UNCLASSIFIED

FOI/PMO/2018/017

 

Dear Mr Cooper-Stout

 

Thank you for your email dated 18 July 2018, in which you made a request
to the Prime Minister under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI
Act) in the following terms:

 

I write to request under the Freedom of Information Act the following
information:

 

- Any letters, emails, phone call notes or similar received by the Prime
Minister from any Member of Parliament or their office that contain the
words "Sudanese gangs" or "African gangs"

- Any briefing papers, minutes, memos or similar received by the Prime
Minister hat contain the words "Sudanese gangs" or "African gangs"

- Any notes prepared for the Prime Minister for the press conference held
on the 17th of July.

 

My request relates only to records created from 1 March 2018

 

Handling of request

 

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) provides
administrative support to the Prime Minister in relation to Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests made to him. I am writing to advise you of
further information on the processing of your request to the Prime
Minister, set out below.

 

Timeframe for receiving your decision

 

Your request was received on 18 July 2018 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 17 August 2018. The period
of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances. We will advise you if
there is any extension of time.

 

Charges

 

Agencies and Ministers may decide that an applicant is liable to pay a
charge in respect of a request for access to documents. If the
decision-maker in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) 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]http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...,
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][Prime Minister 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

 

It is the PMO’s policy to withhold signatures, and the names and contact
details of PMO staff at a level below Senior Advisor

 

It is also our policy to withhold any person’s signature, the names and
contact details of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) as
well as the mobile or direct numbers of SES officers from other agencies
contained within documents that fall within scope of the request. If you
require this information please let us know at [3][Prime Minister 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.

 

We will write again when we have more information. Further information on
FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner at
[4]http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_....

 

Kind regards

 

FOI Adviser

FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. +61 2 6271 5849

e. | [5][Prime Minister request email] | [6]www.dpmc.gov.au

PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...
2. mailto:[Prime Minister request email]
3. mailto:[Prime Minister request email]
4. http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_...
5. mailto:[Prime Minister request email]
6. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Cooper-Stout,

 

Thank you for your email of 30 August 2018, below.

 

We note that you have requested an internal review of the ‘deemed
decision’ in respect of your FOI request made to the Prime Minister (ref:
FOI/PMO/2018/017).

 

Under sections 54(1) and (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) internal review is only available in relation to an FOI request
made to an agency.

 

The ‘Guidelines issued  by the Australian Information Commissioner under s
93A of the Freedom of Information Act 1982’ (the FOI Guidelines) state
that internal review is not available if an access refusal decision was
made by a minister: see [1]FOI Guidelines, ‘Part 9 – Internal Agency
Review of Decisions’, Version 1.4, October 2014, [9.10], and [2]FOI fact
sheet 10 – Freedom of Information and the Minister’s Office.

 

Accordingly, there is no right under the FOI Act to seek internal review
of the ‘deemed decision’ in respect of your FOI request to the Prime
Minister.

 

However, if you wish to seek review of the deemed access refusal decision
of your FOI request made to the Prime Minister, you may apply to the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for Information
Commissioner review: see [3]FOI fact sheet 12 – Your review rights.

 

Yours sincerely

 

FOI Adviser

FOI and Privacy Section | Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

e. [4][Prime Minister request email] | w. [5]www.pmc.gov.au

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

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