OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/021

Dear JS,

Thank you for your email dated 7 January 2022 received by the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), in which you made a
request to the Department under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) in the following terms:

I request copies of any correspondence between Trent Twomey, the Pharmacy
Guild of Australia (including its Directors and Branches) and the Prime
Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Minister  for Health and DPMC
between 1 October 2021 and 5 January 2022.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

We received your request on 7 January 2022 and the 30 day statutory period
for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. You
should therefore expect a decision from us by 7 February 2022. The period
of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances. We will advise you if
there is 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
[1]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 any of the information which may be
released to you please contact us by email at [2][DPMC request email].  If you
do wish to object to the publication of information, you would need to
provide supporting 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.

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. If
you require signatures, the names and contact details of non-SES officers
or Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff, or the mobile or
direct numbers of SES officers please let us know at [3][DPMC request email] so
the decision-maker may consider; otherwise we will take it that you agree
to that information being excluded from the scope of your request (that
is, the information will be treated as irrelevant and redacted from any
documents for release).

We will write again when the Department has more information.  Further
information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner
[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Yours sincerely

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. [5][email address]  w. [6]pmc.gov.au

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[9]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.pmc.gov.au/government/depart...
2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

Dear JS,

Please see attached correspondence in regards to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Yours sincerely

FOI Adviser[]

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. [1][DPMC request email]  w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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. mailto:[DPMC request email]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL
Dear JS

Thank you for your email below, where you sought a review of your request (PMC FOI ref: FOI/2022/021).

A decision for this request has not yet been made. You can seek a review once a decision has been made and you have been notified of the decision. The decision letter will set out your review rights.

As provided in the letter sent to you on 1 February 2022, you can choose to do one of three things:

- Advise us that you wish to revise the request;
- Advise us that you do not wish to revise the request; or
- Advise us that you wish to withdraw the request.

You note in your email message the following:

In lieu of the 4,760 documents being searched and utilising Departmental resources, I would like to reduce the scope to include:
- Correspondence between Trent Twomey ([email address], [email address]) and DPMC and the Prime Minister between 1 November 2021 and 1 January 2022.

So that we can progress your request, could you please clarify if you are revising the scope of your request to the following documents:

Email messages sent or received by Trent Twomey ([email address], [email address]) to or from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet or the Prime Minister between 1 November 2021 and 1 January 2022.

Regards

FOI Adviser I FOI and Privacy 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

OFFICIAL

Dear JS

I refer your request of 7 January 2022 for access to documents held by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

The current due date for a decision on this request is 11 February 2022.
Regrettably, the Department is not currently in a position to finalise the
decision by this date. Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement to a
14-day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. We will
endeavour to notify you of the decision prior to this extended date if
possible. Please be aware; however, that it may be necessary to apply
other extension of time, or ‘stop clock’ provisions during the processing
of this request.

If you agree to this request for a 14 day extension of time, I ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by COB on Thursday
10 February 2022 .

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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. [1][email address]  w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/021

Dear JS

Please find attached the decision regarding your request under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982.

Yours sincerely

FOI Adviser I FOI and Privacy 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. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/064

Dear JS

Thank you for your email dated 19 February 2022, received by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), in which
you made a request to the Department under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (the FOI Act) in the following terms:

Given that the documents do not exist, I would like to amend the scope of
my request to the following:

I request copies of any electronic correspondence between Pharmacy Guild
email addresses (@guild.org.au) and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet
and Department of Health email addresses (@pmc.gov.au, @pm.gov.au and
@health.gov.au) between 1 November 2021 and 1 January 2022.

If the contents of these emails cannot be shared then I request a
spreadsheet of all emails with recipient, sender, subject lines and
date/time.

While we note that your email was received in response to a decision on
FOI/2022/021, you have advised that you seek to revise the scope of the
request rather than proceed with an internal review. We intend to accept
this as a new request and conduct fresh searches for documents. This new
request has been registered as FOI 2022/064.

We also note that part of your request seeks correspondence between the
Pharmacy Guild and the Department of Health, and therefore you may wish to
direct this to the Department of Health as a new separate FOI request.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

We received your revised request on 19 February 2022 and the 30 day
statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day after
that date. You should therefore expect a decision from us by 21 March
2022. The period of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances under
the FOI Act. We will write to you regarding any extension of time that may
relate to your request.

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
[1]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 any of the information which may be
released to you please contact us by email at [2][DPMC request email].  If you
do wish to object to the publication of information, you would need to
provide supporting 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:

o any person’s signature;
o the names and contact details of Australian Public Service officers
not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);
o the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers;
o the names and contact details of Ministerial staff at a level below
Chief of Staff.

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. If
you require signatures, the names and contact details of non-SES officers
or Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff, or the mobile or
direct numbers of SES officers please let us know at [3][DPMC request email] so
the decision-maker may consider; otherwise we will take it that you agree
to that information being excluded from the scope of your request (that
is, the information will be treated as irrelevant and redacted from any
documents for release).

We will write again when the Department has more information.  Further
information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner
[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Yours sincerely

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. [5][email address]  w. [6]pmc.gov.au

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[9]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.pmc.gov.au/government/depart...
2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

FOI Reference: 2022/064

Dear JS,

We 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 19 February 2022. Seeking access to the
following:

Given that the documents do not exist, I would like to amend the scope of
my request to the following:

I request copies of any electronic correspondence between Pharmacy Guild
email addresses (@guild.org.au) and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet
and Department of Health email addresses (@pmc.gov.au, @pm.gov.au and
@health.gov.au) between 1 November 2021 and 1 January 2022.

If the contents of these emails cannot be shared then I request a
spreadsheet of all emails with recipient, sender, subject lines and
date/time.

The current due date for a decision on your FOI request is 21 March 2022.
We are conducting searches for documents concerning your request. We seek
your agreement under s15AA of the FOI Act for a 30 day extension of time
to 20 April 2022.

We would be grateful for your response indicating whether you agree by
Thursday 17 March 2022.

Yours sincerely

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. [1][email address]  w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/064

Dear JS,

We write in relation to your request under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act) to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in the
following terms:

I request copies of any electronic correspondence between Pharmacy Guild
email addresses (@guild.org.au) and Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet
and Department of Health email addresses (@pmc.gov.au, @pm.gov.au and
@health.gov.au) between 1 November 2021 and 1 January 2022.

If the contents of these emails cannot be shared then I request a
spreadsheet of all emails with recipient, sender, subject lines and
date/time.

We are writing to you to advise that the request covers documents which:

o contain information concerning the business, commercial or financial
affairs of an organisation, or a person’s business or professional
affairs, and the Department is required to consult with the person or
organisation concerned (under section 27 of the FOI Act) before making
a decision on the release of the document; and
o contain another individual’s personal information, and the Department
is required to consult with that individual (under section 27A of the
FOI Act) before making a decision on the release of the document.

The consultation mechanism under section 27 applies when we believe the
person or organisation concerned may wish to contend that the requested
documents are exempt because their release would disclose trade secrets or
commercially valuable information or may adversely affect their business
or financial affairs.

The consultation mechanism under section 27A applies when we believe the
individual (or their representative) may wish to contend that the
requested documents are exempt for reasons of personal privacy.

We will take into account any comments we receive from the person or
organisation, but the final decision about whether to grant you access to
the document you requested rests with the Department.

Section 15(6) of the FOI Act provides for the extension of the processing
time by a further 30 days in order to allow the Department time to consult
with that organisation or person.

Accordingly, the period for processing the request has been extended by 30
days in order to allow our agency time to consult with that person or
organisation (section 15(6) of the FOI Act). You should therefore expect
to have a decision from us by 20 April 2022.

Yours sincerely

FOI Adviser I FOI and Privacy 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. [1][email address]  w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

Departmental reference: FOI/2022/064

Good afternoon JS

Thank you for your emails.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in processing your request.

Deemed refusal

As your FOI request was not finalised within time, a decision to refuse
the request is deemed to have been made by the Secretary of the Department
on the 20 April 2022 (s 15AC(3) of the FOI Act.)

Internal review not available under the FOI Act

An FOI decision made, or deemed to have been made, by the principal of
officer of an agency cannot be internally reviewed (s 54(1)).

However, information about your complaint and review rights can be
accessed at:

[1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

and

[2]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

Status of your request

Consultations have been concluded and the Department will continue to
process your matter and provide you with a decision as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

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. [3][email address]  w. [4]pmc.gov.au

[5]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[6]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[7]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.

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/064

Dear JS

Please find attached the decision regarding your request under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982.

Yours sincerely

Tina

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. [1][email address]  w. [2]pmc.gov.au

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...