Dear Office of the CDPP,

Please accept our request for information in accordance with the FOI Act. We will be grateful if you will provide us with the most recent copy of the following documents:

1. Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth - Guidelines for the making of decision in the prosecution process

2. Offence guide’s for
- General Dishonesty - section 135.1 of the Criminal Code
- Conspiracy to defraud - section 135.4 of the Criminal Code
- False or misleading information - section 137.1 of the Criminal Code
- False or misleading documents - section 137.2 of the Criminal Code

Thank you for your time.

Yours faithfully,

Trav S

Dear CDPP,

Thank you for releasing Part 1 of our FOI request in full. Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews. Please review the decision to refuse access to the four documents identified in Part 2 of our request.

A document is exempt under section 42(1) of the FOI Act if it is of such a nature that it would be privileged from production in legal proceedings on the ground of legal privilege. However:

1. CDPP claims National Offence Guide’s are exempt but such documents are publicly published on the CDPP website. Take for an example CDPP’s guide for General Dishonesty Section 135.1 of the Criminal Code [ https://www.cdpp.gov.au/sites/default/fi... ].
2. By virtue of their already publishing National Offence Guide's publicly on their website CDPP has acted in a manner that would appear to waive their legal professional privilege claim.
3. The requested documents are merely departmental guidelines. Section 3(1) of the FOI Act provide the Australian community with a legally enforceable right of access to information held by government. CDPP’s claim that such documents are exempt under section 135.1 is without merit. The FOI Act was never intended to block public access to standard departmental guidelines.
4. Standard CDPP National Offence Guides do not constitute legal advice given in confidence. They are merely departmental guides with which to guide a department and public servants. The documents belong to the Australian community to which we have a legally enforceable right of access - unless the documents are exempt or subject to conditional exemptions. They meet neither criteria
5. CDPP states as a reason for refusing access “that there is anticipated or actual litigation” however they do not provide a reasonable justification with which to evidence their claim.
6. It rings as hollow for CDPP to on one hand claim that the release of generic National Offence Guide would result in substantial prejudice to the CDPP when the CDPP currently publishes National Offence Guide’s online publicly.

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards

Trav S

Please accept the correction below. My 11 April email should read:

3. The requested documents are merely departmental guidelines. Section 3(1) of the FOI Act provides the Australian community with a right of access to information held by government. CDPP’s claim that such documents are exempt under section 42(1) of the Act is without merit.

Yours sincerely,

Trav S