OFFICIAL

Dear J Paul

Acknowledgement

I refer to your correspondence of 27 February 2025 seeking access to
documents held by the Department of Defence (Defence), under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). This email is to advise you that your
request has been received and allocated for Case Management.

The scope of your request is:

I request under FOI copies of advice to government on the disposal of
MRH-90 Helicopters, including considerations:

-for offering these, or nor offering these airframes, to Ukraine (as aid
or sale), -offering these airframes in whole or as parts to New Zealand or
one of the other ten operators of the similar NH-90 airframes, either by
sale or gifting, -the rationale for burying these airframes.

By advice to government, I seek copies of briefs, ministerial submission,
emails, files note of phone calls, to any of the Ministers in the defence
portfolio and their offices.

The search for records can be limited to the calendar year 2023.

I also seek a copy of any correspondence from the Ukrainian government and
Ambassador to the Australian government regarding the MRH-90 Helicopters.

Disclaimer

Where staff details are captured in documents within the scope of your FOI
request, this information will be redacted; this includes private email
addresses, signatures, personnel (PMKeyS) numbers and mobile telephone
numbers, unless you specifically request such details. Defence excludes
duplicates of documents and any documents sent to or from you.
Furthermore, Defence only considers final versions of documents.

Charges

Defence may impose a charge for the work involved in providing access to
the documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Charges)
Regulations 2019. We will notify you if your request attracts a charge.
Please note that there is no charge for documents that contain the
personal information of the applicant.

Timeframe

The statutory timeframe to provide you with a decision on your request
ends on 29 March 2025. This period may be extended if we need to consult
with third parties, or for other reasons. We will advise you if this
happens.

Please note that where the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public
holiday, the timeframe will expire on the next working day. This is in
accordance with the FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act.

Disclosure Log

Documents released under the FOI Act may be published on Defence’s
disclosure log, located on our website.

Contact Details

We will contact you via the email address you have provided. Please advise
if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.

Should you have any questions relating to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact me via email: [1][email address].

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Team

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

[2]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

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Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
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References

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2. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...