Rooms in official residences

alan cole made this Freedom of Information request to Official Establishments Trust

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 successful.

Dear Official Establishments Trust,mt

I would like to make the following request for government house in canberra and admiralty house in sydney provide a list of the number of suites, bedrooms, guest bedrooms, staff bedrooms, private apartments, reception rooms (names of each room) and offices in the main buildings.

Yours faithfully,

alan cole

FOI, Official Establishments Trust

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Cole

I am writing in relation to your request received on 10 November (below) to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) seeking access to:

I would like to make the following request for government house in canberra and admiralty house in sydney provide a list of the number of suites, bedrooms, guest bedrooms, staff bedrooms, private apartments, reception rooms (names of each room) and offices in the main buildings.

The FOI Act provides a mechanism to transfer requests to another agency where the documents you are seeking are in the possession of another agency or the subject-matter of the request is more closely connected with the functions of that agency. This ensures that a decision on the request is made by the most appropriate agency. As your request is more appropriately responded to by the Office of the Governor General, the Department has sought to transfer your request to Finance to deal with the request.

The Office of the Governor General has accepted transfer of your request (in full), in accordance with paragraph 16(1)(a) or 16(1)(b) of the FOI Act. If they have not already done so, I expect that they will contact you soon in relation to your request.

Kind regards, Debbie

Debbie Arnold | Senior FOI Adviser
Access and Administrative Review Section | Honours, Symbols and Legal Policy Branch Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet p. 02 6271 5849 |e. [email address] www.dpmc.gov.au | www.indigenous.gov.au PO Box 6500 CANBERRA  ACT  2600

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Dear FOI,
I have not received any reply or acknowledgement from them and it has been 10 days now since you sent that letter ?

Yours sincerely,

alan cole

FOI, Official Establishments Trust

UNCLASSIFIED
Morning Mr Cole,

Your FOI request has been formally transferred to the Office of the Governor General and is no longer managed by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

If you require a progress update on your matter may I suggest contacting the FOI Team in the Office of the Governor General on [email address]

King regards, Debbie

Debbie Arnold | Senior FOI Adviser
Access and Administrative Review Section | Honours, Symbols and Legal Policy Branch Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet p. 02 6271 5849 |e. [email address] www.dpmc.gov.au | www.indigenous.gov.au PO Box 6500 CANBERRA  ACT  2600

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FOI & IPS Mailbox,

1 Attachment

 

Dear Mr Cole,

 

I refer to your request to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. I
understand your request as:

 

“I would like to make the following request for Government House in
Canberra and Admiralty House in Sydney provide a list of the number of
suites, bedrooms, guest bedrooms, staff bedrooms, private apartments,
reception rooms (names of each room) and offices in the main buildings.”

 

Your request was transferred from the Department of Prime Minister and
Cabinet to this office on 13 November 2015.

 

In regards to your request, we do not possess a succinct list such as you
describe, in any one document. As such, the request strictly falls outside
the FOI Act since there is no particular document we can provide you.
 That said, we would be pleased to prepare a specific list to answer your
query.

 

If you are satisfied with this approach, please indicate your agreement to
withdraw the FOI request via return email, and on receipt of that, I will
prepare your requested list of information on the two properties outside
of the FOI ACT. The notice of withdrawal is for administrative purposes
only.

 

 

Regards

Harriet

 

 

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D0CEAB.31B32D60 Harriet Spring  |  Manager Property
and Services
Office of the Official Secretary to
the Governor-General
Government House, Canberra ACT 2600
T: +61 2 6283 3680  |  M: +61 414
832 771
E: [2][email address]  | 
W: [3]www.gg.gov.au

F: [4]Follow us on Facebook

 

Do you know someone who could be
considered for an award in the
Australian honours system?  [5]Click
here to nominate.

 

 

 

 

 

References

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Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

The applicant has become worried that he has not received a letter of confirmation ater 10 days. There are two matters of the law to consider.

The agency is not required to give a confirmation until 14 days after the request has been made. Section 15(5) of the Commonwealth of Australia Freedom of Information Act says that, "On receiving a request the Minister of agency must as soon as practicable but in any case not later than 14 days after the day on which the request is received by or on behalf of the agency or Minister, take all reasonable steps to enable the applicant to be notified that the request has been received."

Also, if an agency transfers a request to another agency then I do not think that it is required for the second agency to sent a confirmation to the applicant. It is enough when the first agency has sent the applicant a confirmation and also has sent the applicant a letter to say that the request has been transferred.

Note to agencies: Applicants like to know that their requests have not been lost. It is inexpensive to sent a short note to an applicant to say "We hope that Agency 1 has told you that your request was transferred to us. We want to tell you that we have received the transferred request."

Dear FOI & IPS Mailbox,
Hi further to your message i withdraw my FOI request so as you can release the information outside of the FOI procedure

Yours sincerely,

alan cole

FOI & IPS Mailbox,

Thankyou Mr Cole - I will prepare the list and send it to you hopefully by week's end.

Regards
Harriet

Harriet Spring  |  Manager Property and Services
Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General
Government House, Canberra ACT 2600
T: +61 2 6283 3680  |  M: +61 414 832 771
E: [email address]  |  W: www.gg.gov.au
F: Follow us on Facebook

Do you know someone who could be considered for an award in the Australian honours system?  Click here to nominate.

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Dear FOI & IPS Mailbox,
Hi, I was wondering where we were with this request ? as you said you hoped to send by the end of last week ?

Yours sincerely,

alan cole

FOI & IPS Mailbox,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Cole,

Apologies for the delay. Please find attached the list of the requested rooms in the main buildings of the two properties administered by the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General.

I hope this meets your query.

Many thanks,

Regards
Harriet Spring

Harriet Spring  |  Manager Property and Services
Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General
Government House, Canberra ACT 2600
T: +61 2 6283 3680  |  M: +61 414 832 771
E: [email address]  |  W: www.gg.gov.au
F: Follow us on Facebook

Do you know someone who could be considered for an award in the Australian honours system?  Click here to nominate.

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