Reference: FOI 161/22/23
Objective ID: BN55385764
FOI 161/22/23 STATEMENT OF REASONS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT 1.
I refer to the email of 27 October 2022, in which Alan Cole (the applicant) sought an
internal review under section 54 of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) of the
Accredited Decision Maker’s decision dated 18 October 2022.
2.
The applicant’s request was for access to the following documents under the FOI Act:
The passenger manifests and flight logs of all vip flights operated on the RAAF airbus,
falcon 7X and boeing business jets between September 14th 2022 till September 23rd
2022.domestically and internationally.
Contentions
3.
In their application for internal review, the applicant submitted:
1. The reason for refusal is that the schedule is published every 6 months in june and
december so this info would be available in june 2023. If this is the case please
could you answer why the latest schedule as on your website and tabled is up to
december 2020. as it is October 2022 where are the schedules for the year 2021 ?
you cannot say they will be published in june 2023 when it is already a year
behind.
2. I did not request this full schedule of the flights only a specific date period in
september and i can find no reason for this to be refused.
4.
The purpose of this statement of reasons is to provide the applicant with a fresh
decision relating to the documents.
Reviewing officer
5.
I am authorised to make this internal review decision under arrangements approved by
the Secretary of Defence under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Internal review decision
6.
After careful consideration, I have decided to uphold the original decision by deferring
access to the documents under sections 21(1)(b) and 21(1)(c) [Deferment of access] of the
FOI Act until the manifests are tabled in Parliament.
Defending Australia and its National Interests
2
Material taken into account
7.
In arriving at my decision, I had regard to:
a.
the scope of the applicant’s request and subsequent internal review application;
b.
the original decision;
c.
relevant provisions in the FOI Act;
d.
the
Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act (the Guidelines);
e
advice from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF);
f.
Tabling Guidelines produced by the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet; and
g.
Guidelines for the Presentation of Documents to the Parliament.
Findings and reasons
Section 21 [Deferment of access]
8.
Sections 21(1)(b) and 21(1)(c) of the FOI Act states:
(1) An agency which, or a Minister who, receives a request may defer the provision of
access to the document concerned:
(b) if the document concerned has been prepared for presentation to
Parliament of for the purpose of being made available to a particular person
or body or with the intention that it should be so made available – until the
expiration of a reasonable period after its preparation for it to be so presented
or made available; or
(c) if the premature release of the document concerned would be contrary to
the public interest - until the occurrence of any event after which or the
expiration of any period of time beyond which the release of the document
would not be contrary to the public interest.
9. RAAF are responsible for preparing the documents for the Special Purpose Aircraft
(SPA) flights for tabling in Parliament. RAAF have advised the SPA manifests for the period
between September 14th 2022 till September 23rd 2022, domestically and internationally, are
still under review and yet to be published. The information contained within the draft
document is necessarily withheld from public release until the data is verified.
10.
The
Tabling Guidelines provide the following tabling principles:
Documents prepared for tabling are confidential (under embargo) until they are
presented to the Parliament.
11.
Paragraph 4.29 of the
Guidelines for Presentation of documents to the Parliament
states:
When considering whether a document can be released prior to tabling in Parliament
(that is, made publicly available for example at a media launch) the House of
Representatives Practice 6th Edition (page 612) notes that public release of a
Defending Australia and its National Interests
3
document before presentation to Parliament “has always been considered a matter of
impropriety”. Every effort needs to be made to ensure the document is tabled in
Parliament prior to, or to coincide with, public release of the report.
12.
The Guidelines for the Use of Special Purpose Aircraft, dated February 2013, remain
current. These Guidelines are currently being reviewed by Defence, in consultation with the
Department of Finance and the Australian Federal Police. The revised Guidelines will be
presented for Government consideration to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose. Once this
review is completed, the revised Guidelines will be published on the appropriate website.
13.
Future Special Purpose Aircraft schedules will be released once the review of the
Guidelines is complete. This will ensure that security considerations are balanced with the
need to remain accountable and transparent in the use of a public asset.
14.
Based on the above, I have decided to defer access to the relevant documents until
such time the documents are tabled in Parliament.
Digitally signed by
Shan
Shan
GUNAWARD GUNAWARDENA
ENA
Date: 2022.11.22
10:48:56 +11'00'
Mr Shan Gunawardena
Assistant Director – Freedom of Information Review
Associate Secretary Group
Defending Australia and its National Interests
