Number of HOSMs awarded to GE Contingent for Humanitarian service in Banda Aceh
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
Please provide a document recording the number of Humanitarian Overseas Service Medals awarded to the General Electric contingent to Bandah Aceh. Public interest factors favouring access to inform debate on a matter of public importance include to:
"allow or assist inquiry into possible deficiencies in the conduct or administration or an agency or official"
Disclosing the requested document is in the public interest and is necessary for Commonwealth agencies external to the PM&C to audit the quality of the Departmetn's advice.
Yours faithfully,
Trav S
OFFICIAL
Reference: FOI/2024/232
Dear Trav S
Thank you for your email of 22 July 2024 in which you made a request under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department).
You set out the terms of the request as follows (extract):
Please provide a document recording the number of Humanitarian Overseas
Service Medals awarded to the Australian contingent to the rehabilitation
program in Iraq carried out by the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Public interest factors favouring access to inform debate on a matter of
public importance include to:
"allow or assist inquiry into possible deficiencies in the conduct or
administration or an agency or official"
Disclosing the requested document is in the public interest and is
necessary for Commonwealth agencies to audit the quality of the
Department’s advice.
Timeframe for receiving your decision
The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the Department received your request, you should therefore
expect a decision from us by 21 August 2024.
The processing period of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances
and we will write to you separately regarding 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:
· 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.
If you consider that the information categorised above is relevant to the
terms of your request please let us know at [3][DPMC request email], 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 deleted from any documents for release). 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.
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....
Yours sincerely
Lianna
Adviser | FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [5][email address] w. [6]pmc.gov.au
[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[9]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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/freedom-of-infor...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
OFFICIAL
Reference: FOI/2024/231
Dear Trav S
Thank you for your email of 22 July 2024 in which you made a request under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department).
You set out the terms of the request as follows (extract):
Please provide a document recording the number of Humanitarian Overseas
Service Medals awarded to the General Electric contingent to Bandah Aceh.
Public interest factors favouring access to inform debate on a matter of
public importance include to:
"allow or assist inquiry into possible deficiencies in the conduct or
administration or an agency or official"
Disclosing the requested document is in the public interest and is
necessary for Commonwealth agencies external to the PM&C to audit the
quality of the Departmetn's
Timeframe for receiving your decision
The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the Department received your request, you should therefore
expect a decision from us by 21 August 2024.
The processing period of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances
and we will write to you separately regarding 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:
· 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.
If you consider that the information categorised above is relevant to the
terms of your request please let us know at [3][DPMC request email], 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 deleted from any documents for release). 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.
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....
Yours sincerely
Lianna
Adviser | FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [5][email address] w. [6]pmc.gov.au
[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[9]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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/freedom-of-infor...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
OFFICIAL
Departmental references: FOI/2024/231, FOI/2024/232, FOI/2024/233,
FOI/2024/238 and FOI/2024/239
Dear Trav S
I refer your five requests of 22, 23 and 26 July 2024 for access to
documents relating to the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal held by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
The current due dates for a decisions on these requests are 21, 22 and 26
August 2024. We are seeking your agreement to short 14-day extensions
under section 15AA of the FOI Act to allow the Department sufficient time
to process these requests. We will endeavour to notify you of the
decisions on the requests prior to the extended due dates if possible.
If you agree to this request for a 14 day extensions of time, I ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by COB on 16 August 2024.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Adviser
FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
OFFICIAL
Departmental references: FOI/2024/231, FOI/2024/232, FOI/2024/233,
FOI/2024/238 and FOI/2024/239
Dear Trav S
I refer your five requests of 22, 23 and 26 July 2024 for access to
documents relating to the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal held by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
The current due dates for a decisions on these requests are 21, 22 and 26
August 2024. We are seeking your agreement to short 14-day extensions
under section 15AA of the FOI Act to allow the Department sufficient time
to process these requests. We will endeavour to notify you of the
decisions on the requests prior to the extended due dates if possible.
If you agree to this request for a 14 day extensions of time, I ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by COB on 16 August 2024.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Adviser
FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
OFFICIAL
Departmental references: FOI/2024/231, FOI/2024/232, FOI/2024/233,
FOI/2024/238 and FOI/2024/239
Dear Trav S
I refer your five requests of 22, 23 and 26 July 2024 for access to
documents relating to the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal held by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
The current due dates for a decisions on these requests are 21, 22 and 26
August 2024. We are seeking your agreement to short 14-day extensions
under section 15AA of the FOI Act to allow the Department sufficient time
to process these requests. We will endeavour to notify you of the
decisions on the requests prior to the extended due dates if possible.
If you agree to this request for a 14 day extensions of time, I ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by COB on 16 August 2024.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Adviser
FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
OFFICIAL
Departmental references: FOI/2024/231, FOI/2024/232, FOI/2024/233,
FOI/2024/238 and FOI/2024/239
Dear Trav S
I refer your five requests of 22, 23 and 26 July 2024 for access to
documents relating to the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal held by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
The current due dates for a decisions on these requests are 21, 22 and 26
August 2024. We are seeking your agreement to short 14-day extensions
under section 15AA of the FOI Act to allow the Department sufficient time
to process these requests. We will endeavour to notify you of the
decisions on the requests prior to the extended due dates if possible.
If you agree to this request for a 14 day extensions of time, I ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by COB on 16 August 2024.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Adviser
FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
OFFICIAL
Departmental references: FOI/2024/231, FOI/2024/232, FOI/2024/233,
FOI/2024/238 and FOI/2024/239
Dear Trav S
I refer your five requests of 22, 23 and 26 July 2024 for access to
documents relating to the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal held by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
The current due dates for a decisions on these requests are 21, 22 and 26
August 2024. We are seeking your agreement to short 14-day extensions
under section 15AA of the FOI Act to allow the Department sufficient time
to process these requests. We will endeavour to notify you of the
decisions on the requests prior to the extended due dates if possible.
If you agree to this request for a 14 day extensions of time, I ask that
you confirm this in writing via return email by COB on 16 August 2024.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Adviser
FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
Dear FOI,
I write in reply to your 14 August 2024 correspondence.
Regrettably I cannot agree to the proposed extension. I ask the Department release a document recording the number of HOSMs awarded to the GE contingent. I ask it be released in accordance with the statutory timeframe.
The Department understands the requested documents provide material directly relevant to external reviews currently underway by the Information Commissioner. In particular, the material will help settle disputed facts and will help the IC determine where the public interest lay.
Yours sincerely,
Trav S
OFFICIAL
Departmental reference: FOI/2024/231
Dear Trav S
Please find attached the decision regarding your request under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982.
Kind regards
Adviser | FOI Section[]
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. (02) 6271 5849
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600 | PO Box
6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [1][email address] w. [2]pmc.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0
[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0 The
Department
acknowledges
and pays
respect to
the past,
present and
emerging
Elders and
Traditional
Custodians
of Country,
and the
continuation
of cultural,
spiritual
and
educational
practices of
Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait
Islander
peoples.
______________________________________________________________________
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:[email address]
2. https://www.pmc.gov.au/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
Dear PMC,
Please provide an internal review of Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet's handling of my FOI request 'Number of HOSMs awarded to GE Contingent for Humanitarian service in Banda Aceh'.
I submit the Department understands the HOSM was awarded to commercial security contractors serving with the GE contingent in Banda Aceh. The public servant responsible for administering the HOSM program, Mr Peter Rush, was informed of this fact well over a decade ago. Documents obtained via FOI clearly demonstrate the public servant concealed these matters from his superiors in the Department and from several Ministers and their staff. Such acts undermine the integrity of the HOSM program.
I submit the Department understands the requested material is relevant to external reviews currently underway by the Information Commissioner. The material corroborates other FOI documents that reveal serious maladministration of the HOSM program. The material will help settle disputed facts and assist the IC accurately weigh the public interest factors in those cases. The material will inform ongoing discussions with Members of Parliament and will be provided as evidence to other Commonwealth agencies with the appropriate jurisdiction to inquire into these matters.
I submit the Department could produce and release the requested document in accordance with the provisions prescribed by section 17 (1) of the Act. In particular:
(c) the agency could produce a written document containing the information in discrete form by:
the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the agency for retrieving or collating stored information
I submit compliance with my request for documents will not substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations.
Kind regards
Trav S
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/n...
OFFICIAL
Reference FOI/2023/231IR
Dear Trav,
We write in relation to your email of 21 August 2024 (below), in which you
made a request for an internal review of the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet’s (the Department) decision of FOI/2024/231, made on
22 July 2024 under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
Timeframe for receiving your internal review decision
We received your request for internal review on 21 August 2024 and the
30-day statutory period for internal review commenced from the day after
that date. You should therefore expect the internal review decision from
us by 20 September 2024.
Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
[1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....
Kind regards,
Advisor | FOI Section
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Ngunnawal Country, One National Circuit Barton ACT 2600
PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
e. [2][email address] w. [3]pmc.gov.au