Our ref:
FOI25/066; CM25/2561
4 March 2025
Mr Squiggle
By email: foi+request‐12807‐xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Applicant
Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066 – Decision letter
The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about your request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) which you submitted to the Attorney‐General's Department
(the department).
Your request
On 3 February 2025, you requested access to:
1. For each of the individuals listed on the register with membership to Qantas Chairman’s Lounge /
Virgin's Beyond Lounge , their total number of flights and total expenditure, by airline, for the most
recent available 12‐month period (only flights funded by the department)
2. Any documents that detail any assessments made as to the 'estimated value' of these
memberships (including those made by the individuals, or the department).
3. Any documents that detail any reasons for accepting (or declining) invitations to these exclusive
airline lounges.
4. Any documents that are requests for advice from these individuals, or advice given to these
individuals, that touch on whether the memberships are in accordance with applicable policies in
relation to conflict of interest, gifts, etc.
On 7 February 2025, the department acknowledged your request and informed you that a similar request
was processed under FOI23/495 and directed you to the released documents on department’s disclosure
log. The department asked you to consider whether these released documents met your requirements and,
if so, to consider withdrawing your request. The department also sought your agreement to a 30‐day
extension of time to process your request under section 15AA of the FOI Act.
You responded to the department on 8 February 2025 and advised ‘
Unfortunately that request does not
provide the information I am seeking’ and to ‘
Please continue to process my request.’ You also declined the
department’s request for an extension of time.
On 11 February 2025, the department wrote to you and sought your agreement to exclude the below
categories of information from your request:
‐ documents already published on the department's disclosure log for FOI23/495 that may be
captured as part of your request
‐ duplicates of documents that are in scope
‐ personal information of members of the public
‐ contact details for teams, internal to the department and other agencies
‐ personal information belonging to officers of the department and other government agencies.
On 12 February 2025, you responded to the department and agreed to the above exclusions.
On 14 February 2025, the department wrote to you seeking clarification on the scope of request as to
whether the ‘12‐month period’ applied to parts 2‐4 of your request.
On 19 February 2025, you responded to the department and advised ‘
I can confirm the 12‐month period I
was referring to was restricted to point 1 of my request.’
A decision in relation to your request is due on 5 March 2025.
My decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to freedom of
information requests made to the department.
I note that, under section 7(2) of the FOI Act, the department is exempt from the operation of the FOI Act
in relation to documents in respect of activities undertaken by the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS).
Any documents wholly related to the activities of AGS are exempt from the FOI Act and do not form part of
my decision.
I have identified 5 documents that fall within the scope of your request. I did this by making inquiries of
staff likely to be able to identify relevant documents and arranging for comprehensive searches of relevant
departmental electronic and hard copy holdings.
In making my decision regarding access to the relevant documents, I have taken the following material into
account:
the terms of your request
the provisions of the FOI Act (specifically s 7(2) and Part II of Schedule 2)
the content of the documents identified as within scope of your request, and
the FOI Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner (the Guidelines)
I have decided to:
grant access in full to 1 document, and
grant access to 4 documents in part with deletion of material which:
o is exempt from the operation of the FOI Act under s 7(2);
o may be regarded as irrelevant to your request under s 22(1) of the FOI Act.
Additional information
Your review rights under the FOI Act are set out at
Attachment A to this letter.
The schedule of documents at
Attachment B sets out brief information about each document within the
scope of your request and my decision in relation to access to each of those documents.
The statement of reasons at
Attachment C sets out the reasons for my decision to refuse access to certain
material to which you have requested access.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066 Decision letter
Page 2 of 6
The documents to which I have decided to grant full or partial access under the FOI Act are at
Attachment D.
Questions about this decision
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOI case officer for this matter is Kellie, who can be reached on
(02) 6141 6666 or by email to xxx@xx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Bridie Dawson
Chief People and Strategy Officer
People and Strategy Division
Attachments
Attachment A:
Review rights
Attachment B:
Schedule of documents
Attachment C:
Statement of reasons
Attachment D:
Documents
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066 Decision letter
Page 3 of 6
Attachment A – Your review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may ask for an internal review or Information Commissioner review.
We encourage you to seek internal review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your
concerns.
Internal review You may apply for an internal review of my decision within 30 days of receiving this letter. Your request for
internal review must be in writing, and should provide reasons why you believe the review is necessary.
You may apply by emailing xxx@xx.xxx.xx or by post to:
Director, Freedom of Information and Privacy Section
Office of Corporate Counsel
Attorney‐General’s Department
3‐5 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Another officer will make a new decision on your request within 30 days of receiving your request for
internal review. If you are unhappy with the internal review decision, you may ask for an information
Commissioner review.
Information Commissioner review
Information Commissioner review requests must be submitted within 60 days of receiving this letter. Your
request should include your contact details, a copy of my decision, and the reasons why you disagree with
my decision. You can apply in one of the following ways:
Online: OAIC Web Form
Email: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Mail: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available at:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom‐of‐information/your‐freedom‐of‐information‐rights/freedom‐of‐
information‐reviews/information‐commissioner‐review
FOI Complaints If you are concerned about how we handled your FOI request, please let us know what we could have done
better, as we may be able to rectify the situation. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a
complaint to the Information Commissioner. Your complaint must be in writing, and can be lodged in one
of the following ways:
Online: OAIC Web Form
Email: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Mail: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
More information about Freedom of Information complaints is available at:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom‐of‐information/your‐freedom‐of‐information‐rights/freedom‐of‐
information‐complaints
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066 Decision letter
Page 4 of 6
Attachment B ‐ Schedule of documents ‐ Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066
Doc
Date
No.
Description
Access decision
Exemption/s applied
no.
pgs
1
11 February
2
Document created under section 17 of the
Grant access in full
Nil
2025
FOI Act – Summary of flights
2
9 January 2025
1
Gifts and Benefits Register report as at 31
Grant access in part
Section 7(2): Exemption of certain persons and bodies
December 2024
Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
3
24 August 2020
2
Gifts and Benefits Register – Qantas
Grant access in part
Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
Chairman Lounge Membership
4
18 March 2020
2
Gifts and Benefits Register – Qantas
Grant access in part
Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
Chairman Lounge Membership
5
18 March 2020
1
Email – Gifts and Benefits register form
Grant access in part
Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066 Decision letter
Page 5 of 6
Attachment C ‐ Statement of reasons ‐ FOI25/066
This document, when read in conjunction with the schedule of documents at
Attachment B,
provides information about the reasons I have decided not to disclose certain material to you in
response to your request for documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
Section 7 ‐ Exemption of certain persons and bodies
Section 7 of the FOI Act provides that certain persons, bodies and departments are exempt from the
operation of the Act in relation to particular types of documents. Relevantly, under s 7(2), the
department is exempt from the operation of the FOI Act in relation to documents in respect of
activities undertaken by the Australian Government Solicitor.
I can confirm that particular parts of document 2 subject to your request contain information in
respect of the activities of the Australian Government Solicitor. I am therefore satisfied that this
information is exempt from the operation of the FOI Act, and I have excluded it pursuant to section
7(2).
Section 22: Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if an agency decides to give access to a document that would
disclose information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, and it is
possible for the agency to prepare a copy (an
edited copy) of the document, modified by deletions,
the agency must prepare the edited copy and give the applicant access to it.
I note that when the department acknowledged your request by email on 11 February 2025, your
agreement was sought to exclude the following the following categories of information from the
scope of your FOI request:
‐
duplicates of documents that are in scope;
‐
personal information of members of the public;
‐
contact details for teams, internal to the department and other agencies
‐
personal information belonging to officers of the department and other government
agencies.
On 12 February 2025, you agreed to exclude the material listed above from the documents in your
request. I have therefore decided to regard the above categories of information as irrelevant to your
request and have deleted this material under s 22 of the FOI Act.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/066 Decision letter
Page 6 of 6
