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OFFICIAL
Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI/2024/318
To Tyler
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Tyler,
I refer to your request of 26 September 2024 to the Department of the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade seeking access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) accepted the transfer of the request
on 1 October 2024.
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The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the
FOI Act.
Scope of request
You set out your request in the fol owing terms:
…provide the following for the International Organisations (Privileges and Immunities—
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) Regulation 2015 (Select Legislative Instrument No.
172, 2015)…
•
A copy of the Regulation as made with signature of the Governor-
General/Administrator and relevant ministers.
•
Documents that were submitted to the Governor-General/Administrator for the
Governor-General's/Administrator's signature of the Regulation (e.g. notes,
certificates etc.).
1 The transfer was accepted under section 16 of the FOI Act.
Postal Address: PO Box 6500, CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone: +61 2 6271 5849 Fax: +61 2 6271 5776 www.pmc.gov.au ABN: 18 108 001 191
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Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised to make this decision in accordance with arrangements approved by the
Department’s Secretary under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
In reaching my decision I referred to the fol owing:
• the terms of your request
• the documents relevant to your request
• the FOI Act
• the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act
(the Guidelines)
Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified 3 documents that fal within the scope of your request. These
documents are set out in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A.
Decision
I have decided to grant access in ful , with irrelevant material deleted, to the documents identified
within the scope of your request.
The documents are enclosed.
Reasons for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is irrelevant are set out below.
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Deletion of irrelevant matter
Section 22 of the FOI Act authorises the Department to give access to an edited copy of a document
if giving access to a document would disclose information that would be reasonably regarded as
irrelevant to the request, and it is possible for the Department to prepare an edited copy, modified by
deletions, ensuring that the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the request.
On 2 October 2024, the Department advised you of its policy to exclude, among other things, any
person’s signature, which are contained in documents that fal within the terms of an FOI request. This
category of information is identified as irrelevant.
Accordingly I am satisfied that parts of the documents are irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the
FOI Act. The remaining parts of the documents have been released to you.
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Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner
review of the decision.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Department for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days after the date of this letter.
Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The internal
review wil be carried out by another officer within 30 days from the date it is received.
Applications for review should be sent to
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review my decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be made in
writing within 60 days after the date of this letter. You can apply using the
OAIC Web Form.2
FOI Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your FOI request, please let us know what we could
have done better. We may be able to rectify the problem. If you are not satisfied with our response,
you can make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner. A complaint to the
Information Commissioner must be made in writing. You can make a complaint using the
OAIC Web Form.3
2 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
3 https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
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If you wish to discuss any aspect of your requests, you can contact the FOI Section by email at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Branko Ananijevski
Assistant Secretary
Cabinet Information and Governance Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
13 November 2024
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Document Outline