Email correspondence
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC),
Under the FOI Act, I seek access to email correspondence, falling between the period of 14 May 2018 to the date of this application between the Secretary of the DPMC, Dr Martin Parkinson, and the Public Service Commissioner, Mr John Lloyd (including email documents sent by Dr Parkinson to Mr Lloyd and email documents sent by Mr Lloyd to Dr Parkinson).
Documents falling within the scope of my request can be quickly identified and retrieved by searching all items (including archived items) in Dr Parkinson’s email account profile according to persons sent to, and received from.
I am willing to agree to the redaction, from any relevant document, the personal information of any person mentioned in that document, except where that person was, at the relevant time: i) a public servant; or ii) a member of parliament. Noting paragraphs 6.153-6.154 of the FOI guidelines, this refinement of my request should negate any need for consultation with any third parties under s.27A of the FOI Act.
UNCLASSIFIED
FOI/2018/108
Dear WF
Thank you for your email dated 11 June 2018, 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:
Under the FOI Act, I seek access to email correspondence, falling between
the period of 14 May 2018 to the date of this application between the
Secretary of the DPMC, Dr Martin Parkinson, and the Public Service
Commissioner, Mr John Lloyd (including email documents sent by Dr
Parkinson to Mr Lloyd and email documents sent by Mr Lloyd to Dr
Parkinson).
Documents falling within the scope of my request can be quickly identified
and retrieved by searching all items (including archived items) in Dr
Parkinson’s email account profile according to persons sent to, and
received from.
I am willing to agree to the redaction, from any relevant document, the
personal information of any person mentioned in that document, except
where that person was, at the relevant time: i) a public servant; or ii) a
member of parliament. Noting paragraphs 6.153-6.154 of the FOI guidelines,
this refinement of my request should negate any need for consultation with
any third parties under s.27A of the FOI Act.
Timeframe for receiving your decision
We received your request on 11 June 2018 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 11 July 2018. 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 certain personal information
For documents that fall within scope of a request, unless an applicant
otherwise advises, it is the Department’s usual policy to withhold from
release as information irrelevant to a request the following:
· 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.
Noting the Department’s usual policy just described, and noting your
advice that you are ‘willing to agree to the redaction, from any relevant
document, the personal information of any person mentioned in that
document, except where that person was, at the relevant time: i) a public
servant; or ii) a member of parliament’, please advise us whether you
still seek access to any of the information covered by the Department’s
usual policy. We would appreciate your advice by Monday, 25 June 2018. If
we do not hear from you by the deadline, we will withhold from release in
any relevant document any information described in the Department’s policy
above.
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
[3]http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_....
Yours sincerely
Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
e. [4][DPMC request email] | w. [5]www.pmc.gov.au
One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
[6]cid:image001.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[7]cid:image002.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[8]cid:image003.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00 [9]cid:image004.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00
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References
Visible links
1. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...
2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_...
4. mailto:[DPMC request email]
5. http://www.pmc.gov.au/
6. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
7. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
8. https://twitter.com/indigenous_gov
9. https://www.facebook.com/indigenous.gov....
Dear FOI,
Thanks for your email.
Yes happy for you to blank the names of everyone other than the Secretary and the APS Commissioner.
Obviously there’s a wide public interest in the content of communications between the head of the public service, and the PS Commissioner, in the lead up to, and the aftermath of, the Commissioner resigning in disgrace with a range of corruption allegations swirling around his head involving the far right wing extremist group the IPA.
If you would like further submissions on the wide public interest in this matter including by reference to (mis)conduct engaged in by the PS Commissioner and his senior staff involving the IPA (that is not yet in the public domain) as well as comments made by Departmental Secretaries/Agency heads about Mr Lloyd and his conduct, just say the word.
Cheers.
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear WF
Please find attached a notice of estimated charges and extension of time
in relation to your FOI request to the Department of the Prime Minister
and Cabinet.
Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
e. [1][DPMC request email] | w. [2]www.pmc.gov.au
One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00 [6]cid:image004.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00
[7]cid:image005.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[DPMC request email]
2. http://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
5. https://twitter.com/indigenous_gov
6. https://www.facebook.com/indigenous.gov....
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
Note 1: Mostly I classify a response like this one to say "clarification requested" because the agency has told the applicant that some more information (or money!) is needed before the request will be processed. This time, I have put the response in the category of "refused" because it is more than 6 months since the agency responded and the applicant has not made a follow-up. This does not mean that the agency will refuse the request when an application is made in the correct (required).
Note 2: Although an application under the Freedom of Information Act 1983 of the Commonwealth of Australia does not require an application fee, this is not the case with applications in the states and territories of Australia. Then an applicant must usually pay a fee, or the request is not valid. Also, the Commonwealth agencies might demand payment of a fee to cover extra processing costs. If the fee is not paid, the request will not be processed.