24 January 2025
FOI ref: 3781
Ms Harriet Spring
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Ms Spring,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – DECISION
I refer to your request to Treasury on 29 October 2024 for access, under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), to the following:
I request briefing information either sought by, or provided to the Government relating
to "confirmation of payee".

The timeframe I seek is from 2019 until now. I would like the information requested to
include the fol owing:

• Any legal advice, reports, or briefings requested, to or from the Public Service or
Government, including any provided by or to the Banks or the ABA to the Government;

• Any briefs provided regarding discussions between the Government and the Banks
(whether through the ABA or individual Banks) relating to this subject matter;

• Any briefs to the Government relating to this (including any Ministerial signed
documents).
I am an authorised decision maker under section 23 of the FOI Act.
Decision
The Treasury has identified three documents in the scope of your request. I have decided to
refuse access to two documents in ful . I have decided to release the remaining document in
part (Document 1).
The document for release is attached, edited under section 22 of the FOI Act to delete material
which is irrelevant to the scope of your request. The reasons for my decision follow.

Langton Crescent
Parkes ACT 2600
Australia
P:  +61 2 6263 2800

Material Considered
The material to which I have had regard in making this decision includes the scope of the
request and content of the documents subject to your request, third party consultation
response, the relevant provisions in the FOI Act and Guidelines issued by the Australian
Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act (FOI Guidelines), and advice from
subject matter experts within the Treasury.
Reasons for decision
Material deleted pursuant to Section 22
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows information that is irrelevant to your request to be deleted.
Accordingly, material in Document 1 which is outside the scope of your request has been
deleted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
Prejudice to a fair or impartial trial – Section 37(2)(a)
Section 37(2)(a) of the FOI Act relevantly provides that a document is exempt if disclosure
would, or could reasonably be expected to, prejudice the impartial adjudication of a particular
case.
Documents 2 and 3 contain briefing documents provided by a third-party business. The third
party has advised that the documents relate to an ongoing legal matter. I am satisfied that the
disclosure of these documents at this time could reasonably be expected to interfere with the
Court’s power to make non-publication orders in relation to the documents if it considered it
appropriate to do so. Such dissemination could, in turn, give a party to the proceedings
grounds to make a claim of prejudice to the impartial adjudication of the matter.
Accordingly, I am satisfied that Documents 2 and 3 are of such a nature that their disclosure
could reasonably be expected to prejudice the impartial adjudication of a particular case. I
have therefore decided Documents 2 and 3 are exempt in ful  under section 37(2)(a) of the FOI
Act.
Material obtained in confidence – section 45
Section 45 of the FOI Act provides that a document is an exempt document if its disclosure
would give rise to an action, by a person (other than an agency or the Commonwealth), for
breach of confidence.
To found an action for breach of confidence, the following five criteria must be satisfied in
relation to the information:
•  it must be specifically identified;
•  it must have the necessary quality of confidentiality;
•  it must have been communicated and received on the basis of a mutual
understanding of confidence;
•  it must have been disclosed or threatened to be disclosed, without authority; and
•  unauthorised disclosure of the information would have or wil  cause detriment.
2

Documents 2 and 3 contain confidential business information that was provided to the
Treasury by a third party in relation to the confirmation of payee service. The documents were
specifically identified as being confidential, were communicated and received on the basis of a
mutual understanding of confidence, and disclosure of the documents would be without
authority of the third party. Further, I am satisfied that disclosure of the documents will cause
detriment to the third party.
Therefore, I have decided Documents 2 and 3 are exempt in ful  under section 45 of the FOI
Act.
Rights of Review
A statement setting out your rights of review in this matter is attached.
Disclosure Log
The Treasury publishes documents disclosed in response to FOI requests on the Treasury
website. This is consistent with the arrangements established by section 11C of the FOI Act. In
this instance, I consider that the documents released to you are appropriate for publication on
the Treasury’s FOI disclosure log.

Yours sincerely,
Sally Etherington
A/g Assistant Secretary
Digital, Competition and Payments Division

3

INFORMATION ON RIGHTS OF REVIEW
1.
APPLICATION FOR INTERNAL REVIEW OF DECISION
Section 54 of the FOI Act gives you the right to apply for an internal review of the decision
refusing to grant access to documents in accordance with your request.
An application for a review of the decision must be made in writing within 30 days of receipt of
this letter.
No particular form is required but it would assist the decision-maker if you could set out in the
application the grounds on which you consider that the decision should be reviewed.
An application for a review of the decision should be emailed to xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
OR
2.
APPLICATION TO AUSTRALIAN INFORMATION COMMISSIONER (INFORMATION
COMMISSIONER) FOR REVIEW OF DECISION
Section 54L of the FOI Act gives you the right to seek a review of the decision from the
Information Commissioner. An application for review must be made within 60 days of
receiving the decision.
An application for review must be in writing and must:
give details of how notices must be sent to you; and
include a copy of the notice of decision.
You should send your application for review to:

The Information Commissioner
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW  2001

AND/OR
3.
COMPLAINTS TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
Section 70 of the FOI Act provides that a person may complain to the Information
Commissioner about action taken by an agency in the exercise of powers or the performance
of functions under the FOI Act.
A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be in writing and identify the agency the
complaint is about. It should be directed to the fol owing address:
The Information Commissioner
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW  2001
The Information Commissioner may decline to investigate the complaint in a number of
circumstances, including that you did not exercise your right to ask the agency, the
Information Commissioner, a court or tribunal to review the decision.
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Document Outline