ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI
FOI/2022/023
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
Trav S
DECISION BY: Petra Gartmann
Assistant Secretary
Legal Policy Branch
Trav S
By ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Trav S
I refer to your email of 8 January 2022 in which you made an FOI request to the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), under the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (the FOI Act).
The Department sought clarification of your request on 4 February 2022. You clarified the
terms of your request on 7 February 2022. You set out the terms of your request for access as
follows:
I
offer the following amendment in accordance with the FOI Act.
On 6 Jan 2022, PMC released 8 documents in FOI/2021/313. Document 8 states:
“Decision: 8/10/21 it was decided that the Department would not respond as the
allegation is not fraud related and is being managed by a seperate area with PMC
and DFAT”
As noted, the allegation is being managed by areas within PMC and DFAT. We
would like to ask for a copy of all correspondence between PMC and DFAT relating
to this matter. Please limit the search to correspondence between 2019 and 2022.
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
Decision
I have decided to refuse your request under sections 24A(1)(b)(i) and (ii) of the FOI Act on
the basis that all reasonable steps have been taken to find the requested documents and I am
satisfied they cannot be found or do not exist.
In making my decision, I have considered the following:
•
the terms of your 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’.
My reasons for decision are set out below.
Reasons for decision
Under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act, 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 undertook searches of relevant systems for documents within scope of your
request. Due consideration was also given to previous similar requests and documents
disclosed by the Department on its
Disclosure Log. I am satisfied that no documents relevant to your request are in the possession of the
Department, or if they exist they cannot be found. I have therefore decided to refuse the
request under section 24A(1)(b)(i) and (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/information-
commissioner-review/.
Complaint rights
You may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner about the Department’s actions
in relation to this decision. 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
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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
14 April 2022
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