Corruption at DPMC – Phil Gaetjens, Stephanie Foster and Brittany Higgins
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I refer to this article concerning corruption engaged in by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) as identified by the Office of the Information Commissioner:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Noting the article refers to an investigation conducted by the OAIC into DPMC’s compliance with the FOI Act, under the FOI Act I seek a copy of any and all documents given to DPMC by the OAIC pursuant to s.86(2) of the FOI Act in relation to the investigation referred to in the article.
I note that there is a wide public interest in the documents the subject of my request arising from:
- the vast majority of Australian taxpayers supporting the establishment of a Federal ICAC to deal with public sector corruption such as that identified in the article above;
- the investigation alluding to a practice whereby FOI administrative decision-makers at DPMC are acting under dictation from political parties – an illegal practice that would constitute a contravention of the APS Code of Conduct; and
- paragraph 6.19 of the FOI Guidelines providing that release of the documents the subject of my request would be in the public interest including because they will “inform debate on a matter of public importance, including to: i. allow or assist inquiry into possible deficiencies in the conduct or administration of an agency or official ii. reveal or substantiate that an agency or official has engaged in misconduct or negligent, improper or unlawful conduct and iii. reveal deficiencies in privacy or access to information legislation.”
Thank you.
Our reference: FOIREQ21/0263
Dear Applicant
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 17 November 2021.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
“I refer to this article concerning corruption engaged in
by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) as identified
by the Office of the Information Commissioner:
[1]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Noting the article refers to an investigation conducted by the OAIC into
DPMC’s compliance with the FOI Act, under the FOI Act I seek a copy of any
and all documents given to DPMC by the OAIC pursuant to s.86(2) of the FOI
Act in relation to the investigation referred to in the article.
I note that there is a wide public interest in the documents the subject
of my request arising from:
- the vast majority of Australian taxpayers supporting the
establishment of a Federal ICAC to deal with public sector corruption such
as that identified in the article above;
- the investigation alluding to a practice whereby FOI
administrative decision-makers at DPMC are acting under dictation from
political parties – an illegal practice that would constitute a
contravention of the APS Code of Conduct; and
- paragraph 6.19 of the FOI Guidelines providing that release of the
documents the subject of my request would be in the public interest
including because they will “inform debate on a matter of public
importance, including to: i. allow or assist inquiry into possible
deficiencies in the conduct or administration of an agency or official ii.
reveal or substantiate that an agency or official has engaged in
misconduct or negligent, improper or unlawful conduct and iii. reveal
deficiencies in privacy or access to information legislation.”
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
As we received your request on 17 November 2021, we must process your
request by 17 December 2021.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
[2][IMG] Elena Elagina | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[3]oaic.gov.au
[4]1300 363 992| [5][email address]
[6][IMG] | [7][IMG] | [8][IMG] | [9]Subscribe to Information
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Dear Applicant,
Freedom of Information request no. FOIREQ21/00263
I refer to your request, made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) and received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 17 November 2021.
I requested searches for documents you are seeking access to, and on 1
December 2021 the relevant line areas provided me with documents
potentially within the scope of your request. While reviewing the
documents which fall within scope of your request, I have identified
documents which contain information of third-party individuals.
Because your request covers documents which contain information concerning
an organisation’s business or professional affairs and personal
information, the OAIC is required to consult the individuals and
organisations under ss 27 and 27A of the FOI Act before making a decision
on release of the documents.
In this case, the material contains personal information concerning a
person, and accordingly, under s 27A(3) of the FOI Act, the OAIC must not
decide to give access to the document unless the person concerned is given
a reasonably opportunity to make submissions in support of the exemption
contention, and the OAIC has regard to any submissions so made. In making
my decision to undertake consultation with that person, and whether that
person concerned might reasonably wish to make an exemption contention
because of personal information, I have had regard to the following
matters in accordance with s 27A(2) of the FOI Act:
a. The extent to which the information is well known;
b. Whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or
have been) associated with the matters dealt with in the information;
c. The availability of the information from publicly accessible sources;
d. Any other matters that the OAIC considers relevant.
For the above reasons, the period for processing your request has been
extended by 30 days to allow time to consult (see s 15(6) of the FOI Act).
Your request is now due on 16 January 2022.
The consultation mechanisms under ss 27 and 27A apply when we believe the
person or organisation concerned may wish to contend that the requested
documents are exempt for reasons of personal privacy, or adverse effect to
their business or financial affairs. We will consider any comments we
receive, however the final decision about whether to grant you access to
the documents you requested rests with the OAIC.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we need to consult third parties about, may contain your personal
information.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on my
details below.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Elena Elagina | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
[3]1300 363 992| [4][email address]
[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] | [8]Subscribe to Information
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References
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3. file:///tmp/tel:1300363992
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
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8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...
OAIC ref: FOIREQ21/00263
Dear S Volker
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 17 November 2021.
Please find attached:
1. FOI decision dated 14 January 2022
2. Schedule of documents, and
3. Documents released.
Your review rights are contained on the last page of the FOI decision.
Where the third party objected to the disclosure of their personal
information, an edited version of the documents with the personal
information removed will be published on the OAIC’s disclosure log within
10 working days.
Kind regards
Margaret
[1]O A I C logo Margaret Sui | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9879 |
[3][email address]
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References
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