Reasons
Section 47F of the FOI Act - unreasonable disclosure of personal information
I have applied the conditional exemption in section 47F(1) to part of the Document.
Section 47F of the FOI Act relevantly provides:
'
(1) A document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure under this Act would involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased
person).
(2) In determining whether the disclosure of the document would involve the unreasonable
disclosure of personal information, an agency or Minister must have regard to the
following matters:
(a) the extent to which the information is wel 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.'
Personal Information
The term 'personal information' is defined as follows:
'...
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.'
I find that a part of the Document contains personal information being information about the separation
from Tourism Australia of an identified individual.
Whether disclosure is 'unreasonable'
In addition to the factors specified in section 47F(2) of the FOI Act, paragraph 6.138 of the FOI
Guidelines provides:
'The personal privacy exemption is designed to prevent the unreasonable invasion of third
parties' privacy. The test of 'unreasonableness' implies a need to balance the public interest
in disclosure of government-held information and the private interest in the privacy of
individuals.'
I am satisfied that the disclosure of the third party personal information would be unreasonable for the
following reasons:
• it relates to aspects of individuals’ personal affairs;
• you do not have consent from these individuals for the release of their personal
information; and
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• the information is private and not available in full or in part from publicly-accessible
sources.
I have decided that the personal information included in the Document is conditionally exempt under
section 47F(1) of the FOI Act.
Public interest considerations
Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act provides:
'The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally
exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that time
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.'
When weighing up the public interest for and against disclosure under section 11A(5) of the FOI Act, I
have taken into account relevant factors in favour of disclosure as set out in section 11B. In particular,
I have considered the extent to which disclosure would promote the objects of the FOI Act.
I have also considered the relevant factors weighing against disclosure, indicating that access would
be contrary to the public interest. In particular, I have considered the extent to which disclosure could
reasonably be expected to:
• prejudice individuals’ right to privacy in respect of their employment arrangements; and
• adversely affect or harm the interests of an individual in relation to their ability to negotiate
any potential future arrangements.
Based on the above factors, I have decided that in this instance, the disclosure of a part of the
Document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
I have not taken into account any of the irrelevant factors set out in section 11B(4) of the FOI Act in
making this decision.
Section 47E of the FOI Act – certain operations of agencies
I have applied the conditional exemption in section 47E(c) to a significant part of the Document.
Section 47E of the FOI Act relevantly provides:
A document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure under this Act would, or could reasonably
be expected to, do any of the fol owing: ….
(c) have a substantial adverse effect on the management or assessment of personnel by the
Commonwealth or by an agency;…
Note: Access must generally be given to a conditionally exempt document unless it would be
contrary to the public interest (see section 11A).
The FOI Guidelines provide at paragraph 6.114 that the ‘management of personnel’ includes:
the broader human resources policies and activities, recruitment, promotion,
compensation, discipline, harassment and occupational health and safety (my emphasis).
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I find that the Document includes information relating to Tourism Australia’s human resource activities,
namely its approach to dealing with separation of a Managing Director. I find that the disclosure of this
information would have a substantial adverse effect on the management of Tourism Australia
personnel in that it would impact Tourism Australia’s ability to negotiate future separation
arrangements.
Public interest considerations
As for the to the conditional exemption at section 47F of the FOI Act, I need to consider and weigh up
the public interest factors for and against disclosure of conditionally exempt information for the
purposes of section 47E(c). Having regard to the factors in favour of disclosure set out in section 11B,
I consider that it is not in the public interest to disclose this information in circumstances where:
• the disclosure would prejudice Tourism Australia’s management of personnel; and
• the information does not inform debate on a matter of public importance.
In summary, I am satisfied that extensive parts of the Document are conditional y exempt under
sections 47E(c) and 47F(1) of the FOI Act. Furthermore, I have decided that on balance it would be
contrary to the public interest to release this information.
I have considered whether it would be possible to provide you with an edited copy of the Document. I
have had regard to the fol owing at paragraph 3.98 of the FOI Guidelines in considering this:
‘ an agency or minister should take a common sense approach in considering whether the
number of deletions would be so many that the remaining document would be of little or no
value to the applicant. Similarly, the purpose of providing access to government information
under the FOI Act may not be served if extensive editing is required that leaves only a skeleton
of the former document that conveys little of its content or substance.’
Extensive redactions to the Document would be required to remove the conditionally exempt
information, making the Document meaningless. Accordingly, I have decided not to release the
Document to you.
Review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner
review of the decision. We encourage you to seek internal review as a first step as it may provide a
more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to Tourism Australia for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days of the date of this letter.
Where possible, please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The
internal review wil be carried out by another officer within 30 days.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Information Commissioner to review my
decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be made in writing within 60
days of the date of this letter, and be lodged in one of the fol owing ways:
online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/oaic/foi-review-/
email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post:
GPO Box 2999, Canberra ACT 2601
in person:
Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW
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More information about Information Commissioner review is available on the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner website. Go to: www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-reviews\.
Yours sincerely
Mark Craig
Executive General Manager, Corporate Services
Freedom of Information Of icer
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