OFFICIAL

 

Departmental reference: FOI 2025/014 and 2025/015

 

Dear Trav S

 

I refer your requests of 29 January 2025 under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 seeking access to:

               

                2025/014

1.          A copy of the Department’s initial advice to the Minister
responsible for the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (HOSM) program,
informing the Minister that the HOSM with the ‘Indian Ocean’ clasp was
awarded to commercial security contractors supporting General Electric’s
humanitarian operation in Banda Aceh following the 2004 Boxing Day
tsunami.

2.          Any document recording advice provided by Mr. Peter Rush, who
held delegated duties to administer the HOSM program, regarding the
commercial security contractors serving with the General Electric
contingent in Banda Aceh.

3.          Any document recording advice provided by Mr. John Reid
regarding the involvement of commercial security contractors in the
General Electric contingent, including any communications related to
informing the Minister or correcting the public record.

 

2025/015

1.          A copy of the Department’s assessment and advice provided to
the Minister responsible for the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal
(HOSM) that led to the HOSM with ‘Afghanistan’ clasp being awarded to
individuals or groups. Please include any supporting documentation,
recommendations, or justifications associated with this award.

 

The current due date for a decision on the requests is today 28 February
2025. Processing of your requests is underway, unfortunately the
Department is not currently in a position to finalise the decisions by
this date.

Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI
Act to extend the processing period by 30 days. This additional time would
extend the due date for a decision on your requests to 31 March 2025, we
are endeavouring to finalise requests before the due date if possible.

We note your advice to the Department that you will not agree to any
requests for extensions. However please be advised the extension will
preserve your rights to an internal review if you are not happy with the
Department’s decision.

With apologies for the short notice, we would be grateful if you please
confirm via return email by today 28 February 2025. Thank you for your
patience.

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: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/

OFFICIAL

 

Departmental reference: FOI 2025/014 and 2025/015

 

Dear Trav S

 

I refer your requests of 29 January 2025 under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 seeking access to:

               

                2025/014

1.          A copy of the Department’s initial advice to the Minister
responsible for the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (HOSM) program,
informing the Minister that the HOSM with the ‘Indian Ocean’ clasp was
awarded to commercial security contractors supporting General Electric’s
humanitarian operation in Banda Aceh following the 2004 Boxing Day
tsunami.

2.          Any document recording advice provided by Mr. Peter Rush, who
held delegated duties to administer the HOSM program, regarding the
commercial security contractors serving with the General Electric
contingent in Banda Aceh.

3.          Any document recording advice provided by Mr. John Reid
regarding the involvement of commercial security contractors in the
General Electric contingent, including any communications related to
informing the Minister or correcting the public record.

 

2025/015

1.          A copy of the Department’s assessment and advice provided to
the Minister responsible for the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal
(HOSM) that led to the HOSM with ‘Afghanistan’ clasp being awarded to
individuals or groups. Please include any supporting documentation,
recommendations, or justifications associated with this award.

 

The current due date for a decision on the requests is today 28 February
2025. Processing of your requests is underway, unfortunately the
Department is not currently in a position to finalise the decisions by
this date.

Accordingly, we are seeking your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI
Act to extend the processing period by 30 days. This additional time would
extend the due date for a decision on your requests to 31 March 2025, we
are endeavouring to finalise requests before the due date if possible.

We note your advice to the Department that you will not agree to any
requests for extensions. However please be advised the extension will
preserve your rights to an internal review if you are not happy with the
Department’s decision.

With apologies for the short notice, we would be grateful if you please
confirm via return email by today 28 February 2025. Thank you for your
patience.

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: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/

OFFICIAL

 

Reference: FOI/2025/014

 

Dear  Trav S

 

Thank you for your email 29 January 2025 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). We apologise for the delay in
acknowledging your request.

 

You set out the terms of the request as per the following scope:

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, I request access to the
following documents:

 

1.                   A copy of the Department’s initial advice to the
Minister responsible for the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal (HOSM)
program, informing the Minister that the HOSM with the ‘Indian Ocean’
clasp was awarded to commercial security contractors supporting General
Electric’s humanitarian operation in Banda Aceh following the 2004 Boxing
Day tsunami.

 

2.                   Any document recording advice provided by Mr. Peter
Rush, who held delegated duties to administer the HOSM program, regarding
the commercial security contractors serving with the General Electric
contingent in Banda Aceh.

 

3.                   Any document recording advice provided by Mr. John
Reid regarding the involvement of commercial security contractors in the
General Electric contingent, including any communications related to
informing the Minister or correcting the public record.

 

Please note that this is the second FOI request I have been compelled to
submit due to the Department’s failure to respond to my initial request
made in July 2024. As such, I will not agree to any further requests for
an extension and expect the Department to adhere to its statutory
obligations by providing a response, including the requisite statement of
reasons, within the prescribed timeframe

 

If any part of this request overlaps with previous FOI requests, I request
the Department reconsider its position and conduct a fresh assessment in
the public interest.  Should you hold documents that contain redactions, I
request that redactions be limited to the extent necessary, and that any
exempt material be clearly identified with justification.

 

 

Timeframe for receiving your decision

The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the Department received your request, a decision was due from us
by 28 February 2025.  Unfortunately the Department was unable to provide
you with a decision by this due date, we are continuing to process your
request.

 

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....

 

Kind regards

Coordinator | 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: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/