Dinner Functions
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
I would like to request the menu's and guest lists for any function/dinner hosted by the former prime minister in 2014 for the prime minister of japan, the prime minister of the UK and the president of france
Yours faithfully,
alan cole
UNCLASSIFIED
FOI/2015/218
Dear Mr Cole
Thank you for your email dated 10 November 2015 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 would like to request the menu's and guest lists for any function/dinner
hosted by the former Prime Minister in 2014 for the Prime Minister of
Japan, the Prime Minister of the UK and the president of France.
Timeframe for receiving your decision
We received your request on 10 November 2015 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 Thursday 10 December
2015. 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]http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...,
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 at
[4]http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_....
Regards
FOI Administration Officer/Adviser
Access and Administrative Review | Honours, Symbols and Legal Policy
Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. +61 2 6271 5849
e. | [5][DPMC request email] | [6]www.dpmc.gov.au
PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...
2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_...
5. mailto:[DPMC request email]
6. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Cole,
Please see attached a preliminary estimate of charges notice in relation
to your FOI request with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
– reference: FOI/2015/218.
Regards
FOI Administration Officer/Adviser
Access and Administrative Review | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. +61 2 6271 5849
e. | [1][DPMC request email] | [2]www.dpmc.gov.au
PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[DPMC request email]
2. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/
Dear FOI,
I will unhappily withdraw this request as it seems the australian government puts charges from a low level to restrict the release of information. The british charge only after costs reach 1000 AUD i guess there citizens have more available access than us
Yours sincerely,
alan cole
Dear FOI,
I withdraw my FOI request from 10 November 2015 for documents about dinner functions.
In the place of my FOI request I would like to ask you examine the possibility that you can release the documents under administrative arrangements.
Yours sincerely,
alan cole
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
May I please make two suggestions. One suggestion is to argue about the charge as it is explained in the email from the agency. I think that you will not be successful with the because it will be difficult to make a good argument for the public interest of the application. Yes the public will be interested but it is explained very well by the Australian courts that it is not the same thing as the public interest."
The second suggestion to make is that you do two things at the same time. First thing is to withdraw the request. The second thing is to see if you can get the documents in another way. Do not make a new Right to Know request. Only email again the agency possibly in this way ...
"Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
I withdraw my FOI request from 10 November 2015 for documents about dinner functions.
In the place of my FOI request I would like to ask you examine the possibility that you can release the documents under administrative arrangements.
Yours sincerely,
alan cole"
Maybe the agency will still not help you but sometimes it is easier for an agency to work without the machinery of the FOI Act. If you make this decision, please do not yet mark the request as "refused". Instead I suggest to say that you are "clarifying" the request.