Evidence of agreement for nationally consistent legislation
Dear Department of the Treasury,
I am seeking copies of documents referred to in the following Commonwealth publication:
Available and affordable improvements in liability insurance following tort law reform in Australia, December 2006. Published by the Commonwealth of Australia 2006 ISBN 0 642 74376 2
Documents are no longer available online from the links stated.
The footnotes on pages 13/14 have:
16 Joint communiqué: ministerial meeting on public liability Sydney (2 October 2002) 1
<http://www.treasurer.gov.au/atr/content/...>
at 23 November 2006.
17 Joint communiqué: ministerial meeting on public liability insurance Brisbane
(15 November 2002) 1.
<http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sha...> at 23 November 2006.
18 Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer’s press release C119/02 (15 November 2002)
<http://assistant.treasurer.gov.au/atr/co...>
at 23 November 2006.
The documents that I am seeking are:
1. Joint communiqué: ministerial meeting on public liability Sydney (2 October 2002)
2. Minutes of the ministerial meeting on insurance issues in October 2002, ministers agreed in principle to the development of nationally consistent legislation
3. Joint communiqué: ministerial meeting on public liability insurance Brisbane (15 November 2002)
The document states:
At the ministerial meeting on insurance issues in October 2002, ministers agreed in principle to the development of nationally consistent legislation for provisions relating to liability for personal injury or death resulting from negligence.16
In November 2002, ministers formally agreed on a package of reforms implementing key recommendations of the Ipp review. All states and territories agreed to implement the key Ipp recommendations that went to establishing liability on a nationally consistent basis. Each jurisdiction agreed to introduce the necessary legislation as a matter of priority.17
The Australian Government expected that the tort law reforms would reduce premiums and improve the availability of insurance.18
Yours faithfully,
Julie Middleton
Dear Ms Middleton
The documents you are seeking for items 1 and 3 are publicly available. The links are provided below:
1. Joint communiqué: ministerial meeting on public liability Sydney (2 October 2002)
http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministe...
3. Joint communiqué: ministerial meeting on public liability insurance Brisbane (15 November 2002)
http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministe...
Would you please advise whether the provision of the publicly available document links for items 1 and 3 satisfies your request for items 1 and 3. A response by 28 November would be appreciated. If we do not hear from you by that date we will take it that this satisfies your request for items 1 and 3.
The second item of your request seeks:
2. Minutes of the ministerial meeting on insurance issues in October 2002, ministers agreed in principle to the development of nationally consistent legislation
The minutes of the meeting (if any exist) are not publicly available. In light of us providing the links for items 1 and 3, do you still want to proceed with item 2? A response by 27 November 2019 would be appreciated.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [email address]
Dear FOI,
Thank you for providing the links to the publications requested in points 1 and 3 of my request.
Point 2 of my request is for minutes of the ministerial meeting. The minutes of the meeting are most relevant. There is an obvious contradiction of what has been reported. The publications repeatedly refer to: "nationally consistent legislation". The articles then explain the different legislation of each jurisdiction. The publications raise questions about what was actually agreed at the meeting and who was in attendance.
I still want to proceed with item 2 of my request.
Yours sincerely,
Julie Middleton
Dear Ms Middleton
We write to acknowledge receipt of your request, under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). Your request was received by the Treasury
on 15 November 2019.
On 26 November 2019 you confirmed that you are seeking the following
documents:
‘Minutes of the ministerial meeting on insurance issues in October 2002,
ministers agreed in principle to the development of nationally consistent
legislation’.
The FOI Act provides that we have 30 days to process the request. This
period may be extended if we need to consult third parties or for other
reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
We will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the
amount of any such charge as soon as possible.
We make the following assumptions that affect the scope of the request.
These are set out below.
It is our usual practice:
· not to disclose the personal information of government employees
or the personal contact details of senior government employees (including
those of the Treasury). The names of senior officers will generally be
released.
· not to release duplicates of any document captured within the
scope of the request.
· only the final version of a document will be considered within
scope.
Please inform us if you do not agree to the request being processed on the
above assumptions. If we do not hear from you, your request will be
processed on the basis that you do not intend to capture these matters in
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We will contact you using the email you provided. Please advise if you
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If you have any questions in relation to your application, please contact
the FOI Team on 02 6263 2800.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [1][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear FOI,
Withholding personal information about government employees is okay. However the names of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers should be provided.
Yours sincerely,
Julie Middleton
Dear Ms Middleton
A copy of the decision letter for FOI 2616 is attached.
The decision letter was emailed to you at
[1][email address] on 13 December 2019. You
requested an internal review that day. As you sent the internal review
request from [2][email address] we will
provide a response to that email address.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [3][email address]
From: Coleman, Paul <[email address]>
Sent: Friday, 13 December 2019 4:46 PM
To: 'Julie Middleton' <[email address]>
Cc: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: FOI 2616 - correspondence [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Dear Ms Middleton
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request.
Kind regards
Paul Coleman
Deputy General Counsel
The Treasury
Ph: +61 2 6263 2800
e: [4][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]