OFFICIAL
Agency reference: FOI 24-25/104
Contact:
FOI Team
E-mail:
xxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Mr Squiggle
By email only: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Squiggle
Decision and Statement of Reasons issued under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 – FOI 24-25/104
On 3 February 2025, the Department of Finance (Finance) received your email, in which
you sought access under the Commonwealth
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to
the following:
I request the following documents under the FOI Act, for any departmental official or agency head who
currently holds membership to either Qantas' Chairman's Lounge or Virgin's Beyond lounge:
1. For each individual holding membership, detail of the membership they hold (ie. the airline they hold a
membership for), 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 10 February 2025, Finance advised you that we had previously answered a similar
Senate Question on Notice from Senator Pocock (F146) in the 2024-25 Supplementary
budget estimates. We
attached the question and answer for your reference. We asked that if
you consider the attachment, and response meets your request to withdraw your request.
On 11 February 2025, you advised that the information provided answers part 1 of your
request and that you agreed to remove part 1 from the scope of your request. You asked that
we continue to process points 2 to 4 of your request.
One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603 • Internet www.finance.gov.au
OFFICIAL
On 17 February 2025, Finance wrote to you to clarify the time period of the documents
requested. We interpreted the time period of your request as the most recent 12-month
period, that is 3 February 2024 – 3 February 2025.
On 19 February 2025, you advised that you are happy to limit the scope of Part 1 of your
request to the most recent full financial-year period. You noted that you do not wish to limit
the scope of all other parts of your request to specific date ranges.
On 24 February 2025, Finance wrote to you to further clarify the scope of your request, as
the subsequent emails reduced the scope and then further expanded the scope.
In the email, Finance noted that the most recent 12-month period, that is 3 February 2024 –
3 February 2025, was suggested as your request relates to any departmental officer of
agency head who “currently holds membership”. Therefore, we understood your request for
the current Secretary – Jenny Wilkison, or the current Deputy Secretaries Cath Patterson
(Budget Group), Grant Lovelock (Business Enabling Services), Richard Windeyer
(Commercial Group) or Nathan Williamson (Governance and Resource Management). We
noted that we also included the former Deputy Secretary of Business Enabling Services
Andrew Jaggers in the list, as part 1 of the request referenced the “most recent available 12
month period”, to which Andrew Jaggers would have been in scope.
Finance advised that we understood your scope in respect of Part 2, 3 and 4 of the request as
follows:
2. Any documents that detail any assessments made as to the 'estimated value' of these [current]
memberships (including those made by the individuals, or the department).
3. Any documents that detail any reasons for accepting (or declining) invitations [for these current
memberships].
4. Any documents that are requests for advice from these individuals, or advice given to these individuals,
that touch on whether the [current] memberships are in accordance with applicable policies in relation to
conflict of interest, gifts, etc.
On 24 February 2025, you confirmed that you are happy with the interpretation of the scope.
On 5 March 2025, Finance notified you that we would not be in a position to finalise a
decision in relation to your FOI request by the current due date and sought your agreement
to extend the processing period by 15 days with a new due date Thursday 20 March 2025.
On 6 March 2025, you consented to the extension of time.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with notice of my decision under the FOI Act.
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised by the Secretary of Finance and section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make
decisions in relation to FOI requests.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with notice of my decision under the FOI Act.
My Decision
I have identified three documents falling within the scope of your request.
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I have decided to release the three documents with irrelevant material redacted under section
22 of the FOI Act.
Locating and identifying documents
The documents were identified by conducting searches of Finance’s information
management systems including SharePoint/OneDrive, Outlook, G:Drive, including IT
running searches using all reasonable search terms that could return documents relevant to
your request.
Relevant Finance staff able to identify documents within the scope of the request were also
consulted.
Material taken into account In accordance with section 26(1)(a) of the FOI Act, my findings on any material question of
fact, the material on which those findings were based, and the reasons for my decision to
grant access to the documents follows.
In making my decision, I have had regard to the following:
• the terms of your FOI request;
• the content of the documents that fall within the scope of your request;
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act, including sections 3, 11 and 11A;
• the following FOI cases; and
• the FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(FOI Guidelines)
1.
Reasons for decision
I have decided to grant access to the material within scope of your request, subject to the
following provisions of the FOI Act.
Section 22 - Irrelevant information removed from the documents
Section 22 of the FOI Act relevantly provides:
(1) This section applies if:
(a) an agency or Minister decides:
(i) to refuse to give access to an exempt document; or
(ii) that to give access to a document would disclose information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the request for access; and
(b) it is possible for the agency or Minister to prepare a copy (an edited copy) of the document,
modified by deletions, ensuring that:
(i) access to the edited copy would be required to be given under section 11A (access to
documents on request); and
(ii) the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded as
irrelevant to the request…
On 10 February 2025, Finance advised that subject to any objections raised by you, the
names and contact details of junior staff (non-SES officers), staff employed under the
Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (adviser level and below) and signatures and mobile
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https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-
agencies/foi-guidelines
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phone numbers would be redacted under subparagraph 22(a)(ii) of the FOI Act on the basis
that these details are irrelevant to the request.
The documents within scope of your request contain information which is not relevant to
your request under paragraph 22(a) of the FOI Act. Accordingly, this information is
irrelevant to your request and Finance has prepared an edited copy of the documents that has
removed this information in accordance with paragraph 22(b) of the FOI Act.
Review and appeal rights
You are entitled to request an internal review or an external review by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) of my decision. The process for review and
appeal rights is set out at
Attachment A.
Information Publication Scheme The Information Publication Scheme requires an agency to publish information released in
response to individual requests made under the FOI Act, except in specified circumstances.
I am of the view that details of your request should be made available on the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log, which can be accessed at
https://www.finance.gov.au/about-
us/freedom-information/disclosure-log.
Finance only publishes details of the FOI request and the documents released in response to
the request, and does not publish details of FOI applicants.
If you have any questions about this request, please contact the FOI Team.
Yours sincerely,
Kelly Hoffmeister
Assistant Secretary
Corporate Division
Department of Finance
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ATTACHMENT A
Your Review Rights
Legislation
A copy of the FOI Act is available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02562.
If you are unable to access the legislation through this website, please contact our office for
a copy.
Internal Review (IR)
If you disagree with this decision, you can seek a review of the original decision. The review
will be conducted by a different decision maker, usually someone at a more senior level.
You must apply for an IR within
30 calendar days of being notified of the decision or
charge, unless we agree to extend your time. You should contact us if you wish to seek an
extension.
We are required to make an IR decision within 30 calendar days of receiving your
application. If we do not make an IR decision within this timeframe, then the original
decision stands.
Your request for an IR should include:
• a statement that you are seeking a review of our decision;
• attach a copy of the decision you are seeking a review of; and
• state the reasons why you consider the original decision maker made the wrong
decision.
Email
: xxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Post
: The FOI Coordinator
Legal and Assurance Branch
Department of Finance
One Canberra Avenue
FORREST ACT 2603
Information Commissioner review
You may apply directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
for an Information Commissioner review of this decision. You must apply in writing
within
60 calendar days of this notice.
For further information about review rights and how to submit a request for a review to the
OAIC, please s
ee https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-
ofinformation-rights/freedom-of-information-reviews/information-commissioner-review.
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Third parties
If you are a third party objecting to a decision to grant someone else access to your
information, you must apply to the Information Commissioner within
30 calendar days of
being notified of our decision to release your information.
The OAIC asks that you commence a review by completing their online form which is
available on their website.
Your review application must include a copy of the notice of our decision that you are
objecting to, and your contact details. You should also set out why you are objecting to the
decision.
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge).
Making a complaint
You may complain to the Information Commissioner about action taken by the Department
in relation to your request.
Your enquiries to the Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge)
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
There is no particular form required to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.
The request should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered
that the action taken in relation to the request should be investigated and identify the
Department of Finance as the relevant agency.
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Document Outline
