Precise salaries paid to the FWBC's/ABCC's SES officers for FY14/15, FY15/16 and FY16/17

Name withheld made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Building and Construction Commission

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC),

The following is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act.

I am conducting research, across a range of Government agencies, into the Government's enterprise bargaining framework for the Commonwealth Public Service. Specifically, in the interests of equity and transparency, whether the Government's policy to reduce the living standards of rank and file public servants (that is, public servants who are not considered senior executive service staff ('SES')) also extends to SES public servants.

I refer the APSC to my FOI request made of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner here (the 'OAIC request'): https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

By this application I make the same request of the ABCC albeit such that every reference to 'OAIC' in the OAIC request should be read as a reference to 'ABCC' or the 'FWBC' (as the case may be noting the transitional arrangements for the FWBC and the ABCC over the relevant financial years) for the purposes of this request. I rely on all my submissions contained in the OAIC request, in support of this request made of the ABCC under s.15 of the FOI Act.

ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear FOI applicant,

We refer to your email dated 28 October 2017 to the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) in which you made an access request under the Freedom of information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) (the FOI request). Pursuant to section 15(5) of the FOI Act, the relevant period the ABCC has in order to notify you of a decision is 30 days commencing from the date the FOI request was received.

If you have any questions, please contact the ABCC FOI Section: [ABCC request email]

Yours sincerely,

FOI section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

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ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear FOI applicant,

Freedom of Information request application dated 28 October 2017

By email dated 28 October 2017, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) received a request for access pursuant to s 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act).

The ABCC acknowledged the receipt of your access request on 10 November 2017. In that email the ABCC also informed you that, pursuant to section 15(5) of the FOI Act, the ABCC has 30 days to deal with an FOI request. However, the FOI Act provides an agency a further period of 30 days in order to consult with relevant parties.

Extended period to hold consultations

In conducting a search for documents that are relevant to your access request, it has become apparent that the ABCC will be required to consult relevant parties.

As a result, we write to inform you that it is appropriate for the processing period under section 15(5)(b) to be extended by a further 30 days pursuant to subsection 15(6)(a).

Scope of your request

We understand that your request is for documents which detail the precise salary paid to each of the ABCC’s SES officers in the following financial years - FY2014/15, FY 2015/16 and FY2016/17.

We seek your agreement to exclude the names of individual SES officers from the scope of your request. Please let us know if you agree to this amendment to your FOI request.

If you have any questions about this matter, please contact the ABCC’s FOI Section: [ABCC request email]

Yours faithfully

ABCC FOI Section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

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Dear ABCC - FOI,

I am amenable to the ABCC redacting the names of the SES officers concerned but only on the condition that each relevant officer's name be replaced by a single unique identifier such that each relevant SES officer's precise salary can be tracked over the three relevant financial years (eg. SES officer #1, SES officer #2, SES officer #3 etc). If the ABCC is not willing to replace the SES officers' names with a single unique identifier for each relevant SES officer, then I revert to the terms of my original request.

Additionally, if the names of the SES officers are replaced with unique identifiers, then there will be no need for the ABCC to engage in consultation pursuant to s.27A of the FOI Act and so the decision making time need not be extended by 30 days as you suggest.

Thanks.

ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear FOI applicant

Thank you for agreeing to amend the scope of your request.

Please note that the ABCC has already commenced consultation.

If you have any questions about this matter, please contact the ABCC’s FOI Section ([email address])

Yours faithfully

ABCC FOI Section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

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Dear ABCC - FOI,

Thank you for your email. Given the amended scope of my request now excludes personal information, could you please let me know what, precisely, you are consulting on, and the provision of the FOI Act under which that consultation is authorised?

Thanks.

Dear ABCC - FOI,

I refer to my email to you of 23 November 2017 in which I asked the ABCC, that given the amended scope of my request now excludes personal information, to explain what, precisely, the ABCC is consulting on, and the provision of the FOI Act under which that consultation is authorised? I note that the ABCC has decided not to respond to that request.

I refer relevant ABCC officers to the obligations imposed on them by subsection 10(4), 13(1), 13(2), 13(4), 13(9) and 13(11) of the Public Service Act 1999. I also refer relevant ABCC staff to their professional obligations as set out in the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015. I request again that the ABCC offer an explanation as to what, precisely, the ABCC is consulting on, and the provision of the FOI Act under which that consultation is authorised.

If an adequate explanation is not provided, I reserve my right to revoke the permission pervasively granted to the ABCC to redact the names of the SES officers concerned from the relevant documents.

Additionally, having regard to the obligations imposed on ABCC officers by way of subsections 10(4) and 13(1) of the Public Service Act 1999, could you please provide me with the name of the authorised decision-maker(s) for this matter.

Thanks.

ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear FOI applicant

The ABCC is consulting with relevant parties pursuant to s 27A of the FOI Act.

Although you have agreed for the ABCC to redact the names of the relevant SES officers, some officers may still be identifiable by reference to their specific salaries. For this reason the ABCC is consulting with them.

Yours faithfully

ABCC FOI Section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

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ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

1 Attachment

Sensitive: Personal
Dear FOI applicant

Please find attached decision in relation to your FOI request.

Yours sincerely

FOI section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

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ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

1 Attachment

Sensitive: Legal
Dear FOI applicant

We refer to the FOI decision provided to you on 21 December 2017.

Please find attached Document A.

Yours sincerely

FOI section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

Important:
This transmission is intended for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential, protected or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you must not review, copy, disseminate, disclose to others, or take action in reliance of any material contained within this email. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately by return email and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

Many thanks for your work on this.

Could you please clarify an aspect of the information provided - there are two amounts listed for SES officers #1, #2 and #3 in the FY16/17 - does that mean those officers received the aggregate of those amounts in that year or rather did their salaries increase from the lower to the higher amount in that year?

ABCC - FOI, Australian Building and Construction Commission

Sensitive: Legal
Dear FOI applicant

For the FY16/17 financial year, the salaries increased for SES officers #1, #2 and #3.

Yours sincerely

FOI section
Australian Building and Construction Commission

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