FOI 2022 064 Decision.pdf

OFFICIAL

Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI 2022/064
To: JS
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear JS
I refer to your request to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), received on 19 February 2022.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the
FOI Act.
Scope of request
You set out your request in the following terms:
I request copies of any electronic correspondence between Pharmacy Guild email addresses
(@guild.org.au) and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet and Department of Health email
addresses (@pmc.gov.au, @pm.gov.au and @health.gov.au) between 1 November 2021 and
1 January 2022.

If the contents of these emails cannot be shared then I request a spreadsheet of al  emails with
recipient, sender, subject lines and date/time.

On 2 March 2022 the Department advised you that the part of your request for correspondence
between Pharmacy Guild and the Department of Health should be directed to the Department of
Health as a separate request.

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.

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

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Material taken into account
In reaching my decision I referred to the following:
•  the terms of your request
•  searches undertaken by the Department
•  the documents relevant to your request
•  the FOI Act
•  the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner1 (the FOI Guidelines)
•  the views of a third party consulted by the Department under section 27A

Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified 21 documents that fall within the scope of your request.
These documents are set out in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A.

Decision
I have decided to grant access in part, with exempt and irrelevant material deleted, on the basis that
the documents contain information exempt under section 47F (personal privacy) and section 47G
(business affairs) of the FOI Act.

Reason for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is exempt or irrelevant is set out
below.

1.  Section 47F - personal privacy
Section 47F(1) of the FOI Act provides a conditional exemption for material that would  involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any  person (including a deceased person).
‘Personal information’ under the FOI Act has the same meaning as set out in section 6 of
the Privacy Act 1988 and means:
… information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is
reasonably identifiable:
(a)  whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
(b)  whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
Parts of the documents contain the personal information of third party individuals including names,
employment and contact information. One third party has objected to the disclosure of their personal
information contained in the documents.

1 s 93A of the FOI Act

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An agency or minister must have regard to the following matters in determining whether disclosure of
the document would involve an unreasonable disclosure of personal information:
a.  the extent to which the information is well known
b.  whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have been)
associated with the matters dealt with in the document
c.  the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources
d.  any other matters that the agency or minister considers relevant (s 47F(2)
I have reviewed the personal information, and the views of the relevant third parties, and I am
satisfied that material identified as personal information within the  documents are conditionally
exempt from release, under subsection 47F(1) of the FOI Act, as their release would involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information.

2.  Section 47G - business
Paragraph 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides:
(1)
A document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure under this Act would  disclose
information concerning a person in respect of his or her business or  professional
affairs or concerning the business, commercial or financial  affairs of an organisation
or undertaking, in a case in which the disclosure of  the information:

(a)  would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect that person
adversely in respect of his or her lawful business or professional affairs or  that
organisation or undertaking in respect of its lawful business,  commercial or
financial affairs;
In relation to the term ‘business or professional affairs’ the FOI Guidelines relevantly discuss the
following:
The use of the term ‘business or professional affairs’ distinguishes an individual’s personal or
private affairs and an organisation’s internal affairs. The term ‘business affairs’ has been
interpreted to mean ‘the totality of the money-making affairs of an organisation or undertaking
as distinct from its private or internal affairs’.
The internal affairs of an organisation include its governance processes, the processes by which
organisations are directed and control ed. For example, documents relating to member voting
processes are not exempt under s 47G, because member voting forms part of the governance
affairs of an organisation.2
Parts of documents 6-9, 14 and 16 would disclose the business affairs of an organisation and that
disclosure would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect that organisation adversely
in respect of its lawful business, commercial or financial affairs.
The information consists of an email address used for a specific purpose of managing events
coordinated by the organisation and this email address is not listed publicly. The disclosure of the

2 FOI Guidelines, [6.192] – [6.193] (footnotes omitted).

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email address would adversely affect the way the organisation manages public enquiries and the
coordination of future events.
I am satisfied that this information is conditionally exempt from release under subsection 47G(1)(a)
of the FOI Act.

3.  Public interest
The FOI Act provides that a conditionally exempt document must nevertheless be disclosed unless its
disclosure would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest3. In determining whether its disclosure
would be contrary to the public interest, the FOI Act requires a decision-maker to balance the public
interest factors.
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditionally exempt, I am now required to
consider the public interest factors, in doing so I have not taken into account the irrelevant factors as
set out in subsection 11B(4) of the FOI Act, this includes:
a)  access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth Government, or
cause a loss in confidence in the Commonwealth Government
b)  access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or misunderstanding the
document
c)  the author of the documents was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the request for
access to the document was made
d)  access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate
In applying the public interest, I have noted the objects of the FOI Act4 and the factors favouring
access as listed in subsection 11B(3) of the FOI Act. Having regard to the material before me and the
circumstances of the documents found to be conditionally exempt I am satisfied of the following:
•  access would promote the objects of the FOI Act5
The FOI Act does not set out any public interest factors against disclosure and require that agencies
are to have regard to the FOI Guidelines in order to work out if disclosure would, on balance, be
contrary to the public interest6. The FOI Guidelines contain a non-exhaustive list of factors that,
depending on the circumstances of the documents found to be conditionally exempt, may weigh
against disclosure.
In relation to the material I found to be conditionally exempt under s 47F of the FOI Act, I consider
that the following factor weighs against disclosure:
Disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the right to personal privacy. In relation to the
material I found to be conditionally exempt under s 47G of the FOI Act, I consider that the following
factor weighs against disclosure:
•  Disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the business affairs and efficient service
delivery of the third party organisation

3 s 11A(5) of the FOI Act
4 s 3 of the FOI Act
5 s 11B(3)(a) of the FOI Act
6 s11B(5) of the FOI Act

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OFFICIAL
After careful consideration of all relevant factors, I have decided that on balance, the factors against
disclosure outweigh those favouring disclosure. Accordingly, I am of the view that disclosure of the
requested document would be contrary to the public interest.
For these reasons, I have decided that the material identified above is exempt under sections 47F and
47G of the FOI Act.

Deletion of irrelevant matter
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose information that
would be reasonably regarded as irrelevant to the request, it is possible for the Department to
prepare an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions, ensuring that the edited copy would
not disclose any information that would reasonable be regarded as irrelevant to the request.
On 2 March 2022, the Department advised you of its policy to exclude the personal and direct contact
details of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and any Ministerial staff, as well as any
person’s signature, and the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers, which are contained in
documents that fall within the terms of an FOI request. This category of information is identified as
irrelevant and documents can be modified by the Department to delete the irrelevant material.
Accordingly, I am satisfied that parts of the document are irrelevant under subparagraph 22(1)(a)(ii) of
the FOI Act. The remainder of the document has been released to you as it is relevant to your request.

Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner
review of the decision.
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 after the date of this letter.
Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The internal
review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days from the date it is received.
Applications for review should be sent to xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.

Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review my decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be made in
writing within 60 days after the date of this letter.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available here.7

7 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/information-commissioner-review

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Attachment A
Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Schedule of Documents
Reference: FOI-2022-064

Date
No. of
pages
Description (document reference)
Decision on release
1.    03/11/2021
2
Job Application – Senior Advisers, Social  Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Policy Division VN-0696552
part
s 47F
1.1  03/11/2021
1
Att. 1 - Statement of reasons
Exempt in ful   s 47F
1.2  03/11/2021
4
Att 2 - CV
Exempt in ful   s 47F
2.  3/11/2021
1
Automatic reply – Application - Senior
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Advisers, Social Policy Division VN-
part
s 47F
0696552
3.  24/11/2021
1
Automatic reply - Application
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
4.  04/11/2021
3
Job Application and Outcome  – Senior  Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Advisers, Social Policy Division VN-
part
s 47F
0696552
5.  25/11/2021
2
Job Application
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
6.  05/11/2021
2
Invitation - Pharmacy Guild Cocktail
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Function
part
s 47G(1)(a)
s 47F
7.
05/11/2021
2
Invitation - Pharmacy Guild Cocktail
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Function
part
s 47G(1)(a)
s 47F
8.  01/12/2021
3
Response to Invitation - Pharmacy Guild  Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Cocktail Function
part

PM&C | Freedom of Information (FOI) request |

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s 47G(1)(a)
s 47F
9.  22/11/2021
2
Invitation to Pharmacy Guild Cocktail
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Function
part
s 47G(1)(a)
s 47F
10.  24/11/2021
1
Job Application Follow-up
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
11.  01/12/2021
1
Response to Invitation
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
12.  04/11/2021
4
Job Application - – Senior Advisers,
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Social Policy Division VN-0696552
part
s 47F
13.  04/11/2021
5
Job Application - – Senior Advisers,
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Social Policy Division VN-0696552
part
s 47F
14.  01.12.2021
3
Response to RSVP - Invitation to
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Pharmacy Guild Cocktail Function
part
s47 G(1)(a)
s 47F
15.  25/11/2021
2
Job Application
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
16.  05/11/2021
2
Response to Invitation - Pharmacy Guild  Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Cocktail Function
part
s 47G(1)(a)
s 47F
17.  20/12/2021
2
Thank you email from Pharmacy Guild
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
18.  03/11/2021
1
Read receipt
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
part
s 47F
19.  23/12/2021
2
Pharmacy Guild to PMC - Christmas
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Card
part
s 47F
20.  21/12/2021
2
Pharmacy Guild to PMC - Christmas
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Card
part
s 47F
21.  17/12/2021
1
Thank you from APS Reform Office to
Exempt in
s 22(1)(a)(ii)
Pharmacy Guild
part
s 47F

OFFICIAL
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