Post-employment policy
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
As the OAIC is a regulator, and OAIC employees subsequently going to work on promotion or better conditions with those the OAIC regulates raises ethical issues (particularly if they have been making a slew of very favourable decisions prior to their employment by such an entity who benefited from them), what policies or restrictions or disclosures does the OAIC have in place to prevent such pro quid pro from occurring?
Ciao,
Julie
Dear Julie
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 18 March 2022.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
“Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
As the OAIC is a regulator, and OAIC employees subsequently going to work
on promotion or better conditions with those the OAIC regulates raises
ethical issues (particularly if they have been making a slew of very
favourable decisions prior to their employment by such an entity who
benefited from them), what policies or restrictions or disclosures does
the OAIC have in place to prevent such pro quid pro from occurring?”
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
As we received your request on 18 March 2022, we must process your request
by 18 April 2022.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss this matter please contact me on my contact
details set out below.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992
| [3][email address]
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FOIREQ22/00081
Dear Julie,
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 18 March 2022.
Please find attached:
1. FOI decision dated 14 April 2022;
2. Schedule of documents; and
3. Documents released.
Your review rights are contained on the last page of the FOI decision.
Kind regards,
[1][IMG] Angela Wong | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992
| [3][email address]
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My work days are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
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Dear Legal,
The scope of my FOI was for any restriction on OAIC employees immediately working, post-seperation, for FOI/APP entities they made decisions about.
Having reviewed the material released, no such restriction was or is in place, despite the OAIC regularly employing those from entities they regulate to which those employees return after they conclude their employment at the OAIC.
Sending irrelevant material to pad out an otherwise 'no such document' return is inappropriate, though I can appreciate the lack of any such policy at the OAIC may be seen as politically sensitive.
It is concerning that the OAIC makes no effort to manage such unethical impropriety.
Ciao,
Julie