Our ref: CMTEDDFOI 2024-179
‘The FOI People’
via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Applicant
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – NOTICE OF DECISION
I refer to your application under section 30 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2016
(the Act), received by the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development
Directorate (CMTEDD) on 22 May 2024.
Specifically, you have sought access to the following information:
“Al public speeches made by the ACT Chief Minister that contain a condemnation
about the kil ing of children in the occupied Palestinian Territories, specifically in
East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the 7th October 2023. I
require all draft and final versions of these speeches.”
Authority
I am an Information Officer appointed by the CMTEDD Director-General under section 18
of the Act to deal with access applications made under Part 5 of the Act.
Timeframes
In accordance with section 40 of the Act, CMTEDD is required to provide a decision on
your access application within 30 days. Therefore, a decision is due by
8 July 2024. Decision on access
Searches of records have identified five documents within the scope of your request,
which includes records held by the Chief Minister’s office.
I have decided to grant
full access to five documents.
The records identified as relevant to your application are listed in the schedule enclosed
at
Attachment A. This provides a description of each document that fal s within the scope
of your request and the access decision for each of those documents.
The date range for the scope of your requested information is for records held between
7 October 2023 until 22 May 2024, (the date that you submitted your access application).
Release of documents
The information being released to you is provided at
Attachment B.
Reasons
In accordance with section 54(2) of the Act a statement of reasons outlining my decisions
is below. In reaching my access decisions, I have taken the fol owing into account:
• the Act
• the information that falls within the scope of your request
Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development
GPO Box 158 Canberra ACT 2601 | phone: 6207 7754 | www.act.gov.au
Scope of your request
As a decision maker, I am required to determine whether the information within scope is
in the public interest to release. To make this decision, I am required to:
• assess whether the information would be contrary to public interest to disclose as
per
Schedule 1 of the Act.
• perform the public interest test as set out in section 17 of the Act by balancing the
factors favouring disclosure and factors favouring non-disclosure in
Schedule 2 of
the Act.
One document, folio 5, contains information published on the website of the Legislative
Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT Legislative Assembly), which contains
part of a Hansard transcript of 7 February 2024.
Information is published on Hansard here:
https://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hansard/10th-assembly/2024/PDF/20240207.pdf
Hansard records and publishes the debates of the Legislative Assembly and the evidence
taken during hearings of the Assembly committees. Please refer to pages 168-171 of
Hansard. The above link is for the full publication of folio 5, noting that Folio 5 contains a
partial extract from Hansard, as referenced in
Attachment A.
The ACT Legislative Assembly publishes recordings on its website. They can be located
here:
https://broadcast.parliament.act.gov.au/vod/player/cecbeeba9dc567c45d20608bbb90ce
9e?i=63e31e7cf8684e79b7e79f3b26925967-98
Exemptions claimed
Schedule 1 of the Act: Information taken to be contrary to the public interest.
No Schedule 1 factors were identified. Therefore, this has not been a relevant factor.
Public Interest Test
The Act has a presumption in favour of disclosure. As a decision maker I am required to
decide where, on balance, public interests lies. As part of this process, I must consider
factors favouring disclosure and non-disclosure.
In
Hogan v Hinch (2011) 243 CLR 506, [31] French CJ stated that when ‘used in a statute,
the term [public interest] derives its content from “the subject matter and the scope and
purpose” of the enactment in which it appears’. Section 17(1) of the Act sets out the test,
to be applied to determine whether disclosure of information would be contrary to the
public interest. These factors are found in subsection 17(2) and Schedule 2 of the Act.
Schedule 2 of the Act: Factors to be considered when deciding the public interest.
Taking into consideration the information contained in the documents found to be within
the scope of your request, I have identified that the fol owing public interest factors are
relevant to determine if release of the information contained within these documents is
within the ‘public interest’.
Factors favouring disclosure (under Sch 2, Section 2.1)
• Section 2.1(a)(i) -
promote open discussion of public affairs and enhance the
government’s accountability.
• Section 2.1(a)(ii) -
contribute to positive and informed debate on important issues
or matters of public interest.
Under section 14 of the Act, the meaning of
government information:
(a) means information held by an agency or Minister; but
(b) does not include information—
(i) relating to a Minister’s personal or political activities; or
(ii) created or received by a Minister in the Minister’s capacity as a member of the
Legislative Assembly.
held—information is held by an agency or Minister if it is—
(a) contained in a record held by the agency or Minister; or
(b) contained in a record that the agency or Minister is entitled to access.
Documents within your requested scope relate to public speeches given in the Legislative
Assembly of the ACT during parliamentary debates. Noting that there may be public
interest in the subject matter discussed, I have decided to release information insofar as
records held include government information, and the definition does not include
documents made in a personal capacity or during political activities.
I am satisfied that these factors favouring disclosure carry significant weight. However,
these factors are to be balanced against the factors favouring nondisclosure. I did not
identify any factors favouring non-disclosure within scope of this request.
Having applied the test outlined in section 17 of the Act, I am satisfied that the pro-
disclosure intent of the Act is met and wil provide you with access to all information held
by CMTEDD within the scope of your request.
Charges
Processing charges are not applicable for this request because the number of pages
released to you is below the charging threshold of 50.
Online publishing – Disclosure Log
Under section 28 of the Act, CMTEDD maintains an online record of access applications
called
a disclosure log. Your original access application and my decision will be published on the CMTEDD
disclosure log. Your personal contact details will not be published.
Ombudsman Review My decision on your access request is a reviewable decision as identified in Schedule 3 of
the Act. You have the right to seek Ombudsman review of this outcome under section 73
of the Act within 20 working days from the day that my decision is published, or a longer
period al owed by the Ombudsman.
We recommend using this form
Applying for an Ombudsman Review to ensure you
provide all of the required information. Alternatively, you may write to the Ombudsman
at:
The ACT Ombudsman
GPO Box 442
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Via email:
xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) Review
Under section 84 of the Act, if a decision is made under section 82(1) on an Ombudsman
review, you may apply to the ACAT for review of the Ombudsman decision. Further
information may be obtained from the ACAT at:
ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal
GPO Box 370
Canberra City ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6207 1740
http://www.acat.act.gov.au/
Should you have any queries in relation to your request please contact the FOI Team by
telephone on 6207 7754 or email
xxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Hotham
Information Officer
Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate
2 July 2024
Document Outline
