Dear ATO Executive,

This is a request for information under the FOI act.

I request this document be released under the FOI act. I also wish to put the following questions to each member of the ATO Executive who is currently a member of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge or Virgin Australia's Beyond Lounge ("exclusive lounge memberships").

The questions are:

1. Do you acknowledge airlines offer exclusive lounge memberships to select individuals because it is in their commercial interest to do so?

2. Do you acknowledge your exclusive lounge membership is a direct result of the position your hold at the ATO? If not, what is the reason, in your view?

3. Do you think the airlines expect anything in return from your exclusive lounge membership? If so, what do you think they expect in return? If not, why do you think they do it?

4. Do you travel or spend more with airlines with whom you hold an exclusive lounge membership and can you support this with evidence? Are you able to provide a breakdown of your flights/expenditure with each airline for a recent 12-month period (whichever is most convenient to you eg. most recent financial year)?

5. Do you accept there is a public perception that the airlines have offered you (and others at your level) exclusive lounge membership in an attempt to influence your decision making in your role, in a way that might provide them a commercial benefit?

6. Do you accept that the general lounge membership (as offered to general ATO employees who meet certain travel requirements) could meet your travel needs? If not, what do exclusive lounge memberships offer that you consider essential to your travel needs?

7. Do you accept there is a conflict of interest in accepting exclusive lounge memberships? If so, would you consider it a real or perceived conflict of interest?

8. Your acceptance of exclusive airline lounge membership has been declared on the ATO gifts register, presumably because this is a requirement, for public scrutiny. In recent times there has been significant criticism in the media directed towards politicians mostly but also senior executives in the Australian Public Service. How do you respond to this criticism?

Yours faithfully,

Mr Squiggle
~The man from the moon

Dear FOI Officer

I refer to my FOI request dated 4 January 2025 at the following link:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/e...

In that email I requested the following questions be put to each member of the ATO Executive who is currently a member of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge or Virgin Australia's Beyond Lounge ("exclusive lounge memberships").

The questions are:

1. Do you acknowledge airlines offer exclusive lounge memberships to select individuals because it is in their commercial interest to do so?

2. Do you acknowledge your exclusive lounge membership is a direct result of the position your hold at the ATO? If not, what is the reason, in your view?

3. Do you think the airlines expect anything in return from your exclusive lounge membership? If so, what do you think they expect in return? If not, why do you think they do it?

4. Do you travel or spend more with airlines with whom you hold an exclusive lounge membership and can you support this with evidence? Are you able to provide a breakdown of your flights/expenditure with each airline for a recent 12-month period (whichever is most convenient to you eg. most recent financial year)?

5. Do you accept there is a public perception that the airlines have offered you (and others at your level) exclusive lounge membership in an attempt to influence your decision making in your role, in a way that might provide them a commercial benefit?

6. Do you accept that the general lounge membership (as offered to general ATO employees who meet certain travel requirements) could meet your travel needs? If not, what do exclusive lounge memberships offer that you consider essential to your travel needs?

7. Do you accept there is a conflict of interest in accepting exclusive lounge memberships? If so, would you consider it a real or perceived conflict of interest?

8. Your acceptance of exclusive airline lounge membership has been declared on the ATO gifts register, presumably because this is a requirement, for public scrutiny. In recent times there has been significant criticism in the media directed towards politicians mostly but also senior executives in the Australian Public Service. How do you respond to this criticism?

I request the following documents under the FOI act:

1. All documents created as a result of my FOI request dated 4 January 2025 referred to above, including but not limited to:
a ) Documents in which my questions were communicated to the each member of the ATO Executive, and
b) any responses given by those executives.

2. Documents that name the executives who hold membership to the Qantas Chairmans lounge or Virgin Beyond lounge and their email addresses (noting the register only provides their official titles, not their names) so I can forward my questions to them.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to assist in your efficient processing of this request.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Squiggle