Notice of of FOI decision A Pentland FOI ref 2022 0059.pdf

FOI ref: 2022/0059

7 June 2022

Alex Pentland
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx


Dear Alex Pentland

Notice of Decision for Freedom of Information Request no. 2022/0059

The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about access to documents that you
have requested under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
Summary
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to
FOI requests.
You lodged an FOI request on 3 May 2022 for access to:
“The Terms of Engagement for Graham Connolly as appointed member of the
AAT.

Any correspondence between the President of the AAT and Graham Connolly.

Any correspondence between any of the Division Heads of the AAT and Graham
Connolly”

As a result, I have identified 7 documents which fall within the scope of your request:
1.  Instrument of Appointment of Graham Connolly
2.  Assignment of Non-Presidential Members
3.  Letter of Appointment and associated Human Resource file which includes
Access to AAT Systems and Premises form, Employee details form, letter of
engagement from AAT Recruitment, passport, TFN declaration, superannuation
forms, Member Declaration Regarding Conflicts of Interest and WHS
questionnaire
4.  Remuneration Tribunal determination and Remuneration schedule
Level 6, 83 Clarence Street
T: 02 9276 5000 or 1800 228 333
National Relay Service
SYDNEY NSW 2000
F: 02 9276 5599
www.relayservice.gov.au
GPO Box 9955 Sydney NSW 2001
E: xxx@xxx.xxx.xx

ABN 90 680 970 626
www.aat.gov.au

5.  Conduct Guide for AAT Members
6.  Member Induction Program 2022 – Day 1
7.  Day 2 NDIS Division Member Induction Workshop May 2022
Decision
I have decided to:
1.  Grant full access to:
-
Assignment of Non-Presidential Members
-
Remuneration Tribunal determination and Remuneration schedule
-
Conduct Guide for AAT Members
-
Member Induction Program 2022 – Day 1
-
Day 2 NDIS Division Member Induction Workshop May 2022
2.  Grant partial access to:
-
Instrument of Appointment of Graham Connolly
-
Letter of Appointment and associated Human Resource file
3.  Refuse access to:
-
Correspondence between Division Head and Graham Connolly
-
Correspondence between the President of the AAT and Graham Connolly

In making my decision, I have taken the following into account:
•  the content of the documents that fall within the scope of your request;
•  the FOI Act, specifically sections 11, 22, 24A, 47F and 47E;
•  the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of
the FOI Act (FOI Guidelines); and
Instrument of Appointment
This document, signed by then Attorney-General Michaelia Cash on 31 March 2022,
appoints several persons to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). As your request
clearly relates to the appointment and engagement of Graham Connolly as a Senior
Member to the AAT, I find that the other entries appointed by the same instrument could
not reasonably be regarded as relevant to the request and this document has been
edited in accordance with s 22 of the FOI Act.

Correspondence between Division Head and Graham Connolly
Section 24A of the FOI Act provides that, after all reasonable steps have been taken to
find the documents, access to documents may be refused if the documents do not exist
or cannot be found. In this regard, I have liaised with the Migration and Refugee
Division’s (MRD) Executive Advisor who has stated that the Division Head of MRD,
Deputy President Jan Redfern, has confirmed that she has not corresponded with
Graham Connelly directly.
I am therefore satisfied that correspondence between Graham Connolly and the Division
Head of the MRD does not exist, and I refuse access to the documents under section
24A of the FOI Act.

Correspondence between the President of the AAT and Graham Connolly.

I have also decided to refuse access to your request for correspondence between the
President of the AAT and Graham Connolly under s 24A of the FOI Act after taking all
reasonable steps to find the documents. In making my decision I liaised with the Director
of Governance & Executive and Executive Advisor to the President who has conducted
a search of the President’s email inbox and sent items for the terms “Graham” and
“Connel y” which yielded no results. She has also directly spoken the President who has
confirmed she has not corresponded directly with Graham Connolly.
I am therefore satisfied that correspondence between Graham Connolly and the
President of the AAT does not exist, and I refuse access to the documents under section
24A of the FOI Act.

Letter of Appointment file

A document titled ‘Letter of Appointment File’ has been provided by the Tribunal’s
Recruitment team and contains all material relating to Graham Connol y’s employment
with the Tribunal. This file contains an Access to AAT Systems and Premises form,
Employee details form, letter of engagement from AAT Recruitment, copy of passport,
Tax File Number declaration, superannuation forms, Member Declaration Regarding
Conflicts of Interest and Workplace Health and Safety questionnaire.
I have decided to partially release the letter of engagement from AAT Recruitment and
Member Declaration Regarding Conflicts of Interest. Information contained within the
letter of engagement contains Mr Connol y’s home address and Australian Government
Staff number. I find that this is personal information, and that disclosure of this personal
information would be unreasonable because an employee of the Tribunal would expect
that their personal address and staff identifier number be kept confidential, and the
Tribunal has obligations to maintain the privacy of its staff as required by the Australian
Privacy Principles. The Member Declaration Regarding Conflicts of Interest contains the
name, title and employment details of a third party. A person who is a friend, colleague
or relation of an AAT Member and has their relationship declared on a Member
Declaration Regarding Conflicts of Interest would also expect that their personal
information be kept confidential and not released to the world at large. This information
is personal information and is conditionally exempt under s 47F of the FOI Act.

Within the ‘Letter of Appointment File’ are direct phone numbers of AAT District
Registrar, Julian and recruitment team member, Myles as well as direct internally used
phone numbers and email addresses of HR and Payroll. These phone numbers and
email addresses are conditionally exempt under s 47E(d) as disclosure could have a
substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of the
AAT. The AAT does not release direct phone numbers or internal email addresses to
avoid members of the public using incorrect channels to contact the Tribunal. This
document is partially conditionally exempt under s 47E.
I have refused access to the Access to AAT Systems and Premises form, Employee
details form, superannuation forms and a Workplace Health & Safety questionnaire.
These documents exist for the purpose of HR and relate to the management of Tribunal
personnel and are conditionally exempt under s 47E of the FOI Act as any disclosure
could have a substantial adverse effect on the management or assessment of personnel
by the Tribunal. These documents are conditionally exempt under s 47E(c) of the FOI
Act.

I have refused access to the passport and Tax File Number declaration form under s
47F of the FOI Act. The Tax File Number Guidelines issued under s.17 of the Privacy
Act 1988 protect the privacy of natural persons by regulating the collection, storage, use,
disclosure, security and disposal of tax file number information.  Unauthorised use or
disclosure of tax file numbers is also an offence under the Taxation Administration Act,
as well as constituting a breach of the Tax File Number Guidelines. I have also refused
access to the copy of the passport. I also find that this is personal information and that
disclosure of this personal information would be unreasonable because having regard to
the matters in subsection 47F(2) this information is that of another person to whom the
Tribunal has obligations to maintain confidentiality of this information.

Public interest

Having considered the public interest factors in section 11B and taking into account the
circumstances relevant at the time of this decision, I find that disclosure of the above
information would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest because the general
public would expect that personal information of employees provided to an employer or
HR be held confidentially and not released to other persons without explicit consent.
Upon commencement of employment at the Tribunal, staff are advised that personal
information supplied is required for the purpose of updating personal information on the
Tribunals’ payroll system and that this information will remain confidential and stored
with HR. Such a policy is standard across the majority of employers and the general
public would expect that employer’s maintain staff personal information with the highest
integrity. Releasing of personal information relating to personnel does not promote the
objects of the FOI Act and I find that release of this information would be contrary to the
public interest under s.11A (5), therefore it is exempt from disclosure.

I have also considered the public interest test in relation to the Member Declaration
Regarding Conflicts of Interest which contains the name, title, employment details of a
third party. I do not consider that release of this information would be in the public
interest because the declaration of the relationship is pre-emptive of avoiding potential
conflict. Making the declaration serves the public interest by stopping any potential
future conflict of interest that may have arisen if the declaration had not been made. On

balance I find that protecting the privacy of a person who has been declared as simply
known to Senior Member Connelly outweighs the benefit of releasing this information.
Given that no conflict of interest has arisen here, I do not consider that release would
promote the objects of the FOI Act nor inform debate on a matter of public importance.

Edited versions of the letter of engagement from AAT Recruitment and Member
Declaration Regarding Conflicts of Interest have been provided in accordance with s. 22
of the FOI Act.

I consider that edited versions of the Access to AAT Systems and Premises form,
Employee details form, superannuation forms and a Workplace Health & Safety
questionnaire cannot be released under s.22 of the FOI Act because to delete all the
conditionally exempt information would render the documents meaningless.

Your review rights

Information about how you can apply for a review of this decision or complain about how
we have dealt with this matter is set out in the attached fact sheet, FOI 2.

If you have any questions about this decision, please contact me at xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.

Yours sincerely,

Marta
Authorised FOI Officer (APS 6)

Attachments
-
FOI 2 – Information about reviews and complaints under the Freedom of Information Act
-
Assignment of Non-Presidential Members
-
Remuneration Tribunal determination
-
Remuneration Schedule
-
Conduct Guide for AAT Members
-
Member Induction Program 2022 – Day 1
-
Day 2 NDIS Division Member Induction Workshop May 2022
-
Instrument of Appointment of Graham Connolly (partially redacted)
-
Letter of Appointment file (partially redacted)

Information about reviews and complaints under the
Freedom of Information Act
What should I do prior to applying for internal review or contacting the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner?
Before you apply for an internal review or contact the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner, we recommend that you telephone the officer who made the FOI
decision. It is often possible to resolve concerns or answer your questions using this
approach and, if not, the officer will be able to assist you in applying for review.
How do I apply for internal review to the AAT?
You can apply to us for an internal review of the FOI decision. The application for
internal review must be made within 30 days or such further period as we allow, after the
day the decision is notified to you. To apply for an internal review you must do so in
writing. You may also wish to explain why you are not satisfied with the decision. A
different and more senior officer authorised under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the FOI Act) will conduct the internal review and make a new decision within 30 days
after receipt of your application.
If you have already applied for internal review and want to seek a further review of that
decision, you will need to apply to the Australian Information Commissioner.
How do I apply for review to the Australian Information Commissioner?
You may also apply directly to the Australian Information Commissioner for review of the
FOI decision. The application for review must be made within 60 days after the day
notice of the decision was given. An application for review must be in writing, include
details of how notices in relation to the review are to be sent to you and include a copy
of the decision. You may also wish to explain why you are not satisfied with the decision.
An online application form is available on the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner’s website, details of which are provided below.
What if I want to make a complaint about the handling of a Freedom of
Information request?
If you have a complaint about the way in which we have processed your request for
access under the FOI Act you can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to
investigate. An online complaint form is available on the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner’s website, details of which are provided below.
Where can I find further information or contact details for the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner?
Further information is available on the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au and you can contact the office on 1300 363
992 or by email at xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx..
FOI 2 (July 2016)