ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI/2021/043
FOI
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
Mr Francis Unmeopa
DECISION BY: Mr Peter Rush
Assistant Secretary
Parliamentary and Government Branch
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Unmeopa
I refer to your email of 19 March 2021 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:
On the 12/03/21 the following document ( FOI/2020/1721C) was released under FOI.
Contained within that release is a letter titled Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal
(HOSM) between Mr Ric Wells DFAT and Mr Paul O'Neill PM & C
(FOI/2020/1721C Document 2).
Mr O'Neill states the following in paragraph 2...
'It is this Departments view that the conditions in Iraq following the US lead
Coalitions Forces met the conditions for the award of the medal. In addition to other
eligible groups it is proposed to recommend that the Medal be awarded to a group of
Australian personnel attached to the Coalition Provisional Authority. These
nominations have been the subject of discussions between (s22) of this department and
Ms Louise Hand of your Department'.
Regarding the final sentence of the paragraph, I respectfully request copies of the
correspondence and or record of conversations stated above between Department of
Prime Minister & Cabinet and Ms Louise Hand, Chief of Protocol ,DFAT.
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 FOI Act.
Decision
I have decided to refuse the FOI request under section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.
In making my decision, I have had regard to the following:
•
the terms of your request;
•
searches undertaken by the Department regarding your request;
•
the FOI Act; and
•
the ‘Guidelines made by the Australian Information Commissioner issued 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.
Having regard to the terms of your request, relevant searches were undertaken in the
Department. As a result of these searches, no documents relevant your request were found.
I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find documents relevant to your
request, and that no documents relevant to your request exist in the Department.
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 the FOI 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/make-an-foi-complaint/.
Yours sincerely
Peter Rush
Assistant Secretary
Parliamentary and Government Branch
14 April 2021
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