OFFICIAL
DENISON STREET DEAKIN, CANBERRA ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL 02 6202 6999 • INTERNATIONAL +61 2 6202 6999
www.ramint.gov.au • ABN 45 852 104 259
FOI/2025/00001
3 February 2025
Glenn Hamiltonshire
Sent by email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Hamiltonshire,
Decision on your Freedom of Information Request
On 3 January 2025, you made the following request to the Royal Australian Mint (
Mint) under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act):
I request access to the following:
(a) The Royal Australian Mint's charter with the Treasury.
(b) The Royal Australian Mint's supporting memorandum of understanding; and
(c) Any associating 'governance instruments' referenced in the Corporate plan.
Documents within the scope of the request
Two documents were found within the scope of the request, namely:
(a) Charter between the Royal Australian Mint and The Treasury
(b) Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of the Treasury and the Royal Australian
Mint
Authorisation
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Decision
I have decided to refuse your request for access to documents under section 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act.
Further information considering my decision is set out below.
Reasons for decision
Section 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt from disclosure to the
extent that it contains business, commercial or financial information that would be unreasonable to
disclose. Information about the management and commercial business, including revenue and
accountability arrangements between the Mint and the Treasury (and Mint and Treasury staff), are not, to
my knowledge, publicly known.
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Therefore, I find that disclosing the information would be unreasonable because it could reasonably be
expected to provide potential competitors with an unfair insight into the Mint’s commercial, business and
financial arrangements and activities.
Public Interest Test
Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act provides that conditionally exempt material must be released unless (in the
circumstances) its disclosure would, on balance be contrary to the public interest. To determine whether
access to the conditionally exempt personal information would be contrary to the public interest, I must
weigh the public interest factors favouring access to the information against the public interest factors
against access.
Paragraph 6 of the FOI Guidelines provides that the public interest test is considered to be something that
is of serious concern or benefit to the public, not merely of individual interest and related to matters of
common concern or relevance to all members of the public, or a substantial section of the public. In this
case I discern no public interest in releasing the commercial, business and financial arrangement
information that falls within the scope of the request.
Against disclosure I have considered the importance of businesses being able to conduct their legitimate
affairs without risk of exposure through the FOI processes. On balance I consider that releasing the
business, commercial and financial information contained in the documents would be contrary to the
public interest.
Accordingly, I have decided to refuse your request for access to these documents under section 47G of the
FOI Act.
Materials taken into account
In reaching my decision, I took into account:
• the scope of your request, dated 3 January 2025
• the content of the document requested
• information about:
– the nature of the document, and
– the Mint’s operating environment and functions
• the FOI Act, and
• the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act
(
Guidelines).
Review rights
Your review rights are set out in
Attachment A.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Officer
Royal Australian Mint
Decision on your Freedom of Information Request
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Attachment A. Review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner
review of the decision. Please note that you do not have to apply for Internal Review prior to lodging an
Information Commissioner Review.
Application for internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Treasury for an internal review of my
decision. If you wish to seek an internal review, you must apply to the Treasury within
30 days after the day
you are notified of this decision.
An application for an internal review can be made in writing to the Treasury FOI Officer via email to
xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. If you make an
application for internal review, we request that you attach a copy of this decision to your internal review
application.
Information Commissioner review
Alternatively, if you are dissatisfied with my decision, 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 day you are notified of this decision. You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner if
you have concerns about how the Mint handled your request.
An application for an Information Commissioner review can be made through the online webform on the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) website
: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-
information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-information-reviews/information-
commissioner-review.
You can find further information about requesting a review, making a complaint, and other information
about FOI on the OAIC website
(www.oaic.gov.au) or by phoning the OAIC on 1300 363 992.
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