Freedom of Information Act
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
I know that it is my duty to keep you informed of MY WILL on anything that comes before Parliament, or that should come before Parliament.
IT IS MY WILL that you provide me with evidence that the corporation registered in the United States of America as the Commonwealth of Australia (http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?... is the same organisation as the Commonwealth of Australia, which is authorized in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/c... by the Queen of England and her successors.
IT IS MY WILL that you provide me with evidence that shows where the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution authorizes the Commonwealth of Australia to become a corporation registered in the United States of America.
IT IS MY Will that a referendum be held that gives the electors of Australia the opportunity to vote for or against the Commonwealth of Australia being a registered corporation in the United States of America. This request only applies if the Commonwealth of Australia, registered in the United States of America as a corporation, is the same organisation as the Commonwealth of Australia that is our Government.
Yours faithfully,
John Wilshire
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Wilshire,
Thank you for your correspondence of 5 October 2018 (copy below) to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department).
Validity
Section 15 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requires that a request for access meet certain requirements. These requirements are:
- It must be in writing;
- It must state it is a request for the purposes of the FOI Act;
- It must provide such information as is reasonably necessary to enable the agency to identify the document/s.
The FOI Act further requires that an FOI request be for access to a document or documents, and not for information generally. You have asked that the department provide you with evidence regarding the operations of, or relating to, the Constitution of Australia (the Constitution), rather than for access to specific documents.
The FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner state at paragraph 2.29 that the FOI Act provides a scheme for requests to be made for existing documents, rather than for information, and that the FOI Act does not require an agency to create new documents containing the information that is sought. While your correspondence referred to evidence pertaining to the Constitution as a document, what you have asked for in effect is advice on the interpretation and operation of the Constitution.
Accordingly, your correspondence, in its current form, does not constitute a valid FOI request as the Department is unable to reasonably identify the specific documents you are seeking access to.
Previous requests
We can advise that the Department has previously received FOI requests in similar terms to your correspondence. Previous searches conducted failed to identify any relevant documents held by the Department.
Enquiries relating to the Constitution are best directed to the Attorney-General's Department (AGD). The AGD can be contacted through their website: https://www.ag.gov.au/About/Pages/Contac...
Based on the above, the Department will take no further action in relation to your correspondence.
Kind regards
FOI Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. +61 2 6271 5849
e. [DPMC request email] | www.dpmc.gov.au
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
This has been requested a few times before:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/s...
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/i...
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/e...