ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI/2021/158
FOI
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
T Nutt
DECISION BY: Ms Petra Gartmann
Assistant Secretary
Legal Policy Branch
By ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear T Nutt
I refer to your email of 7 August 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:
Under the FOI Act, I seek a copy of any document contained in Phil Gaetjens’ email
account, WhatsApp and Signal account that contains the word ‘Lehrmann’.
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 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 the FOI request;
•
the FOI Act; and
•
the ‘Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner issued under
section 93A of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982’ (the
FOI Guidelines).
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
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 of Mr Gaetjen’s email, WhatsApp and Signal accounts. As a result
of these searches, no document relevant to the FOI request was found.
I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find any document relevant to the
FOI request, and that no document relevant to the request exists.
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/.
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
Petra Gartmann
Assistant Secretary
Legal Policy Branch
3 September 2021
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