General Employees' questioning about ATO executive Chairman's lounge memberships
Dear Australian Taxation Office,
I request the following under the FOI Act:
A ). People Connect request CIR0039059 (something about the APSC)
B). Email from the employee who lodged the above request, sent to the APSC Commissioner on 17 June 2025 or thereabouts
C). Email the employee sent to the ATO executive on 18 June 2025 or thereabouts
Excluding from scope any employee names below SES level and all contact details.
Yours faithfully,
Axel.Foley
Dear FOI Applicant,
Please see the attachment.
Yours faithfully,
FOI Team
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IMPORTANT
The information transmitted is for the use of the intended
recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally
privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in
reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other
than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in
severe penalties. If you have received this e-mail in error
please notify the Privacy Hotline of the Australian Taxation
Office, telephone 1300 661 542 and delete all copies of this
transmission together with any attachments.
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Dear Applicant,
Please see attachment.
Yours faithfully,
FOI Team
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT
The information transmitted is for the use of the intended
recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally
privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in
reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other
than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in
severe penalties. If you have received this e-mail in error
please notify the Privacy Hotline of the Australian Taxation
Office, telephone 1300 661 542 and delete all copies of this
transmission together with any attachments.
*********************************************************************
Dear FOI,
Thank you for your response (your reference FOI-2025-00459).
I would like to request an internal review of your decision for the following reasons.
1. My understanding of the requested documents is they contain questions/concerns about gifted elite airline lounge memberships, accepted by the APSC Commissioner and various members of the ATO Executive. In my view the ATO response to these questions, and the manner in which the questions were addressed (or not) is in the public interest.
2. The ATO record with reference CIR0039059 can be appropriately redacted to remove any identifying information.
3. Having spoken to the author of the requested documents, it is my view they would have no objection to the requested information being released, by the Right To Know website. I encourage you to ask the author of the requested documents if they have any objection to the release of the requested documents, or if releasing the information would cause them any "significant distress" as you have suggested. I put it to you that this is not a genuinely held concern by the ATO.
4. Noting your Section 47F reason, I draw your attention to the ATO decision to release communications of a similar nature, ie. the email chain between an ATO Employee and the ATO Commissioner, in your response to the 'Collingwood Fan' request published on the Right to Know website at the following link:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/s...
Sincerely
Axel.Foley
Dear FOI Applicant,
Please see attachment.
Yours faithfully,
FOI Team
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT
The information transmitted is for the use of the intended
recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally
privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in
reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other
than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in
severe penalties. If you have received this e-mail in error
please notify the Privacy Hotline of the Australian Taxation
Office, telephone 1300 661 542 and delete all copies of this
transmission together with any attachments.
*********************************************************************