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Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Notice of Decision
Reference: FOI 2024/233 and 2025/015
To Trav S
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx;
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Trav S
I refer to your requests to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), received on 22 July 2024 and 29 January 2025.
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:
2024/233
Please provide the Department's assessment and advice to the PSPM that led to the award of
the HOSM with clasp 'Afghanistan'.
2025/015
A copy of the Department’s assessment and advice provided to the Minister responsible for the
Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (HOSM) that led to the HOSM with ‘Afghanistan’ clasp
being awarded to individuals or groups. Please include any supporting documentation,
recommendations, or justifications associated with this award.
Request decided out of time
A decision on your requests was due 4 September 2024 and 28 February 2025. Unfortunately the
Department was unable to complete the processing of your request by the due date. In these
circumstances the Department fol ows the Guidelines issued by the Information Commissioner under
section 93A of the FOI Act (the Guidelines) which states:
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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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 fol owing:
• the terms of 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 three documents that fal s within the scope of your requests.
Decision
I have decided to grant access in ful , with irrelevant material deleted, to the documents identified
within the scope of your requests.
The documents are enclosed.
Reasons for decision
My findings of fact and reasons for deciding that certain information is irrelevant are set out below.
1.
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 25 July 2024 and 11 March 2025, 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 SES officers, which are
Paragraph 3.161 of the Guidelines
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contained in documents that fall within the terms of an FOI request. This category of information is
identified as irrelevant.
Accordingly I am satisfied that parts of the document are irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ) 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 Information Commissioner review of the decision.
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
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
Parliament and Government Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
12 March 2025
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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