Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.

Kind regards

FOI Coordinator

OFFICIAL

Good afternoon

Freedom of Information Request – FOI 24-25/004

Thank you for your email to the Department of Finance (Finance) requesting
access to the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act):

the briefing pack prepared for the Secretary of Finance for the Senate
Finance and Public Administration Committee's 2024-25 Budget Estimates
hearings.

General FOI matters

Your request was received by Finance on 2 July 2024. The statutory period
for processing your request commences from the day after Finance received
your request and a decision is due on 1 August 2024.

The processing period may be extended if we need to consult third parties,
impose a charge or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.

Liability to pay a charge

You will be notified of any charges in relation to your request as soon as
possible, before we process any requested documents or impose a final
charge.

Publication

As required by the FOI Act, any documents provided to you under the FOI
Act will be published on our [1]disclosure log, unless an exemption
applies or the documents are characterised as containing personal
information. Documents will be published the next working day after they
are released to you.

Policy to exclude junior officer contact details, signatures and mobile
phone numbers

Finance has adopted a policy to generally exclude from any documents
released under FOI, the names and contact details of junior staff (non-SES
officers) and staff employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act
1984 (adviser level and below). Finance has also adopted a policy to
exclude signatures and mobile phone numbers from any documents released
under FOI (unless publicly available). Finance’s preference is to reach
agreement with FOI applicants to exclude these details from the scope of
the request. Where there is no objection, the names and contact details of
junior officers, as well as any signatures and mobile phone numbers
appearing in identified documents, will be redacted under section 22 of
the FOI Act on the basis that these details are irrelevant to the request.

Please contact the FOI Team if you wish to discuss your request.

Kind regards

FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch

Business Enabling Services

Department of Finance

A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603

References

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1. https://www.finance.gov.au/about-us/free...