OFFICIAL

 

Reference: FOI/2024/386 

 

Dear Trav S

 

Thank you for your email of 22 November 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:

 

Please accept my request for information in accordance with the FOI Act. I
ask you to refer to documents released to FOI/2024/316, and in particular
the two documents prepared in 2014.

On 22 June 2014, a Mr Rush invoked powers under delegation to recommend
the Governor-General approve the award of the Humanitarian Overseas
Service Medal to persons listed in Schedule 6/2014. The public official
assured the Honours and Awards Secretariat that relevant organisations had
verified the applicants service.

1. Please provide the relevant organisation's documents that were relied
upon to verify the service of the persons recommended for the HOSM with
the Australian contingent to the GE water humanitarian operation;

2. Please release the 22 June 2014 letter, the accompanying Schedule, and
the material in Page 59 with all section 22 redactions removed. All of the
information in the requested documents is relevant to this request and I
ask you not to apply section 22 to withhold material;

3. Please ensure the name and position of the public official who signed
to certify that eligibility had been determined in accordance with the
HOSM Regulations 2011 is disclosed. Their details are found in the
Schedule’s lower right corner.

4. Please provide the number of persons listed in Schedule 6/2014 for the
Australian contingent to GE water humanitarian operation. Regarding this
number, please produce a written document containing the information in
accordance with section 17(1) of the Act.

 

Timeframe for receiving your decision and request for extension of time

The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the Department received your request. A decision is therefore
due from us by 23 December 2024. However, we note that the processing time
overlaps with the departmental shutdown period between Christmas and New
Years Day. In light of this, we would like to seek your agreement to a 30
day extension under section 15AA of the FOI Act.  

 

Please confirm your agreement to the extension of time by replying to this
email by 3 December 2024.

 

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
your requested document, 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 set out your 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 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 this category of information may be reasonably
regarded as irrelevant and we will delete this information if it appears
in the documents that are otherwise responsive to your request.   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 at
[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

 

Yours sincerely

 

Coordinator | FOI Section

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

e. [5][email address]  w. [6]pmc.gov.au 

 

 

[7]http://url5193.checkbox.ai/wf/open?upn=u...

______________________________________________________________________ 
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 
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message from your computer system. 
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.pmc.gov.au/about-us/accounta...
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://pmc.gov.au/

OFFICIAL
Departmental reference: FOI/2024/386

Dear Trav S,

I am contacting you in relation to the below request in which you seek internal review of the Department’s deemed refusal of your Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) requests FOI/2025/386.

As outlined in section 54E of the FOI Act, the FOI Act does not allow for internal review of deemed refusal decisions. Therefore, we progress to an internal review of this matter.

Please be assured that the Department is progressing this matter and aims to provide you with a substantive decision as soon as possible.

Alternatively, you may apply to the Information Commissioner for review of the Department’s deemed refusal decisions under section 54L of the FOI Act. This can be done at the following link: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Trav S <[FOI #12356 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 28 January 2025 5:32 PM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Verification documents relating to powers under delegation in 2014

Dear FOI,

I believe the agreed 30 day extension has expired.

Please undertake an internal review the Department's decision, reference: FOI/2024/386.

Yours sincerely,

Trav S

-----Original Message-----

OFFICIAL

 

Reference: FOI/2024/386 

 

Dear Trav S

 

Thank you for your email of 22 November 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:

 

Please accept my request for information in accordance with the FOI Act. I

ask you to refer to documents released to FOI/2024/316, and in particular

the two documents prepared in 2014.

On 22 June 2014, a Mr Rush invoked powers under delegation to recommend

the Governor-General approve the award of the Humanitarian Overseas

Service Medal to persons listed in Schedule 6/2014. The public official

assured the Honours and Awards Secretariat that relevant organisations had

verified the applicants service.

1. Please provide the relevant organisation's documents that were relied

upon to verify the service of the persons recommended for the HOSM with

the Australian contingent to the GE water humanitarian operation;

2. Please release the 22 June 2014 letter, the accompanying Schedule, and

the material in Page 59 with all section 22 redactions removed. All of the

information in the requested documents is relevant to this request and I

ask you not to apply section 22 to withhold material;

3. Please ensure the name and position of the public official who signed

to certify that eligibility had been determined in accordance with the

HOSM Regulations 2011 is disclosed. Their details are found in the

Schedule’s lower right corner.

4. Please provide the number of persons listed in Schedule 6/2014 for the

Australian contingent to GE water humanitarian operation. Regarding this

number, please produce a written document containing the information in

accordance with section 17(1) of the Act.

 

Timeframe for receiving your decision and request for extension of time

The 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the

day after the Department received your request. A decision is therefore

due from us by 23 December 2024. However, we note that the processing time

overlaps with the departmental shutdown period between Christmas and New

Years Day. In light of this, we would like to seek your agreement to a 30

day extension under section 15AA of the FOI Act.  

 

Please confirm your agreement to the extension of time by replying to this

email by 3 December 2024.

 

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

your requested document, 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 set out your 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 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 this category of information may be reasonably

regarded as irrelevant and we will delete this information if it appears

in the documents that are otherwise responsive to your request.   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 at

[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...

 

Yours sincerely

 

Coordinator | FOI Section

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. (02) 6271 5849

e. [5][email address]  w. [6]pmc.gov.au 

 

 

[7]http://url5193.checkbox.ai/wf/open?upn=u...

______________________________________________________________________ 

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/about-us/accounta...

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://pmc.gov.au/

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______________________________________________________________________

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

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