OFFICIAL

FOI/2021/311

Dear Mr Unmeopa

Thank you for your email dated 30 November 2021, received by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), in which
you made a request to the Department under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (the FOI Act) in the following terms:

My name is Francis Sonny Graham Unmeopa. I am from the Meriam Le of the
Eastern Torres Strait Islands and I represent the interests of the men
from the First Nations engaged by The Australian government to assist in
the reconstruction effort in Iraq.  

Respectfully, I have two requests for documentation under the FOI act.  

Please refer to the 1 May 2008 Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal
Regulations Delegation.  This instrument delegates 2 powers to the person
holding the office of assistant secretary, awards and culture Branch
(position number 1860).  

I note, that on 19 March 2012 the department (PM & C)  emailed AusAID
(DFAT) stating 

‘further to your recent discussion with Peter, here’s draft text for your
consideration that we propose to brief the new PSPM Senator Jan McLucas
with soon’. Titled ‘Amendment of Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal
(Iraq) declaration 2004 to extend to specified commercial contractors’ the
document recommended the PSPM do two things - 1. Sign the letter to the
Governor-General recommending she makes a declaration under HOSM
Regulations 2011, extending eligibility for the ‘Iraq’ clasp to the medal,
to specified commercial contractors (Attachment A), and 2. Sign the
proposed Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (Iraq) Declaration 2011
(Attachment B).  And on 11 April 2012 your department emailed AusAID
(DFAT) providing a written agreement to ‘settle the declaration … and
brief the PSPM next week’.

I note, FOI disclosures many years later indicate that the department did
not deliver the documents to the PSPM in accordance with the agreement. 
The 2 powers delegated to the assistant secretary do not appear to extend
to that person being entitled to make ministerial-level decisions
concerning Australian honours and symbols policy.  However, if the
assistant secretary was granted such powers under delegation or under any
other administrative instrument, please provide a copy of that document
outlining such in accordance with the FOI Act.  

The department in response to FOI inquiries many years later admitted that
they withheld the documents from PSPM McLucas as they were continuing
consultations and deliberations.  Please provide a copy of the document in
which the department informed AusAID that they were withholding the
documents from PSPM McLucas in order to continue consultations and
deliberations.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

We received your request on 30 November 2021 and the 30 day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date.
You should therefore expect a decision from us by 30 December 2021. The
period of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances. We will advise
you if there is any extension of time.

Charges

Agencies may decide that an applicant is liable to pay a charge in respect
of a request for access to documents. If the Department decides that you
are liable to pay a charge, we will send you a preliminary assessment of
the charge as soon as possible.

Publication of documents

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published online on our disclosure log at
[1]https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/depart...,
subject to certain exceptions. If you think you might wish to raise any
objections to the publication of any of the information which may be
released to you please contact us by email at [2][DPMC request email].  If you
do wish to object to the publication of information, you would need to
provide supporting reasons.

Exclusion of officers’ names and contact details

For documents that fall within scope of the request, it is the
Department’s policy to withhold:

·         any person’s signature;

·         the names and contact details of Australian Public Service
officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);

·         the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers;

·         the names and contact details of Ministerial staff at a level
below Chief of Staff.

The names and other details of SES officers will not be withheld unless
there is some reason for that information to be exempt from release. If
you require signatures, the names and contact details of non-SES officers
or Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff, or the mobile or
direct numbers of SES officers please let us know at [3][DPMC request email] so
the decision-maker may consider; otherwise we will take it that you agree
to that information being excluded from the scope of your request (that
is, the information will be treated as irrelevant and redacted from any
documents for release).

We will write again when the Department has more information.  Further
information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner
[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Yours Sincerely

Adviser | FOI Section[]

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit  Barton  ACT  2600  |  PO Box
6500  CANBERRA  ACT  2600
e. [5][email address]  w. [6]pmc.gov.au

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[9]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.

______________________________________________________________________ 
IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information 
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or 
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you 
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other 
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you 
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by 
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the 
message from your computer system. 
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/depart...
2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Unmeopa

Please find attached a decision on your request made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Yours Sincerely

FOI Adviser I FOI and Privacy Section

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit  Barton  ACT  2600  |  PO Box
6500  CANBERRA  ACT  2600
e. [1][email address]  w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.

______________________________________________________________________ 
IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information 
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or 
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you 
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other 
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you 
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by 
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the 
message from your computer system. 
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...