OFFICIAL

Reference: 2025/039 

Dear Tyler

Thank you for your email of 14 February 2025 in which you made a request
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department). 

You set out the terms of the request as follows:

Is it possible to provide copy [within the possession of your Department]
of document recording the Governor-General's approval of the
Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty 2023
([1]https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/austr... and copy [within the
possession of your Department] of accompanying documents submitted to the
Governor-General in seeking the Governor-General's approval of the Treaty?

Timeframe for receiving your decision

The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the Department received your request, you should therefore
expect a decision from us by 17 March 2025.

The processing period of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances
and we will write to you separately regarding any extension of time. 

Charges

Agencies may decide that an applicant is liable to pay a charge in respect
of a request for access to documents. If the Department decides that you
are liable to pay a charge, we will send you a preliminary assessment of
the charge as soon as possible. 

Publication of documents

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published online on our disclosure log at
[2]https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/depart...,
subject to certain exceptions.   If you think you might wish to raise any
objections to the publication of your requested document, which may be
released to you, please contact us by email at [3][DPMC request email].  If you
do wish to object to the publication of information, you would need to set
out your reasons.

Exclusion of officers’ names and contact details

For documents that fall within scope of the request, it is the
Department’s policy to withhold:

·         any person’s signature;

·         the names and contact details of Australian Public Service
officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);

·         the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers;

·         the names and contact details of Ministerial staff at a level
below Chief of Staff.

If you consider the information categorised above is relevant to the terms
of your request please let us know at [4][DPMC request email], otherwise we will
take it that you agree this category of information may be reasonably
regarded as irrelevant and we will delete this information if it appears
in the documents that are otherwise responsive to your request. 

The names and other details of SES officers will not be withheld unless
there is some reason for that information to be exempt from release.

Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at
[5]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

Yours sincerely

Coordinator | FOI Section

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

e. [6][email address]  w. [7]pmc.gov.au 

[8]http://url5193.checkbox.ai/wf/open?upn=u...

______________________________________________________________________ 
IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information 
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or 
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you 
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other 
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you 
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by 
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the 
message from your computer system. 
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/austr
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/about-us/accounta...
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. mailto:[DPMC request email]
5. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. https://pmc.gov.au/

OFFICIAL

Departmental reference: FOI/2025/039

Dear Tyler

I refer to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the FOI Act) and received by the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet (the Department) on 14 February 2025. The request is seeking
access to:

Is it possible to provide copy [within the possession of your Department]
of document recording the Governor-General's approval of the
Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty 2023
([1]https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/austr... and copy [within the
possession of your Department] of accompanying documents submitted to the
Governor-General in seeking the Governor-General's approval of the Treaty?

The current due date for a decision on your FOI request is 17 March 2025.
I am the member of the FOI Team that has carriage of this matter and I am
seeking an extension in order to keep your FOI request within time. The
Department is committed to processing all requests that it receives and
endeavours to complete those requests within statutory timeframes. 

We have identified documents related to the terms of your request;
however, to ensure all relevant records are captured I am awaiting further
advice from the responsible area within the Department. With regard to
those documents already identified, the work of reviewing records to
identify those that fall within the scope of your request has commenced.
Further work is required to:

·          Ensure all relevant documents have been retrieved

·          Prepare those documents

·          Undertake any consultation, which is likely required with at
least one commonwealth agency

·          Complete the assessment under the FOI Act.

The Department would like to work with applicants in managing the
timeframes of its requests, and the FOI Act has built-in provisions that
facilitate extensions in consultation with applicants, this enables
agencies to manage their FOI requests and keep them within time. Given
this, I seek your agreement to an extension of 30 days under section 15AA
of the FOI Act, this would extend the due date to 16 April 2025. We will
keep you updated on the progress of this request if circumstances change.

We would be grateful for your response indicating whether you agree to
this extension by Thursday, 13 March 2025.

Kind regards

Adviser

FOI Section[]

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

Ngunnawal Country | One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [2][email address] w. [3]pmc.gov.au

[4]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.

______________________________________________________________________ 
IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information 
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or 
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you 
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other 
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you 
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by 
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the 
message from your computer system. 
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/austr
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.pmc.gov.au/

OFFICIAL

Departmental reference: FOI/2025/039

Dear Tyler

Thank you for your prompt response. We would like to clarify that the
extension of time would move the due date for your FOI matter to 15 April
2025 not March.

Can you please confirm your agreement to this new date by today 12 March
2025.

Kind regards

Adviser

FOI Section

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

Ngunnawal Country | One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

e. [email address] w. pmc.gov.au

The Department acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and
emerging Elders and Traditional Custodians of Country, and the
continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

show quoted sections