Australian Government Bond History
Dear Department of the Treasury,
This request is to access information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. (FOI)
I would like the full history of all government bonds issued, including all Exchange-Traded Treasury Bonds and Exchanged-Traded Treasury Indexed Bonds that were made available to the public.
Yours faithfully,
Chris H
OFFICIAL
Dear Chis H
We acknowledge your request below, under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act), seeking the following documents:
I would like the full history of all government bonds issued, including
all Exchange-Traded Treasury Bonds and Exchanged-Traded Treasury Indexed
Bonds that were made available to the public.
Access to documents
We have taken your request to be seeking documents from 1 January 2002
onwards. Section 12(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides that a person is not
entitled to any document which is under the open access period for the
purposes of the Archives Act 1983 (Archives Act). Section 31 and the open
access table in section 3 of the Archives Act prescribe when Commonwealth
records (as defined by the Archives Act) are subject to the open access
period.
Under the open access period, certain documents move from Commonwealth
agencies and other holders of Commonwealth records to the National
Archives of Australia (NAA) after a 20 year period. As at the date of your
FOI request, this means that a request for documents prior to 1 January
2002 is not a valid request under the FOI Act. Documents prior to 1
January 2002 can be requested from the NAA.
Information from the Australian Office of Financial Management
The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) has provided the
following information in response to your request. It is being provided to
you outside the formal FOI process.
The AOFM, as the sovereign debt manager for the Australian Government,
raises debt from wholesale funding markets to fund the Budget by issuing
Australian dollar denominated debt in the name of the Commonwealth of
Australia. Financial market participants buy Australian Government
Securities (AGS) directly from the AOFM through regular tenders (currently
several times per week) to meet their customer needs. The AOFM conducts
its tenders in Yieldbroker, a licensed electronic trading platform
provider for debt securities and other products. In 2020-21 the AOFM
conducted 140 tenders.
Occasionally, where conducting large-volume transactions is advantageous,
the AOFM will conduct its debt issuance via syndication. In a syndication
the AOFM appoints a panel of banks to support the process and promote the
sale through their customer networks. In 2020-21 the AOFM conducted 6
syndications.
Each debt issuance is supported by various documentation to evidence
judgements made in issuance decision making, to ensure compliance with
legislative requirements arising from the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act
1911, to record issuance results and to analyse tender performance
(including of bidders). Some of this information is sensitive.
The AOFM reports on its website its planned issuance activities for the
forthcoming week and summary results of each tender conducted. This
information is kept on the website for a month. The information is also
forwarded to website subscribers. In addition, the AOFM website hosts a
datahub which provides a range of information (in an MS Excel format)
arising from the AOFM’s activities, including: year end balances of assets
and liabilities from 30 June 2003 to 30 June 2021; end of month balances
of assets and liabilities from 30 June 2003 to (currently) 31 January
2022; details of every tender and syndication conducted from 1982 and to
the current day.
Furthermore, in accordance with the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 the
Government is required to publish a debt statement in its Budget and
MYEFO documentation; and the Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary
to the Department of Finance are required to publish a debt statement in
PEFO documentation. The debt statement includes information of securities
on issue at the time of the report, and forecasts for the Budget year and
forward years.
The datahub link is [1]https://www.aofm.gov.au/data-hub
Next steps
If you are satisfied with this information from the AOFM and link to the
datahub, we ask that you withdraw your FOI request. A response by 7 March
2022 would be appreciated.
If it does not satisfy your request, we ask that you provide further
information to clarify what documents you are actually seeking so that we
can process a request for those documents.
If we do not hear from you, we will continue to process your request as
presently framed. This will likely result in a notice being sent to you of
our intention to refuse your request on the ground of insufficient
information to enable Treasury officers to locate documents within scope
of your request.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury, Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600
Phone: +61 2 6263 2800
Email: [2][Treasury request email]
[3]www.treasury.gov.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris H <[FOI #8468 email]>
Sent: Friday, 18 February 2022 10:17 PM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Australian Government Bond
History
Dear Department of the Treasury,
This request is to access information under the Freedom of Information Act
1982. (FOI)
I would like the full history of all government bonds issued, including
all Exchange-Traded Treasury Bonds and Exchanged-Traded Treasury Indexed
Bonds that were made available to the public.
Yours faithfully,
Chris H
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #8468 email]
Is [5][Treasury request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Department of the Treasury? If so, please contact us using
this form:
[6]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[7]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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OFFICIAL
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References
Visible links
1. https://www.aofm.gov.au/data-hub
2. mailto:[Treasury request email]
3. http://www.treasury.gov.au/
4. mailto:[FOI #8468 email]
5. mailto:[Treasury request email]
6. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
7. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
OFFICIAL
Dear Chris H
We write to seek a response to the email sent to you on 3 March 2022. We
would be grateful if you would provide a response by 10 March 2022.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury, Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600
Phone: +61 2 6263 2800
Email: [1][Treasury request email]
[2]www.treasury.gov.au
OFFICIAL
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Please Note: The information contained in this e-mail message and any
attached files may be confidential information and may also be the subject
of legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient,
any use, disclosure or copying of this e-mail is unauthorised. If you
have received this e-mail by error please notify the sender immediately by
reply e-mail and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
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References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Treasury request email]
2. http://www.treasury.gov.au/
Dear FOI,
Thank you for the link.
However, under the FOI act, I would like to access the history of treasury bonds issued before 05 August 1982.
Yours sincerely,
Chris H
OFFICIAL
Dear Chris H
Your revised request is seeking documents created 40+ years ago. As advised in our email of 3 March 2022, a request for documents created before 2002 is not a valid request under the FOI Act.
Section 12(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides that a person is not entitled to any document which is under the open access period for the purposes of the Archives Act 1983 (Archives Act). Section 31 and the open access table in section 3 of the Archives Act set out when Commonwealth records (as defined by the Archives Act) are subject to the open access period.
Under the open access period, certain documents move from Commonwealth agencies to the National Archives of Australia (NAA) after a 20 year period. As at the date of your FOI request, this means that a request for documents prior to 1 January 2002 is not a valid request under the FOI Act. Documents prior to 1 January 2002 can be requested from the NAA.
We have therefore closed the your request as invalid.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury, Langton Crescent, Parkes ACT 2600
Phone: +61 2 6263 2800
Email: [Treasury request email]
www.treasury.gov.au
OFFICIAL
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris H <[FOI #8468 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 8 March 2022 6:22 PM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FOI 3080 - Australian Government Bond History [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear FOI,
Thank you for the link.
However, under the FOI act, I would like to access the history of treasury bonds issued before 05 August 1982.
Yours sincerely,
Chris H
**********************************************************************
Please Note: The information contained in this e-mail message
and any attached files may be confidential information and
may also be the subject of legal professional privilege. If you are
not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this
e-mail is unauthorised. If you have received this e-mail by error
please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete all
copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
**********************************************************************