Finance SERC 5.130 written advice
Dear Department of Finance,
I request a fully unredacted copy of the ‘written confirmation from the Department of Finance, that ASIC was covered by [CDDA] and could receive [CDDA] claims’ referred to at [5.130] of the recent SERC report
Yours faithfully,
Me
Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
OFFICIAL
Dear Me
Freedom of Information Request – FOI 24-25/006
Thank you for your email to the Department of Finance (Finance) requesting
access to the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act):
I request a fully unredacted copy of the ‘written confirmation from the
Department of Finance, that ASIC was covered by [CDDA] and could receive
[CDDA] claims’ referred to at [5.130] of the recent SERC report
Request for assistance
Finance notes that the footnote [168] to paragraph 5.130 of the Senate
Economics References Committee report titled Australian Securities and
Investments Commission investigation and enforcement, refers to the Prime
Trust Action Group Submission. Page 2 of the Prime Trust Action Group
Submission states that “On 13 March 2018, DoF provided written
confirmation that ASIC was covered by the CDDA Scheme and that claims
could be lodged direct to ASIC (refer Attachment 1).” The referenced
Attachment 1 is not available on the Parliament of Australia website.
Finance has conducted searches of Finance records and have not identified
any documents falling within the scope of your request.
As Finance does not hold any documents relevant to the scope of your
request, Finance invites you to withdraw your request.
We kindly ask that you reply to this email and either:
1. Withdraw your request, or
2. Request a formal no documents decision letter.
Please note that if we do not receive a response from you, we are required
under the FOI Act to expend additional resources to process your request.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
General FOI matters
Your request was received by Finance on 5 July 2024. The statutory period
for processing your request commences from the day after Finance received
your request and a decision is due on Monday 5 August 2024.
The processing period may be extended if we need to consult third parties,
impose a charge or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
Liability to pay a charge
You will be notified of any charges in relation to your request as soon as
possible, before we process any requested documents or impose a final
charge.
Publication
As required by the FOI Act, any documents provided to you under the FOI
Act will be published on our [1]disclosure log, unless an exemption
applies or the documents are characterised as containing personal
information. Documents will be published the next working day after they
are released to you.
Policy to exclude junior officer contact details, signatures and mobile
phone numbers
Finance has adopted a policy to generally exclude from any documents
released under FOI, the names and contact details of junior staff (non-SES
officers) and staff employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act
1984 (adviser level and below). Finance has also adopted a policy to
exclude signatures and mobile phone numbers from any documents released
under FOI (unless publicly available). Finance’s preference is to reach
agreement with FOI applicants to exclude these details from the scope of
the request. Where there is no objection, the names and contact details of
junior officers, as well as any signatures and mobile phone numbers
appearing in identified documents, will be redacted under section 22 of
the FOI Act on the basis that these details are irrelevant to the request.
Please contact the FOI Team on the below contact details if you wish to
discuss your request.
Kind regards
FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch
Business Enabling Services
Department of Finance
A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603
References
Visible links
1. https://www.finance.gov.au/about-us/free...
Dear FOI Requests,
Thanks for getting back to me
Could I request Finance do some further digging and potentially transfer the FOI as appropriate (to anyone other than ASIC).
For example, Finance could ask SERC for a copy of or details of the attachment to enable more effective searching. Or see if Treasury have anything, maybe PTAG said Finance and meant Treasury
That is, the document presumably does exist. A little digging now is more efficient for the Cth than me going department to department with the same FOI for them to re-do the work for nil docs until it eventually turns up (?)
Yours sincerely,
Me
Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
OFFICIAL
Dear Me
Thank you for your prompt response.
Finance has sought to transfer the request to Treasury, however, Treasury
have rejected the request noting they are not the responsible agency.
Finance is unable to transfer the request to the Senate Economics
References Committee (SERC) as parliamentary committee are excluded from
the application of the FOI Act.
As you have flagged, it is open to you to submit another request to a
different Commonwealth department.
As previously mentioned, as Finance does not hold any documents relevant
to the scope of your request, Finance invites you to withdraw your
request.
We kindly ask that you reply to this email and either:
1. Withdraw your request, or
2. Request a formal no documents decision letter.
Please note that if we do not receive a response from you, we are required
under the FOI Act to expend additional resources to process your request.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
Kind regards
FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch
Business Enabling Services
Department of Finance
A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603
Dear FOI Requests,
Thanks for checking with Treasury. Sounds like their assistance was less than obsequious
I understand Finance cannot transfer the FOI to SERC
As best as I can tell, nothing prevents Finance asking SERC for a copy, or at least further information about the document
Given SERC have a copy, and Finance is the author, it would be a bit obtuse of SERC not to disclose it (?)
That is, if Finance would be so kind as to discuss with SERC directly, and that still yields nil docs, I will be happy to withdraw the request
Yours sincerely,
Me
Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
OFFICIAL
Dear Me,
Thank you for your below response. The FOI Act provides a right of access
to documents of an agency. As we have advised, Finance does not hold the
document that you are seeking. Therefore, Finance is unable to process
this request further in accordance with the FOI Act.
We kindly ask that you reply to this email by COB 31 July 2024 and either:
1. Withdraw your request, or
2. Request a formal no documents decision letter.
Kind regards,
FOI Team
FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch
Business Enabling Services
Department of Finance
A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603
Dear FOI Requests,
Finance can’t find the document I’m seeking. That’s not quite the same thing as not having it
Nonetheless, thank you / harrumph, I withdraw the request
Yours sincerely,
Me