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

Dear Mr Squiggle

Freedom of Information Request – FOI 24-25/104

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):

I request the following documents under the FOI Act, for any departmental
official or agency head who currently holds membership to either Qantas'
Chairman's Lounge or Virgin's Beyond lounge:

1. For each individual holding membership, detail of the membership they
hold (ie. the airline they hold a membership for), their total number of
flights and total expenditure, by airline, for the most recent available
12 month period (only flights funded by the department)

2. Any documents that detail any assessments made as to the 'estimated
value' of these memberships (including those made by the individuals, or
the department).

3. Any documents that detail any reasons for accepting (or declining)
invitations to these exclusive airline lounges.

4. Any documents that are requests for advice from these individuals, or
advice given to these individuals, that touch on whether the memberships
are in accordance with applicable policies in relation to conflict of
interest, gifts, etc.

Request for assistance/withdrawal of request

Estimates of government expenditure are referred to Senate committees as
part of the annual budget cycle. This opportunity to examine the
operations of government plays a key role in the parliamentary scrutiny of
the executive.

Government portfolios are spread across eight Senate committees for the
consideration of estimates. The “Finance and Public Administration”
committee considers Finance expenditure. Reports, transcripts and videos
on past proceedings can be found on the committee estimates pages:
[1]Finance and Public Administration – Parliament of Australia

Finance has previously answered a similar Senate Question on Notice from
Senator Pocock (F146) in the 2024-25 Supplementary budget estimates. We
have attached the question and answer for your reference. If you consider
the attachment and response meets your request, we invite you to withdraw
your request.

We kindly ask that you reply to this email and either:

o Withdraw your request, or
o Request a formal decision letter.

Please note that if we do not receive a response from you, we are required
under the FOI Act to expend additional resources to process your request.

We appreciate your assistance in this matter.

General FOI matters

Your request was received by Finance on 3 February 2025. The statutory
period for processing your request commences from the day after Finance
received your request and a decision is due on Wednesday 5 March 2025.

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 [2]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 on the below contact details 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

Visible links
1. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus...
2. https://www.finance.gov.au/about-us/free...

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

Dear Mr Squiggle

Freedom of Information Request – FOI 24-25/104

Thank you for confirming the Senate Question on Notice from Senator Pocock
(F146) in the 2024-25 Supplementary budget estimates satisfies part 1 of
your request, and agreeing to withdraw it.

We will now process the remaining parts 2, 3 and 4 of your request:

2.  Any documents that detail any assessments made as to the 'estimated
value' of these memberships (including those made by the individuals, or
the department).

3. Any documents that detail any reasons for accepting (or declining)
invitations to these exclusive airline lounges.

4. Any documents that are requests for advice from these individuals, or
advice given to these individuals, that touch on whether the memberships
are in accordance with applicable policies in relation to conflict of
interest, gifts, etc.

Request for assistance

We seek further clarity regarding the time period of the documents you are
seeking. We have interpreted the time period of your request as the most
recent 12-month period, that is 3 February 2024 – 3 February 2025?

We kindly ask that you reply this email by to confirm the time period, or
propose an alternate time period. Please note that if we do not receive a
response from you, we will proceed to process your request on the most
recent 12-month period.

Thank you for your assistance.

Kind regards

FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch

Business Enabling Services

Department of Finance

A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603

show quoted sections

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