OFFICIAL

Dear James

I refer to your correspondence dated 4 December 2023 for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the following:

Please provide copies of all correspondence between any current or former
Minister for Defence (or Acting Minister) and:

1. the Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel (comprised of Dr
Vivienne Thom, AM, Robert Cornall, AO, and Professor Rufus Black); and

2. the Department for Defence or the Australian Defence Force in relation
to:

(a) the work or reports of the Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation
Oversight Panel; or

(b) the paper titled "Preparing for the Future: Key Organisational Lessons
From the Afghanistan Campaign" authored by Andrew Hocking.

Your request has been directed to the Office of the Minister for Defence
for action.

The statutory timeframe for you to receive a response to your request is 3
January 2024. However, it is likely that your request will not be
finalised by this timeframe due to the upcoming Christmas and New Year
period and seek your agreement to a 30 day extension under section 15AA
[extension with agreement] of the FOI Act. Should you agree, the statutory
deadline for you to receive a response to your request will be 2 February
2024.

It would be much appreciated if you could confirm your agreement to this
extension of time via e-mail by close of business 7 December 2023.

Please be aware only final versions of documents will be considered and
duplicates of documents will be excluded.

Should you have any questions relating to this request, please do not
hesitate to contact me via email at [1][email address].

Thank you and regards

Freedom of Information Team

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

OFFICIAL

Dear James

Please find attached the Decision relating to your FOI request to the
Office of the Minister for Defence.

Thank you and regards

Freedom of Information Team

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

Tel: 02 6132 7927 

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

OFFICIAL
Good afternoon James,

As your FOI request was to the Office of the Minister for Defence, we are unable to process your request for internal review.

In accordance with advice received from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), if a decision was made by a minister or someone the minister has authorised to make a decision on their behalf, an internal review is not available (ss 54(1), 54A(1)).

If you wish to seek a review of the decision for FOI 006/23/24, you will need to make a request with the OAIC.

Kind regards,

Freedom of Information Team
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Department of Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence. Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email immediately.

-----Original Message-----
From: James Smith <[FOI #10939 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 3 January 2024 8:46 PM
To: FOI Case Management <[email address]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel

EXTERNAL EMAIL: Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear FOI Case Management,

Hi,

Please can you escalate for internal review.

I note you've bolded and underlined the "and"s in the response to the request. It is not clear why that has happened.

To check there hasn't been a misunderstanding, please can you let me know if the s24 response is the same if the request is reframed as follows, clarifying the intended operation of the "and"s.

1.copies of all correspondence between any current or former Minister for Defence (or Acting

Minister) with the Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel (comprised of Dr Vivienne Thom,

AM, Robert Cornall, AO, and Professor Rufus Black).

2. copies of all correspondence between any current or former Minister for Defence (or Acting

Minister) with the Department for Defence or the Australian Defence Force in relation to:

(a) the work or reports of the Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel; or

(b) the paper titled "Preparing for the Future: Key Organisational Lessons From the

Afghanistan Campaign" authored by Andrew Hocking.

Yours sincerely,

James Smith

-----Original Message-----

OFFICIAL

Dear James

Please find attached the Decision relating to your FOI request to the

Office of the Minister for Defence.

Thank you and regards

Freedom of Information Team

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

Tel: 02 6132 7927 

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.

Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email

may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in

error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email

immediately.

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