OFFICIAL

Dear Anonymous

We refer to your correspondence of 27 October 2020 sent to the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) (as set out below) –
our reference FOI/2020/254.

Validity

Section 15 of the FOI Act requires that a request for access to documents
under the FOI Act meets certain requirements. These requirements are:

·         It must be in writing;

·         It must state it is a request for the purposes of the FOI Act;
and

·         It must provide such information as is reasonably necessary to
enable the agency to identify the document/s being sought.

In relation to the Australia Act 1986, the Attorney-General’s Department
(AGD) has previously provided the following general and background
comments only, which we provide here in case it may be of interest to you:

The Australia Act was enacted by the Commonwealth Parliament at the
request of the Australian States in accordance with section 51(xxxviii) of
the Constitution, which provides that the Commonwealth has legislative
power with respect to:

the exercise within the Commonwealth, at the request or with the
concurrence of the Parliaments of all States directly concerned, of any
power which can at the establishment of this Constitution be exercised
only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or by the Federal Council of
Australasia.

The Australia Act 1986 was enacted in virtually identical terms by the
United Kingdom Parliament. As the long title of the Act indicates, it
brought certain arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States
into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a
fully independent, federal nation. Section 1, in particular, confirmed
that the United Kingdom Parliament no longer had power to make laws for
Australia.  The High Court has treated the Australia Act as enacted by the
Commonwealth parliament as valid and effective (see, for example,
Attorney-General (WA) v Marquet (2003) 217 CLR 545 at [66]-[67]).

Please note that if you are seeking legal advice, this is something the
Department is not in a position to provide to you.

If you would like assistance to make a valid FOI request, please feel free
to contact the Department by return email at [1][email address] or
telephone 02 6271 5849.

Kind regards

FOI Adviser

FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

e. [2][DPMC request email] | w. [3]www.pmc.gov.au

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesi <[FOI #6842 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 27 October 2020 9:19 AM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Constitutional Powers

Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,

I would like to request any information on how and why the Australia Act
1986 is valid and legal because there are some fundamental issues. Some of
these issues include:

* The Australia Act 1986 has no head of power. The Head of Power under
'The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900' is the Crown of the
United Kingdom and Ireland.

* The Australia Act 1986 was enacted by the "Parliament of Australia"
which is not recognised as a legislator under section 1 of 'The
Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900'.

* The Australia Act 1986 was an attempt to equalise powers exclusive to
the Federal Government to that of the States by allowing the States to put
aside any obligations to the inherited laws of England and obligations to
the Federal Government, this attempt was put to the people in question 2
of the 1984 Federal Referendum and failed.

Therefore, I would like to know why the Australia Act 1986 has been
introduced and is still in place today. If there are no arguments that
prove the fundamental issues above are wrong, then I strongly suggest you
repeal the Australia Act 1986.

I would also like to know under what head of power the federal government
relies upon to create validity to the leadership of Prime Minister’s Julia
Gillard and Scott Morrison when neither of them were voted in by the
people of this nation.

Yours faithfully,

Anonymous

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[4][FOI #6842 email]

Is [5][DPMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests
to Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet? 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...

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

______________________________________________________________________

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
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2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
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hide quoted sections

OFFICIAL
Dear Anonymous

Thank you for your email.

We refer you to our email of 9 November 2020 (attached) regarding the requirements for a valid FOI request.

Yours sincerely

FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
e. [DPMC request email] | w. www.pmc.gov.au
One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

-----Original Message-----
From: Tesi <[FOI #6842 email]>
Sent: Friday, 13 November 2020 7:31 AM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Constitutional Powers [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Dear FOI,

Is it common practice for the Commonwealth Parliament to petition and coerce the States to unanimously make such requests?. Likewise, for the UK, hence why there could be no coincidence for having virtually identical terms by the enacted by the United Kingdom Parliament.

Isn't it the case that without both "requests" and enactment being done in preparation, the Commonwealth Parliament is powerless as per the Constitution?.

Yours sincerely,

Anonymous

-----Original Message-----

OFFICIAL

Dear Anonymous

We refer to your correspondence of 27 October 2020 sent to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) (as set out below) – our reference FOI/2020/254.

Validity

Section 15 of the FOI Act requires that a request for access to documents under the FOI Act meets certain requirements. These requirements are:

·         It must be in writing;

·         It must state it is a request for the purposes of the FOI Act; and

·         It must provide such information as is reasonably necessary to enable the agency to identify the document/s being sought.

In relation to the Australia Act 1986, the Attorney-General’s Department
(AGD) has previously provided the following general and background comments only, which we provide here in case it may be of interest to you:

The Australia Act was enacted by the Commonwealth Parliament at the request of the Australian States in accordance with section 51(xxxviii) of the Constitution, which provides that the Commonwealth has legislative power with respect to:

the exercise within the Commonwealth, at the request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all States directly concerned, of any power which can at the establishment of this Constitution be exercised only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or by the Federal Council of Australasia.

The Australia Act 1986 was enacted in virtually identical terms by the United Kingdom Parliament. As the long title of the Act indicates, it brought certain arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a fully independent, federal nation. Section 1, in particular, confirmed that the United Kingdom Parliament no longer had power to make laws for Australia.  The High Court has treated the Australia Act as enacted by the Commonwealth parliament as valid and effective (see, for example, Attorney-General (WA) v Marquet (2003) 217 CLR 545 at [66]-[67]).

Please note that if you are seeking legal advice, this is something the Department is not in a position to provide to you.

If you would like assistance to make a valid FOI request, please feel free to contact the Department by return email at [1][email address] or telephone 02 6271 5849.

Kind regards

FOI Adviser

FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

e. [2][DPMC request email] | w. [3]www.pmc.gov.au

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #6842 email]

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:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

______________________________________________________________________

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.
______________________________________________________________________

hide quoted sections