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Documents in scope of request
The Office of the Minister of Home Affairs has identified four documents as fal ing within the
scope of your request. The Minister’s Office undertook reasonable searches and as a result
of these searches has identified:
two documents as fal ing within the scope of your request – record of calendar entries
for meetings
one document as fal ing within the scope of your request – correspondence between
the Minister and Optus
one document as fal ing within the scope of your request – Optus letter to the Minister
These documents were in the possession of the Minister’s Office on the 11 November 2022,
when your request was received.
Decision
The Minister’s decision in response to your request is:
To release two documents in part with material exempt under sections 47G(1)(a) and
47F, and material deleted as irrelevant under section 22(1)(a)(i ).
To release two document in ful – record of calendar entries for meetings.
Section 47G of the FOI Act – Business Affairs
Section 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act permits conditional exemption of documents containing
business information where disclosrure of that information would, or could be reasonably
expected to, unreasonable affect the organization adversely in respect of its lawful business,
commercial or financial affairs.
I have considered that the document titled ‘Optus document’ which contains information
concerning the business affairs of Optus. The information is in the nature of a letter from Optus
to the Minister containing confidential business information.
In determining whether disclosure of the information within the document would or could
reasonably be expected to adversely affect the lawful business, commercial or financial affairs
of an organization, I have had regard to the fol owing factors:
(a) The extent to which the information is wel known;
(b) Whether the organisation or undertaking is known to be associated with the matters
dealt with in the document;
(c) The availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
(d) Any other matters that the Minister considers relevant.
The information contained within the document is not in the public domain, the organisation
concerned is not general y known to be associated with the matters referred to in the document
and the information is not available from publicly accessible sources, such as the
organisation’s website. I am therefore satisfied that the disclosure of the information would, or
could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect that organisation in respect of its lawful
business, commercial or financial affairs.
I have decided that the document referred to above is conditional y exempt under section 47G
of the FOI Act. Access to a conditional y exempt document must general y be given unless it
would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure
of the information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in
that regard below in this decision.
Section 47F of the FOI Act – Personal Privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditional y exempt if its disclorure
under the FOI Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any
person. ‘Personal information’ means information or an opinion about an identified individual,
or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true of
not, and whether the information or opinion is recoreded in a material form or not (see section
4 of the FOI Act and section 6 of the Privacy Act 1988).
I consider that disclosure of the information marked ‘s47F’ in the documents would disclose
personal information relating to the third party, Optus.
The FOI Act states that when deciding whether the disclosure of the personal information
would be ‘unreasonable’, I must have regard to the fol owing four factors set out in s47F(2) of
the FOI Act:
(a) The extent to which the information is wel known;
(b) Whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have been)
associated with the matter dealt with in the document;
(c) The availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
(d) Any other matters that the Minister considers relevant.
Having considered each of these factors, I consider the information relating to the third party
is not wel known and would only be known to a limited group of people with a business need
to know. As this information is only known to a limited group of people, the individual
concerned is not general y known to be associated with the matters discussed in the
document. This information is not available from publicly accessible sources.
I do not consider that the information relating specifical y to the third pary would be relevant to
the broader scope of your request, as you are sekking access to communication between
Optus and the Minister rather than information, which exclusively relates to the names and
details of Optus staff.
I am saitisfied that the disclosure of the information within the documents would involve an
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about Optus.
I have decided that the information referred to above is conditional y exempt under section
47F of the FOI Act. Access to a conditional y exempt document must general y be given unless
it would be contrary to the public interest to do so. I have turned my mind to whether disclosure
of the information would be contrary to the public interest, and have included my reasoning in
that regard below in this decision.
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Section 22 of the FOI Act – irrelevant to request
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose
information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, it is possible for
the Minister to prepare an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions, ensureing that
the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded as
irrelevant to the request.
It is part of the Minister’s policy to exclude the personal details of officers not in the Senior
Executive Services (SES) of the Department of Home Affairs, as wel as the mobile and work
telephone numbers of SES staff, contained in the documents that fal within the scope of an
FOI request.
As parts of the documents contain the personal contact details of staff of the Department of
Home Affairs in the second document titled ‘correspondence’, I consider this information
irrelevant to your request.
I have decided parts of the document as mentioned above and marked s22(1)(a)(i ) would
disclose information that could reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to your request. I have
prepared an edited copy of the document, with the irrelevant material deleted pursuant to
section 22(1)(a)(i ) of the FOI Act.
The remainder of the document has been considered for release as this information is relevant
to your request.
The public interest – section 11A of the FOI Act
As I have decided that parts of the documents are conditional y exempt, I am now required to
consider whether access to the conditional y exempt information would be contrary to the
public interest (section 11A of the FOI Act).
A part of a document which is conditional y exempt must also meet the public interest test in
section 11A(5) before an exemption may be claimed in respect of that part.
In summary, the test is whether access to the conditional y exempt part of the document would
be, on balance, contrary to the the public interest.
In applying this test, I have noted the objects of the FOI Act and the importance of the other
factors listed in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, being whether access to the document would
do any of the fol owing:
(a) Promote the objects of the Act (including al the matters set our in sections 3 and 3A)
(b) Inform debate on a matter of public importance;
(c) Promote effective oversight of public expenditure;
(d) Al ow a person to access his or her own personal information.
Having regard to the above I am satisfied that:
Access to the documents would promote the objects of the FOI Act.
The subject matter of the document does not seem to have a general characteristic of
public importance. The matter has a limited scope and in my view, would be of interest
to a very narrow section of the public.
No insights into public expenditure wil be provided through examination of the
document.
You do not require access to the document in order to access your own personal
information.
I have also considerd the fol owing factors that weigh against the release of the conditional y
exempt information in the documents:
Disclosure of the personal information, in this case Optus, which is conditional y
exempt under sections 47F of the FOI Act, could reasonably be expected to prejudice
the protection of Optus’ right to privacy.
While you may be aware of the personal information relating to the third party, their
information is not wel known to the public general y. These documents are not
available from publicly accessible sources. I have had regard to the fact that disclosure
of information under the FOI Act must be considered a disclosure to the world at large
and not just to you the applicant.
The Minister is committed to complying with their obligations under the Privacy Act
1988, which sets out standards and obligations that regulate how the Minister must
manage personal information. It is firmly in the public interest that the Minister uphold
the rights of individuals to their own privacy and meet its obligations under the Privacy
Act. I consider that non-compliance with the Minister’s statutory obligations concerning
the protection of personal information would be contrary to the public interst and that
this factor weighs strongly against disclosure.
Disclosure of parts of the document that is conditional y exempt under section 47G of
the FOI Act could reasonably be expected to prejudice the competitive commercial
activities of third party organisations. I consider that this would be contrary to the public
interest and that this factor weighs strongly against disclosure.
I have also had regard to section 11B(4) which sets our the factors which are irrelevant to my
decision, which are:
(a) Access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government;
(b) Access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or
misunderstanding the document;
(c) The author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the
request for access to the document was made;
(d) Access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
Upon balancing al the above relevant public interest considerations, I have concluded that
the disclosure of the conditional y exempt information in the documents would be contrary to
the public interest and it is therefore exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act.
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.
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Your Review Rights
Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
You may apply directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for a
review of this decision. You must apply in writing within 60 days of this notice.
For further information about review rights and how to submit a request for a review to the
OAIC, please see https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-
information-rights/freedom-of-information-reviews/internal-review.
Making a Complaint
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken by the
Office of the Minister in relation to your request.
Your enquiries to the Australian 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 Australian 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 Minister of Home Affairs as the relevant agency.
Contacting the Office of the Minister
Should you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section at
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx quoting reference MO22/11/00002.
Kind regards
Authorised decision maker
The Office of the Minister for Home Affairs
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
26 July 2024
