourism Australia and the Department of
Finance. If you transfer this request to either of those bodies, I request that you
continue to process this request in respect of any documents held by your Department
which are not held by those bodies.
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 FOI Act.
Decision
I have decided to refuse your request under section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act, on the basis
that the Department has taken all reasonable steps to locate the documents you have
requested, and those documents do not exist.
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
In making this decision, I have had regard to the following material:
the terms of your request;
searches undertaken by the Department regarding your request;
the FOI Act; and
the ‘Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982’ (the
FOI Guidelines).
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.
Searches were undertaken across the Department’s relevant systems and paper records for
documents within scope of your request. As a result of these searches, no documents relevant
to your request have been identified.
I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find documents relevant to the
request, and that the requested documents do not exist. 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 processing 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/. 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 availab
le at https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-
of-information/reviews-and-complaints/make-an-foi-complaint/. Yours sincerely
Matthew Roper
Assistant Secretary
Industry, Science and Communications Branch
18 December 2020
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