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Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI/2024/387
Trav s
Via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr S
I refer to your request to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), received on 25 November 2024.
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 following terms:
1. I wish to obtain a copy of the Department's fraud and corruption control plan;
2. I wish to obtain a copy of any document produced by a Peter Rush or a John Reid relating to
reports of fraud and corruption within the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal program.
PM&C claims that it does not tolerate fraud and corruption and takes al reasonable measures
to prevent, detect and respond to fraud. Despite its claim, documents released to FOI reveal
particular public officials tolerated fraud and appear to have failed to report it in accordance
with their duties to do so.
Please refer to FOI/2020/246 regarding the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal Regulations
Delegation.
3. I wish to obtain a copy of the document delegating HOSM powers to the person that fol owed
Peter Rush.
4. I wish to obtain a document recording name, position and contact details of the
Department's most senior public official responsible for ensuing the Department's fraud and
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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corruption control framework is regularly reviewed and aligns with the Commonwealth Fraud
Control Framework 2017
Request decided out of time
A decision on your request was due 24 January 2025. Unfortunately the Department was unable to
complete the processing of your request by the due date. In these circumstances the Department
follows the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act
(the Guidelines) which states:
Where an access refusal decision is deemed to have been made before a substantive
decision is made, the agency or minister continues to have an obligation to provide a
statement of reasons on the FOI request.1
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 following:
• the terms of your request
• searches undertaken by the Department
• 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 2 documents which falls within the scope of your request.
These documents are set out in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A.
Additional Information
In relation to point 4 of your request seeking the name, position and contact details of the
Department's most senior public official responsible for ensuring the Department's fraud and
corruption control framework, this information can be found at page 6 of document 2, being:
Paragraph 3.161 of the Guidelines
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PM&C | Freedom of Information (FOI) request
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• The Fraud Control Officer (FCO): Assistant Secretary Governance and Strategy Branch as
the FCO has operational responsibility for the delivery and implementation of a fit for
purpose fraud and corruption control plan including maintaining reporting procedures
and driving awareness.
• The Chief People Officer (CPO): facilitates training to assist employees comply with their
risk management and fraud awareness obligations, and assists with HR-related fraud and
corruption investigations.
Details of who occupies positions can be found on the Organisation Chart on the Department’s
website
2.
Decision
I have decided to grant access in full, with irrelevant material deleted, to the documents identified
within the scope of your request.
The documents are enclosed.
In addition, I have decided to refuse part 2 of your request under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act, on the
grounds that the Department has taken all reasonable steps to locate documents you have requested,
but those documents do not exist.
Reasons for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is irrelevant are set out below.
1.
Documents cannot be found or do not exist
Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that:
An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) al reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(i ) does not exist.
In determining what the FOI Act means with respect to ‘all reasonable steps’, I have had regard to the
Guidelines which discuss the meaning of ‘reasonable’ in section 24A(1)(a). It is not designed to go
beyond the limit assigned by reason, not to be extravagant or excessive, rather to be moderate and of
such an effort to be appropriate or suitable to the circumstances
3.
Part 2
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PM&C organisation chart | PM&C
3 Paragraph 3.88 of the Guidelines
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The Department has made inquiries with the Parliamentary and Government Branch, including the
Honours and Symbols section, regarding any records in existence that would meet the terms for
part 2 of your request. There were no responsive documents found to be in the possession of the
Department.
Based on my knowledge of the subject matter connected to your FOI request, and in my role as
Assistant Secretary, Parliamentary and Government Branch, I am satisfied the Department does not
hold the documents you have requested in part 2 of your request.
I consider the measures taken by the Department to locate existing documents in response to part 2
of your request are appropriate and suitable given the circumstances. After taking all reasonable steps
to find documents, no documents relevant to part 2 of your request have been identified.
I am refusing part 2 of your request for access under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act as the documents
you have requested does not exist.
2.
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 29 November 2024, the Department advised you of its policy to exclude the personal and direct
contact details of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and any Ministerial staff, as well as
any person’s signature, and the mobile or direct numbers of officers, which are contained in
documents which fall within the terms of an FOI request. This category of information is identified as
irrelevant.
Parts of document 1 contain material which is irrelevant to the scope of your request and, as such,
I consider this information to be irrelevant to your FOI request.
Accordingly, I am satisfied parts of document 1 is irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
The remaining parts of the document have been released to you as they are relevant to your request.
Review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may apply for an Information Commissioner review of the
decision.
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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.4
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.5
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
David Belgrove
Assistant Secretary
Parliamentary and Government Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
12 March 2025
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https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
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https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
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Document Outline
