Beneficial Ownership Register
Dear Treasury FOI Team,
I am following up on the government's early proposal to establish a Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), which was raised in an article in the Guardian newspaper on Monday 11 February 2019 titled 'Coalition abandons plan for register to help beat tax avoidance'.
I also note the BOR is being considered under the Australian Government Partnership recommendations and as of April 2019 implementation has been marked as delayed (not abandoned).
In the above mentioned article, the response from Treasury was noted as: “The government is considering what action may be needed to increase the transparency of beneficial ownership of companies.”
I would like to request, under the Freedom of Information Act, any documents that relate to the government's plans to increase transparency of beneficial ownership of companies including those that refer to establishment of the BOR.
Please include emails, ministerial correspondence, briefings and any relevant file notes from January 2017 to the present day.
Please exclude the submissions from the consultation which ran from 12 February 2017 - 13 March 2017 and are already publicly available on your website.
Yours faithfully,
Evelyn Doyle
Dear Ms Doyle
We write to acknowledge receipt of your request, under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
Your request was received by the Treasury on 9 July 2019. The FOI Act
provides that we have 30 days to process the request. This period may be
extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will
advise you if this happens.
We will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the
amount of any such charge as soon as possible.
We make the following assumptions that affect the scope of the request.
These are set out below.
It is our usual practice:
· not to disclose the personal information of government employees
or the personal contact details of senior government employees (including
those of the Treasury). The names of senior officers will generally be
released.
· not to release duplicates of any document captured within the
scope of the request.
· only the final version of a document will be considered within
scope.
Please inform us if you do not agree to the request being processed on the
above assumptions. If we do not hear from you, your request will be
processed on the basis that you do not intend to capture these matters in
your scope
We will contact you using the email you provided. Please advise if you
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If you have any questions in relation to your application, please contact
the FOI Team on 02 6263 2800.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [1][email address]
Dear Ms Doyle
Please see the attached correspondence relating to FOI 2528.
Regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [1][email address]
References
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Dear FOI team
Thank you for your response advising that the scope of my original request was too broad.
After discussion with one of your team members I would like to revise my FOI request as follows:
I would like to request, under the Freedom of Information Act, all briefings / briefs to the Treasurer from the Department of the Treasury about the establishment of a Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR) including any about the decision not to proceed with the BOR. Please limit your search to between January 2018 to the present day.
Thanks for you assistance in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Evelyn Doyle
Dear Ms Doyle
I am writing to seek your agreement to a section 15AA extension of time to process your FOI request.
Under section 15AA of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) you can agree to up to 30 days, noting we are seeking a two week extension of time.
We would be grateful if you could confirm whether you agree to our request. The new due date would be 24 August 2019.
Regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [email address]
Dear FOI team,
Thank you for your message requesting more time to process my request. I to agree to extending the time by two weeks.
Yours sincerely,
Evelyn Doyle
Dear Ms Doyle
Please find attached correspondence regarding your FOI request 2528.
Regards
FOI Officer
Law Design Office
Revenue Group
The Treasury, Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600
Ph: + 61 2 6263 2800