OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
FOI Reference: PM/22/010
To BE
Right to Know
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear BE
Thank you for your email dated 30 August 2022 regarding a request to access documents
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Terms of FOI request
You set out your FOI request in the following terms (numbered for reference purposes):
1. I seek communication between the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister
Burney’s office in relation to the meeting and press conference attended by the
Prime Minister, Minister Burney and Shaquille O’Neal on 27 August 2022
(Press Conference - Sydney | Prime Minister of Australia (pm.gov.au)).
2. I also seek access to all internal communication within the Prime Minister’s
office relating to the press conference or meeting referred to above between
the period 14 August 2022 - 28 August 2022.
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised to make a decision in this matter on the Prime Minister's behalf.
Material taken into account
In reaching my decision I had regard to:
• the terms of your request
• the Act
• the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner, under section 93A of the Act
(Guidelines)
Documents in scope
The Office has identified two documents that fall within the terms of part 1 of your request.
The Office has identified one document that falls within the terms of part 2 of your request.
Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone 02 6277 7700
www.pm.gov.au
A schedule of the documents is included as Attachment A.
Decision
I have decided to grant access in part to the documents subject to parts 1 and 2 of your
request identified above, with redactions for irrelevant matter.
Staff names and related personal information have been redacted on the grounds that this
information is reasonably regarded as irrelevant to the subject of your request under section
22 of the Act. Information not relevant to the scope of your request (i.e. not related to the
meeting or press conference with Mr O’Neal) has also been redacted, as well as information
that is not subject to the FOI Act because it is does not fall within the meaning of ‘official
document of a Minister’.
My findings of fact and reasons for decision are set out below.
Reasons for decision
Official documents of a Minister
I have considered the right of access under section 11(1)(b) of the FOI Act which extends to
an ‘official document of a Minister’. ‘Official document of a Minister’ is defined in section 4
of the FOI Act as follows (with emphasis added):
•
a document that is in the possession of a Minister, or that is in the possession of the
Minister concerned, as the case requires, in his or her capacity as a Minister, being a
document that relates to the affairs of an agency…
Accordingly, for a document to be an official document of a Minister and subject to the FOI
Act it must:
• be in the possession of the Minister
• be held in their capacity as a Minister; and
• relate to the affairs of an agency.
“Agency” is defined to mean a Department, a prescribed authority or a Norfolk Island
authority (s 4).
In this context, I note the examples set out in paragraph 2.50 of the Information
Commissioner’s FOI Guidelines that discuss documents held by a Minister but that do not
relate to the affairs of an agency, in particular:
• personal documents of a minister or the minister’s staff
• documents of a party political nature, and
• documents held in the minister’s capacity as a local member of parliament not dealing
with the minister’s portfolio responsibility.
The meeting that took place between the Prime Minister and Mr Shaquille O’Neal was
requested by Mr O’Neal and coordinated by the Prime Minister’s electorate office. The
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet was not involved in arranging the meeting and
did not provide any briefings or assistance.
On this basis, I consider that documents and information of an administrative nature relating
to the logistics of the meeting do not relate to the “affairs of an agency” within the meaning
of s 4 of the Act. As such, they are not official documents of the Minister and the FOI Act
does apply. These parts of the identified documents have been redacted.
However, there are parts of the documents that relate to the Uluru Statement of the Heart and
the Voice to Parliament. I find that this information does relate to the affairs of an agency and
is thus subject to release under the FOI Act.
Irrelevant information
Section 22 of the Act provides if giving access to a document would disclose information
reasonably regarded as irrelevant and it is possible for the Minister to prepare an edited copy
of the document, modified by deletions of the irrelevant matter, the Minister must prepare
and disclose the edited copy of the document.
I am satisfied the personal information of staff is reasonably regarded as irrelevant to the
subject of your request. This is because the personal information does not provide you with
any information about the meeting or the press conference.
In reaching this view I have considered the Guidelines and find in the circumstances it is
reasonable to regard personal information as irrelevant to your request.
I also regard information in the documents that is not related to the meeting with Mr O’Neal
or the press conference as falling outside the scope of your request and thus irrelevant.
Other information
I note that the Prime Minister has made public information concerning the meeting with Mr
O’Neal, including the nature of the meeting and how it came about. This information is
available on the Prime Minister’s Media website.
Review rights
If you disagree with the decision you may apply for an Information Commissioner review
within 60 days from the date of this letter. The FOI Act does not provide for internal review
of a decision by Minister.
More information about review rights and how to apply is available at:
www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/information-
commissioner-review
Yours sincerely
Simona Gory
Senior Legal Adviser
29 September 2022
OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
FOI Reference: PM/22/010
Attachment A
Schedule of Documents
No.
Date
of
Description (document reference)
Decision on release
pages
1. 24 August 2022
8
Email plus attachment
In part
s 22
2. 24 August 2022
8
Email
In part
s 22
3.
15 August 2022
4
Email
In part
s 22
Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone 02 6277 7700
www.pm.gov.au