Diversity on boards and advisory committees
Dear FOI Team
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
I am seeking a soft copy of any policies or statistics on the composition of reportable Commonwealth Government boards and advisory bodies by diversity group (excluding gender).
Yours faithfully
You have contacted the Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox at the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the department).
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FOI team
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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OFFICIAL
Reference: FOI/2025/290
Dear O
Thank you for your email of 22 October 2025 in which you made a request
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department).
You set out the terms of the request as follows:
I am seeking a soft copy of any policies or statistics on the composition
of reportable Commonwealth Government boards and advisory bodies by
diversity group (excluding gender)..
Timeframe for receiving your decision
The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the Department received your request, you should therefore
expect a decision from us by 21 November 2025. The processing period of
30 days may be extended in certain circumstances and we will write to you
separately regarding any extension of time.
Additional Reference Information – for your response by 3 November 2025
In the interim, you might find information of interest regarding Equity in
Employment in the Australian Public Service at [1]ANAO and there is some
information in the PMC annual report on the PMC website re gender
diversity
To access statistics from the PM&C Annual Report 2024–25 about the
diversity composition of government boards and advisory bodies, you can
find them in the Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report
2023–24, which is published alongside the annual report, as follows:
Direct Access: [2]Gender balance on Australia Government boards data |
Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2023-24 | PM&C
· PM&C Gender Balance on Government Boards Report
· PM&C Annual Reports
These reports include:
· Gender breakdowns of board membership
· Chair and Deputy Chair roles by gender
· Portfolio-level statistics
· Commitments to expand diversity reporting beyond gender
**[information about PM&C diversity composition of government boards was
complied with the support of Co-pilot and the source of information
verified by a human]
If the information above satisfies your request, we would be most grateful
for your agreement to withdraw your FOI request by 3 November 2025.
Exclusion of non-SES staff names and contact details
It is the Department’s policy to delete from documents:
o Any person’s signature.
o Names and contact details of Australian Public Service officers who
are not Senior Executive Service (SES) officers.
o Mobile or direct numbers of SES officers.
o Names and contact details of Ministerial staff at a level below Chief
of Staff.
If you disagree with this policy and want access to this information
please let us know at [3][DPMC request email]. Otherwise this type of
information will be deleted as irrelevant under section 22 of the FOI Act.
SES officer details are considered within scope and release will be
considered in accordance with the FOI Act.
Charges
Agencies may decide that an applicant is liable to pay a charge in respect
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Publication of documents
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
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[4]https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/depart...,
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released to you, please contact us by email at [5][DPMC request email]. If you
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out your reasons.
Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at
[6]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
Yours sincerely
PM&C FOI Team
FOI Coordinator | FOI Section
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
e. [7][email address] w. [8]pmc.gov.au
______________________________________________________________________
IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or
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you
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References
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1. https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance...
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/gender-...
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. https://www.pmc.gov.au/about-us/accounta...
5. mailto:[DPMC request email]
6. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
7. mailto:[email address]
8. https://pmc.gov.au/
OFFICIAL
PMC Ref 2025/290
Dear “O”
I refer to your request dated 22 October 2025, made to the Department of
the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of Information Act 1982,
in which you sought access to:
I am seeking a soft copy of any policies or statistics on the composition
of reportable Commonwealth Government boards and advisory bodies by
diversity group (excluding gender).
The current due date for a decision on this request is 21 November 2025.
Regrettably, the Department is not currently in a position to finalise the
decision by this date. Accordingly, we would like to seek your agreement
to a 14 day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. This will
preserve your rights to internal review in the event you are not happy
with the Department’s decision. Should you agree to the extension, a
decision on your request would be due by 5 December 2025.
We will endeavour to notify you of the decision prior to this extended
date if possible. Please be aware however, that it may be necessary to
apply other extension of time, or ‘stop clock’ provisions during the
processing of this request.
If you agree to this request for a 14-day extension of time, we ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by 20 November 2025.
Kind regards
Coordinator | 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. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01DC57B7.DE9AA260 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.
-----Original Message-----
From: O <[FOI #13904 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 22 October 2025 8:59 AM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Diversity on boards and advisory
committees
Dear FOI Team
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
I am seeking a soft copy of any policies or statistics on the composition
of reportable Commonwealth Government boards and advisory bodies by
diversity group (excluding gender).
Yours faithfully
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #13904 email]
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[6]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
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More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[7]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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______________________________________________________________________
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/
4. mailto:[FOI #13904 email]
5. mailto:[DPMC request email]
6. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
7. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
You have contacted the Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox at the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the department).
This email address is for requests to access documents under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982. The department cannot provide you with the
records of other government agencies. If you are seeking access to records
from another agency, you can search for their website on [1]the Australian
Government directory.
If you have written to the department to submit an FOI request or
application for internal review of an FOI decision, please consider this
email to be an acknowledgement of its receipt. We will contact you to
provide more information about the processing of your FOI request within
14 days of its receipt.
The FOI team of the department is unable to respond to non-FOI related
enquiries sent to this email address. If you have a non-FOI related
enquiry, refer to [2]the department's list of contacts.
For more information about how to make a valid FOI request to the
department, please visit [3]Freedom of Information.
FOI team
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
______________________________________________________________________
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.directory.gov.au/
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/contact-us
3. https://www.pmc.gov.au/foi