2 March 2023
FOI ref: 3271
Mr John Smith
Right To Know Website
By email: foi+request‐9875‐xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Smith
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – DECISION
I am writing to advise you of my decision concerning your request of 31 January 2023 for
access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act) as follows:
The declarations of interest documentation made by the head of the Revenue, Small
Business and Housing area and the Secretary of the Treasury.
I am authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions.
I have identified declarations of interests made by Ms Diane Brown, Deputy Secretary heading
the Treasury’s Revenue, Small Business and Housing Group, and Dr Stephen Kennedy, the
Secretary of the Treasury.
I have decided to refuse your request for access to the documents under section 47F of the FOI
Act. The reasons for my decision follow.
Material considered
In making my decision, I have considered the request and relevant documents, the FOI Act and
Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI
Act (
FOI Guidelines), and advice from subject matter experts within the Treasury.
Background
The Treasury
Conflict of Interest Policy (
Policy) applies to all Treasury staff, including all Senior
Executive Service (SES) officers, as well as Treasury’s contractors and consultants. A key
requirement of the Policy is that Treasury staff must continually identify, disclose, manage and
monitor any real or perceived conflicts of interest.
The Policy is underpinned by section 29 of the
Public Governance, Performance and
Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and section 13 of the
Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act).
Together, these provisions require Australian Public Service (APS) officials (including all SES
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officers) to disclose any material personal interests, and avoid any real or perceived conflicts of
interest, in connection with their APS employment.
The Policy also requires all Treasury SES officers to submit a confidential
Declaration of Private
Interests form regarding their own or their families’ material personal interests on their initial
engagement with the Treasury and at least annually thereafter, even if no real or apparent
conflicts of interest are identified.
Treasury staff must also hold security clearances, which require them to disclose additional
information regarding their personal relationships and interests to the Australian Government
Security Vetting Agency.
Reasons for decision
Section 47F ‐ personal privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides a document is conditionally exempt if its release would
involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person.
The requested documents contain information regarding the personal affairs of Ms Brown and
Dr Kennedy and their family members. Given the personal and confidential nature of their
contents, I consider disclosure of these declarations to be unreasonable. I therefore find the
declarations are conditionally exempt from disclosure in full under section 47F of the FOI Act.
My public interest considerations are below.
Public interest
Conditionally exempt information must be released unless disclosure would, on balance, be
contrary to the public interest (section 11A(5)). I have considered the public interest factors for
and against release of the requested material in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act and FOI
Guidelines, and disregarded the irrelevant factors set out in section 11B(4).
In this respect, I have particularly considered paragraph [6.5] of the FOI Guidelines, which
provides that the concept of the public interest is something that is
in the interest of the public,
not something that is merely
of interest to the public.
In favour of access, I find public interest factors favouring release of the requested documents
include promoting the objects of the FOI Act and increasing scrutiny of the government’s
activities. Against release, I have considered the public interest in individuals’ right to privacy
and the public interest in agencies being able to properly and efficiently manage their
personnel affairs (including staff disclosures of personal interest) without undue interference.
On balance, I consider there are overriding public interest factors against release of the
requested information. In particular, I consider the public interest in this regard is sufficiently
served by s13 of the PS Act and s29 of the PGPA Act which require Treasury officials to disclose
material personal interests and avoid conflicts of interest as well as knowledge of the existence
of the Policy which requires Treasury SES to continuously identity, disclose, manage and
monitor any real or perceived conflicts of interest. I note that these statutory obligations do
not include any requirement to publish individual officials’ declarations of interests, which are
provided on a confidential basis.
I have therefore decided to refuse access to the requested documents under section 47F of
the FOI Act.
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Rights of Review
A statement setting out your rights of review in this matter is attached.
Yours sincerely
Kathryn Grimes
General Counsel
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INFORMATION ON RIGHTS OF REVIEW
1.
APPLICATION FOR INTERNAL REVIEW OF DECISION
Section 54 of the FOI Act gives you the right to apply for an internal review of the decision
refusing to grant access to documents in accordance with your request.
An application for a review of the decision must be made in writing within 30 days of receipt of
this letter.
No particular form is required but it would assist the decision‐maker if you could set out in the
application the grounds on which you consider that the decision should be reviewed.
An application for a review of the decision should be emailed to xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
OR
2.
APPLICATION TO AUSTRALIAN INFORMATION COMMISSIONER (INFORMATION
COMMISSIONER) FOR REVIEW OF DECISION
Section 54L of the FOI Act gives you the right to seek a review of the decision from the
Information Commissioner. An application for review must be made within 60 days of
receiving the decision.
An application for review must be in writing and must:
– give details of how notices must be sent to you; and
– include a copy of the notice of decision.
You should send your application for review to:
The Information Commissioner
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
AND/OR
3.
COMPLAINTS TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
Section 70 of the FOI Act provides that a person may complain to the Information
Commissioner about action taken by an agency in the exercise of powers or the performance
of functions under the FOI Act.
A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be in writing and identify the agency the
complaint is about. It should be directed to the following address:
The Information Commissioner
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
The Information Commissioner may decline to investigate the complaint in a number of
circumstances, including that you did not exercise your right to ask the agency, the
Information Commissioner, a court or tribunal to review the decision.
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