OFFICIAL

FOI/2020/171

Dear Mr Trav S

Thank you for your email dated 24 July 2020, 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:

In 1999, the Sovereign instituted an Australian medal for the purpose of
according recognition to persons who have given humanitarian service in
hazardous circumstances outside Australia.

However the Minister responsible for honours policy claims that this medal
was instituted to recognise members of "not-for-profit" organisations. The
Letters Patent and regulations governing the medal do not prescribe the
term 'not-for-profit'.

The Minister also states he is unwilling to recommend changes to extend
the medal to commercial contractors who are providing essential support
services to humanitarian operations.

Contrary to the Ministers claims, the public record shows that the medal
was awarded to commercial contractors to humanitarian operations in:

1) Iraq 2003 to 2005

2) Indian Ocean 2004 to 2005

3). West Africa 2014 to 2016

From 2017 to 2018, Aspen Medical Pty Ltd provided services at field
hospitals in Iraq during the offensive against ISIS. This was on behalf of
the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund. This
was the first time either organisation had contracted with a commercial
company to deliver humanitarian healthcare assistance.

We're informed the medal may also have been awarded to the Aspen Medical
personnel contracted to support the afore mentioned humanitarian operation
in Iraq from 2017 to 2018.

If this is the case, we would like a copy of the briefing documents
justifying the award of the medal to these commercial contractors.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

We received your request on 24 July 2020 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 24 August 2020. 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 that fall within scope of the request, it is the
Department’s policy to withhold:

o any person’s signature;
o the names and contact details of Australian Public Service officers
not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);
o the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers;
o 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
[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Kind regards

FOI Adviser

FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

[5]http://www.dcducks.com/wp-content/themes...
6271 5849

[6]http://cdn.mysitemyway.com/icons-waterma... request email]

[8]https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/...

PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

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References

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OFFICIAL

FOI/2020/171

Dear Trav S

Please find attached the decision in relation to the request you made to
the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Kind regards,

FOI Adviser

FOI and Privacy Section| Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

[1]http://www.dcducks.com/wp-content/themes...
6271 5849 |
[2]http://cdn.mysitemyway.com/icons-waterma... request email]
|
[4]https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/...

One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

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[10]cid:image005.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00

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References

Visible links
3. 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....

OFFICIAL
FOI/2020/171

Dear Trav S

Thank you for your email of 25 August 2020 to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in regards to the FOI decision made on 24 August 2020.

The Decision Maker for FOI/2020/171 has advised that the Department’s records indicate that the last award of the HOSM (Iraq clasp) for members of an Australian contingent to the rehabilitation program in Iraq carried out by the Coalition Provisional Authority was in 2006.

Regards

FOI Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section| Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
(02) 6271 5849
[DPMC request email]
www.pmc.gov.au
One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

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