BP47202586
DEFENCE FOI 547/24/25
STATEMENT OF REASONS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
1.
I refer to the request by Glenn Hamiltonshire (the applicant), dated and received on
16 January 2025 by the Department of Defence (Defence), for access to the following
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act):
…the Writing/Style/Brand Guides used by the Royal Australian Air Force.
FOI decision maker
2.
I am the authorised officer pursuant to section 23 of the FOI Act to make a decision on
this FOI request.
Documents identified
3.
I have identified one (1) document as falling within the scope of the request.
Exclusions
4.
A signature contained in documents that fall within the scope of the FOI request,
duplicates of documents, and documents sent to or from the applicant are excluded
from this request. Defence has only considered final versions of documents.
Decision
5.
I have decided to:
a. partially release one (1) document in accordance with section 22 [access to
edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted] of the FOI Act on the
grounds that the deleted material is considered exempt under section 47E
[Public interest conditional exemption – certain operations of agencies] of the
FOI Act; and
b. remove irrelevant material in accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act.
Material taken into account
6.
In making my decision, I have had regard to:
a. the terms of the request;
b. the content of the identified document in issue;
c. relevant provisions of the FOI Act; and
d. the Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act (the Guidelines).
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REASONS FOR DECISION
Section 22 – Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted
7.
Section 22 of the FOI Act permits an agency to prepare and provide an edited copy of
a document where the agency has decided to refuse access to an exempt document or
that to give access to a document would disclose information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the request for access.
8.
The document identified contains exempt and irrelevant material that does not relate to
the request.
9.
I am satisfied that it is reasonably practicable to remove the exempt and irrelevant
material and release the document to you in an edited form.
Section 47E(d) – Public interest conditional exemptions – certain operations of agencies
10.
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act states:
A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would, or
could reasonably be expected to, do any of the following:
(d) have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of
the operations of the agency.
11.
The Guidelines, at paragraph 6.115, provide that:
The predicted effect must bear on the agency’s ‘proper and efficient’
operations, that is, the agency is undertaking its operations in an expected
manner.
12.
I find that disclosure of the material exempt under section 47E(d) of the Act would
have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations
of Defence. The document contains operational Defence email addresses and links to
internal Defence webpages that are not otherwise publicly available. Disclosure of the
operational contact details would allow members of the public to circumvent
established methods and dedicated points of contact, which would undermine the
operation of Defence’s established channels of communication. Further, disclosure
could reasonably be expected to expose operational areas to vexatious communication
and public inquiries, which they are not ordinarily resourced to manage.
13.
I am satisfied that were the operational contact details made publicly available, it
would have substantial adverse effects on the proper and efficient operation of existing
public communication channels. Further, I am satisfied of a reasonable expectation
that the information could be used inappropriately, in a manner which adversely
affects the health, wellbeing and work of Defence personnel. Disclosure of operational
email addresses could, therefore, reasonably be expected to prejudice the operations of
Defence.
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14.
The Guidelines provide, at paragraph 6.112, that I should consider whether disclosure
of the information ‘would, or could reasonably be expected to lead to a change in the
agency’s processes that would enable those processes to be more efficient.’ Given that
the operational email addresses and internal webpage links within the document are
not publicly available and that more appropriate communication channels are already
available, I am satisfied that release of the information could reasonably be expected
to lead to a change in Defence’s processes that would not lead to any efficiencies.
15.
Accordingly, I am satisfied that the specified information is conditionally exempt
under section 47E(d) of the FOI Act.
Public interest considerations - section 47E(d)
16.
Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act states:
The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is
conditionally exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances)
access to the document at that time would, on balance, be contrary to the
public interest.
17.
I have considered the factors favouring disclosure as set out in section 11B(3) [factors
favouring access] of the FOI Act. The relevant factors being whether access to the
document would:
(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
18.
In my view, disclosure of this information would not increase public participation in
the Defence process (section 3(2)(a) of the FOI Act), nor would it increase scrutiny or
discussion of Defence activities (section 3(2)(b) of the FOI Act).
19.
Paragraph 6.233 of the Guidelines specifies a non-exhaustive list of public interest
factors against disclosure. The factors I find particularly relevant to this request are
that release of this information could reasonably be expected to prejudice the
management function of an agency.
20.
As I have established above, the release of the operational details can reasonably be
expected to prejudice the management functions of Defence. Existing communication
channels and processes enable efficient and appropriate liaison with the public, and
therefore I consider there is no public interest in disclosing the operational contact
information. The operational email addresses and internal webpage links should,
therefore, not be disclosed, as the public interest against their disclosure outweighs the
public interest in their release.
21.
I have not taken any of the factors listed in section 11B(4) [irrelevant factors] of the
FOI Act into account when making this decision.
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22.
I am satisfied, based on the above particulars, the public interest factors against
disclosure outweigh the factors for disclosure, and that, on balance, it is against the
public interest to release the information to you. Accordingly, I find that the
information is exempt under section 47E of the FOI Act.
JA (Nick) Osborne
Air Commodore
Accredited Decision Maker
Royal Australian Air Force
