3 July 2024
Oliver Smith
BY EMAIL:  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request:
FA 24/06/00297
File Number:
FA24/06/00297
Dear Oliver Smith
Freedom of Information (FOI) request – Access Decision
On 5 June 2024, the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) received a request for access
to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
1
Scope of request
You have requested access to the fol owing documents:
Under the FOI ACT, from 23 January 2023 to present, what documentation and advice
was provided to staff working within the Visa Applicant Character Consideration Unit on
how to apply Ministerial Direction 99 to Character Test cases.
2
Authority to make decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate records.
3
Relevant material
In reaching my decision I referred to the following:
•  the terms of your request
•  the documents relevant to the request
•  the FOI Act
•  Guidelines published by the Office of the Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (the FOI Guidelines)
•  advice from Departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the
documents to which you sought access

PO Box 25 Belconnen ACT 2616 • Telephone: • www.homeaffairs.gov.au

4
Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified three documents as falling within the scope of your request. These
documents were in the possession of the Department on 5 June 2024 when your request was
received.
Attachment A is a schedule which describes the relevant documents and sets out my decision
in relation to each of them.
5
Decision
The decision in relation to the documents in the possession of the Department which fall within
the scope of your request is as fol ows:
•  Release one document in full, Direction No. 99  - Migration Act 1958 - Direction
under section 499 Visa refusal and cancellation under section 501 and revocation
of a mandatory cancellation of a visa under section 501CA’ in full by providing a link
to the publicly available document on the Department of Home Affairs website:
Ministerial Direction 99 (homeaffairs.gov.au)
•  Release two documents in part with deletions
6
Reasons for Decision
Detailed reasons for my decision are set out below.
Where the schedule of documents indicates an exemption claim has been applied to a document
or part of document, my findings of fact and reasons for deciding that the exemption provision
applies to that information are set out below.
6.1  Section 22 of the FOI Act – deletion of exempt material
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose information
that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, it is possible for the Department
to prepare an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions, ensuring that the edited copy
would not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the
request.
On 6 June 2024, the Department advised you that its policy is to exclude the personal details of
officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES), as well as the mobile and work telephone
numbers of SES staff, contained in documents that fall within scope of an FOI request.
I have decided that parts of documents marked ‘s22(1)(a)(i )’ would disclose information that
could reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to your request. I have prepared an edited copy of
the documents, with the irrelevant material deleted pursuant to section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the FOI Act.
The remainder of the documents have been considered for release to you as they are relevant
to your request.

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6.2  Section 47F of the FOI Act – Personal Privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure
under the FOI Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any
person. ‘Personal information’ means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or
an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and
whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not (see section 4 of the FOI
Act and section 6 of the Privacy Act 1988).
I consider that disclosure of the information marked “s47F” in  the documents would disclose
personal information relating to third parties. The information within the documents would
reasonably identify a person, either through names or other identifiers, which collectively could
reveal the person’s identity.
The FOI Act states that, when deciding whether the disclosure of the personal information would
be ‘unreasonable’, I must have regard to the following four factors set out in s.47F(2) of the
FOI Act:
•  the extent to which the information is well known;
•  whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have been)
associated with the matters dealt with in the document;
•  the availability of the information from publicly available resources;
•  any other matters that I consider relevant.
I have considered each of these factors below.
The information relating to the third parties is not well known and would only be known to a limited
group of people with a business need to know. As this information is only known to a limited
group of people, the individuals concerned are not generally known to be associated with the
matters discussed in the document. This information is not available from publicly accessible
sources.
I do not consider that the information relating specifical y to the third parties would be relevant to
the broader scope of your request, as you are not seeking information that wholly relates to other
individuals.
I am satisfied that the disclosure of the information within the documents would involve an
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about a number of individuals.
I have decided that the information referred to above is conditionally exempt under section 47F
of the FOI Act. Access to a conditionally exempt document must generally be given unless it
would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure of
the information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in that
regard below.

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6.3  The public interest – section 11A of the FOI Act
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditionally exempt, I am now required to
consider whether access to the conditionally exempt information would be contrary to the public
interest (section 11A of the FOI Act).
A part of a document which is conditionally exempt must also meet the public interest test in
section 11A(5) before an exemption may be claimed in respect of that part. In summary, the test
is whether access to the conditionally exempt part of the document would be, on balance,
contrary to the public interest.
In applying this test, I have noted the objects of the FOI Act and the importance of the other
factors listed in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, being whether access to the document would do
any of the following:
(a)
promote the objects of this Act (including all the matters set out in sections 3 and 3A)
(b)
inform debate on a matter of public importance
(c)
promote effective oversight of public expenditure
(d)
allow a person to access his or her own personal information.
Having regard to the above I am satisfied that:
•  Access to the documents would promote the objects of the FOI Act.
•  The subject matter of the documents does have the character of public importance and
that there may be broad public interest in the documents.
•  Insights into public expenditure wil  not be provided through examination of the
documents.
•  You do not require access to the documents in order to access your own personal
information.
I have also considered the following factors that weigh against the release of the conditionally
exempt information in the documents:
•  Disclosure of personal information which is conditionally exempt under section 47F of the
FOI Act could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of third parties’ right to
privacy. It is firmly in the public interest that the Department uphold the rights of individuals
to their own privacy, and this factor weighs strongly against disclosure.
•  I am satisfied that if the Department were to release personal information without that
person’s express consent to do so, it would seriously undermine public confidence in the
Department’s ability to receive, retain and manage personal information. I consider such
a loss of confidence to be against the public interest, and this factor weighs strongly
against disclosure.
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I have also had regard to section 11B(4) which sets out the factors which are irrelevant to my
decision, which are:
a)
access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government
b)
access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or misunderstanding
the document
c)
the author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the
request for access to the document was made
d)
access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
I have not taken into account any of those factors in this decision.
Upon balancing all of the above relevant public interest considerations, I have concluded that the
disclosure of the conditionally exempt information in the documents would be contrary to the
public interest and it is therefore exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act.
7
Legislation
A copy of the FOI Act is available at https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02562. If you
are unable to access the legislation through this website, please contact our office for a copy.
8
Your review rights
If you disagree with this decision, you have the right to apply for either an internal review or an
Information Commissioner review of the decision.
Internal review
If you want the Department to review this decision, you must make your internal review request
within 30 days of being notified of this decision.
When making your internal review request, please provide the Department with the reasons why
you consider this decision should be changed.
You can send your internal review request to:

Email: xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Or   Postal mail:
Freedom of Information
Department of Home Affairs
GPO Box 241 MELBOURNE VIC 3001

The internal review wil  be carried out by an officer who is more senior than the original decision
maker. The Department must make its decision on the review within 30 days of receiving your
request for internal review.

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Information Commissioner review

If you want the Australian Information Commissioner to review this decision, you must make
your request to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) within 60 days of
being notified of this decision.

You can apply for an Information Commissioner review using the Information Commissioner
review application form on the OAIC website.

You can find more information about Information Commissioner reviews on the OAIC website.
9
Making a complaint

You may make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner if you have concerns
about how the Department has handled your request under the FOI Act. This is a separate
process to the process of requesting a review of the decision as indicated above.

You can make an FOI complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(OAIC) at: FOI Complaint Form on the OAIC website.
10  Contacting the FOI Section
Should you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section at
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.

Nigel
Position number 60045916
Authorised Decision Maker
Department of Home Affairs

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Document Outline