OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
FOI Reference: PM/23/025
To H (Right to Know)
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear H
Thank you for your email dated 24 February 2023 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:
I'm seeking copies of text messages received by the Prime Minister from Dr Leigh
on 22 February 2023 and any replies or text messages from the Prime Minister to
Dr Leigh on that same date.
To assist with the searches, I advise that the text messages I am seeking were
referred to by the Prime Minister in response to questions at the National Press
Club on 22 Feb 2023.
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/question-and-answer-national-press-club
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)
Decision
I have decided the documents you have requested are not official documents of a Minister
and there is no right of access under the Act.
Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone 02 6277 7700
www.pm.gov.au
Reasons for decision
I have considered the right of access within section 11(1)(b) of the Act which extends to an
‘official document of a Minister’. ‘Official document of a Minister’ is defined in section 4 of
the Act as follows (with emphasis):
•
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.
“Agency” is defined to mean, relevantly, a Department or a prescribed authority.
In this context, I note the examples set out in paragraph 2.50 of the Guidelines of documents
that may be held by a Minister but 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.
I am not satisfied that your request is for documents that relate to the “affairs of an agency”
within the meaning of the Act. The subject matter of your request, being text messages
referred to at the National Press Club on 22 February 2023, has no connection to the affairs of
the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (or any other agency) or to the Prime
Minister’s portfolio responsibilities.
I am therefore satisfied that you are not seeking access to ‘an official document of a Minister’
as defined under section 4 of the Act and that your request, accordingly falls outside the
scope of the Act.
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
27 March 2023