Emails
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
I refer to this FOI request: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p... which constitutes standing authority that it is not a contravention of the Public Service Act/APS Code for a public servant to use taxpayer/Commonwealth resources to sign up/opt in to send/receive political communications from their preferred political party. Obviously, if the head of the public servant can do it without consequence, every other public servant can to – indeed, as in Mr Gaetjens’ case, you might even get promoted for it.
There’s a strong public interest in whether the head of the public service is continuing his practice of signing up/opting in to send/receive political communications from his preferred political party, not least because it will provide clear guidance to all public servants on how to acquit their roles apolitically in accordance with the law.
Accordingly, I seek access to any emails contained in all of Philip Gaetjens’ outlook items (including deleted items) that contain any of the following terms (in the body of an email and/or in the addressee fields of an email):
i) “liberal.org.au”,
ii) “ipa.org.au” (the IPA is an alt-right political lobby group that serves as the Ministry of Propaganda for the Liberal Party), and/or
iii) “Hillsong” (Hillsong is right wing cult like religious sect modelled in the image of its founder, prolific child sex abuser Frank Houston, and is particularly popular with members of the Liberal party)
Relevant documents can be quickly identified by searching “All Outlook Items” in Mr Gaetjens’ outlook client for the terms “liberal.org.au”, “ipa.org.au” and/or “Hillsong”.
Yours faithfully,
Rennie
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
Further to my request made under the FOI Act on 15 November 2019, I agree to the blacking out of the names of any person identified in the documents except where that person is or was at the time a Senior Executive Commonwealth Public Servant or the Secretary of the Department.
Yours faithfully,
Rennie
OFFICIAL
Dear Rennie
Thank you for your email dated 15 November 2019, 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) for the following:
… any emails contained in all of Philip Gaetjens’ outlook items (including
deleted items) that contain any of the following terms (in the body of an
email and/or in the addressee fields of an email):
i) “liberal.org.au”,
ii) “ipa.org.au” …, and/or
iii) “Hillsong” …
Timeframe for receiving your decision
We received your request on 15 November 2019 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 16 December 2019. 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 (if any) 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]https://www.oaic.gov.au/.
Yours sincerely
FOI Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
e. [5][DPMC request email] | w. [6]www.pmc.gov.au
One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[9]cid:image003.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00 [10]cid:image004.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00
The Department acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country
throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
community. We pay our respect to their Cultures, Country and Elders both
past and present.
______________________________________________________________________
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/
5. mailto:[DPMC request email]
6. http://www.pmc.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
9. https://twitter.com/indigenous_gov
10. https://www.facebook.com/indigenous.gov....
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
Dear Rennie
Please find attached the decision in relation to your request.
Yours sincerely
FOI 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
The Department acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country
throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
community. We pay our respect to their Cultures, Country and Elders both
past and present.
______________________________________________________________________
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. 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....