Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,

Under the FOI Act, I am seeking all documents provided to members of National Cabinet in relation to any discussion or agenda item about Net Overseas Migration or Australia's population that took place at the National Cabinet meeting held on 28 April 2023.

Yours faithfully,

Oliver Smith

FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

2 Attachments

OFFICIAL

Reference: FOI/2023/126

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

Thank you for your email of 2 May 2023, 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 all documents provided to members of National Cabinet in
relation to any discussion or agenda item about Net Overseas Migration or
Australia's population that took place at the National Cabinet meeting
held on 28 April 2023

 

 

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 1 June 2023.  The processing period of 30
days may be extended in certain circumstances and we will write to you
separately regarding 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.

 

If you consider that the information categorised above is relevant to the
terms of your request please let us know at [3][DPMC request email], 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 deleted from any documents for release). 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.

 

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....

 

 

Kind regards

Leisha

 

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. [5][email address]  w. [6]pmc.gov.au

 

[7]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/

FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

5 Attachments

OFFICIAL

Departmental reference: FOI/2023/126

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

We write in relation to your request under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act) and to advise that the request covers documents which:

·         contain information relating to working relations between the
Commonwealth and the States, and the Department is required to consult
with the States (under section 26A of the FOI Act) before making a
decision on the release of the documents.

 

The consultation mechanism under section 26A applies when we believe a
State concerned may wish to contend that the requested documents are
exempt because their release would damage Commonwealth-State working
relations.

 

Where a consultation under section 26A is entered into the FOI Act
provides an extension of the processing period by 30 days (s 15(6)) in
order to allow the Department time to consult with a  State. As a result
the extended due date of your FOI request is 3 July 2023, subject to any
other extensions or suspensions of time allowed under the FOI Act. If we
can finalise the request earlier we will notify you.

 

Please write to us if you require a further update of your request in the
coming weeks, you can contact us at [1][email address]

 

Yours sincerely

 

Ben | 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. [2][email address]  w. [3]pmc.gov.au

I work Monday to Thursday

[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[5]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[6]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. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
4. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
5. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

Dear FOI,

Departmental reference: FOI/2023/126

I am seeking an update on the status of this FOI request which is now overdue according to the legislation.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Smith

Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet's handling of my FOI request 'Net Overseas Migration'.

On the 2 May, 2023, I emailed an FOI request seeking "all documents provided to members of National Cabinet in relation to any discussion or agenda item about Net Overseas Migration or Australia's population that took place at the National Cabinet meeting held on 28 April 2023."

On 25 May, 2023 I recieved an email from Ben requesting a 30 day extension.

On 12 July 2023, well after the 30 days had elapsed, I sent an email asking for an update on the status of this FOI and have not received any response.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

Oliver Smith

FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

5 Attachments

OFFICIAL

Departmental reference: FOI/2023/126

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

Thank you for your email and apologies for the delay in responding to you.

 

Current status of the request.

 

I anticipate that decision and clearance processes will commence early
next week.

 

Internal review

 

As a decision was not made within time, a decision to refuse your request
is deemed to have been made (s 15AC of the FOI Act). A deemed refusal
cannot be internally reviewed  (s 54(1) of the FOI Act).

 

IC review

 

It is open to you to seek [1]Information Commissioner review of a deemed
refusal. However, the Department will continue to process the request and
is considering seeking a one off extension of time under s 15AC of the FOI
Act.

 

A decision on your request will be provided to you as soon as possible.

 

Kind regards

 

Ben | 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. [2][email address]  w. [3]pmc.gov.au

I work Monday to Thursday

[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[5]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[6]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.

 

 

show quoted sections

FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

7 Attachments

OFFICIAL

FOI Reference: FOI/2023/126

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

Please find attached the decision regarding your request under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982.

 

Yours sincerely

Janelle

 

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. [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...