OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/022

Dear Mr Wilson,

Thank you for your email dated 8 January 2022, received by the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), in which you made a
request to the Department under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) in the following terms:

Awards and Culture Branch corresponded with AusAID on 22 February 2012 in
an email titled HOSM for CRG Contractors in Iraq [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED].  In
that document a Mr Peter Rush made the following statement:

“After our meeting with you (AusAID) we sounded the Parliamentary
Secretary to the PM and then advised you that we could not pursue the
matter without an initiating letter from the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.”

I am scrutinising the Branch’s activities in accordance with my rights
under the FOI Act.  Please provide me a copy of:

1.  The document recording the Branch sounding the Parliamentary Secretary
to the PM as Mr Rush states

2.  Any correspondence between the Branch and the Parliamentary Secretary
to the PM (including her staff) related to this topic that occurred in the
years 2011 and 2012.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

We received your request on 8 January 2022 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 7 February 2022. The period
of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances. We will advise you if
there is any extension of time.

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.

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. If
you require signatures, the names and contact details of non-SES officers
or Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff, or the mobile or
direct numbers of SES officers please let us know at [3][DPMC 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 (that
is, the information will be treated as irrelevant and redacted from any
documents for release).

We will write again when the Department has more information.  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....

Yours sincerely

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

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[8]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[9]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/
7. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/022

Dear Mr Wilson

We refer to your request, made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the FOI Act) and received by the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet (the Department) in the following terms:

Awards and Culture Branch corresponded with AusAID on 22 February 2012 in
an email titled HOSM for CRG Contractors in Iraq [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED].  In
that document a Mr Peter Rush made the following statement:

“After our meeting with you (AusAID) we sounded the Parliamentary
Secretary to the PM and then advised you that we could not pursue the
matter without an initiating letter from the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.”

I am scrutinising the Branch’s activities in accordance with my rights
under the FOI Act.  Please provide me a copy of:

1.  The document recording the Branch sounding the Parliamentary Secretary
to the PM as Mr Rush states

2.  Any correspondence between the Branch and the Parliamentary Secretary
to the PM (including her staff) related to this topic that occurred in the
years 2011 and 2012.

We received your request on 8 January 2022, and a decision on your request
is currently due on Monday 7 February 2022. The Department has recently
been experiencing a large workload and regrettably is not in a position to
finalise a decision by the current due date. Under section 15AA of the FOI
Act, we therefore seek an extension of time to the processing time for
this request until Monday 21 February 2022. Please let us know if you
agree by close of business 3 February 2022.

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:image001.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0[4]cid:image002.jpg@01D78E24.FF2DAFB0

[5]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/
3. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
4. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...

Dear Applicant and FOI Contact Officer

Please see attached decision regarding the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet’s application for an extension of time to process FOI
request FOI/2022/022.

Kind regards

[1][IMG]   Summen Sarwar   |  Assistant Review and
Investigation Advisor

Investigations and Compliance
Freedom of Information Regulatory Group

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [2]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9815  | 
[3][email address]  
[4][IMG] | [5][IMG] | [6][IMG] |   [7]Subscribe to Information
Matters

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

Dear Mr Wilson

Thank you for your email below.

Please note the OAIC does not routinely follow up on the status of FOI
requests once an extension of time decision has been made and the matter
with the OAIC has been finalised.

If you did not receive a decision from the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet (Department) by 21 February 2022, you may wish to
seek Information Commissioner review of the Department’s deemed
affirmation of the original decision [1]here.

You may also wish to contact the Department directly to seek an update on
the status of your request. I also note the Department has an ongoing
obligation to provide you with its substantive decision.

Further information on [2]applying for IC review is available on the OAIC
[3]website.

If you have any further questions, please contact [4][email address].

Kind regards

[5][IMG]   Summen Sarwar   |  Assistant Review
and Investigation Advisor

Investigations and Compliance
Freedom of Information Regulatory
Group

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [6]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9815  | 
[7][email address]  
[8][IMG] | [9][IMG] | [10][IMG] |   [11]Subscribe to Information
Matters

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL

FOI/2022/022

Dear Mr Wilson

Please find attached the decision regarding your request under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982.

Yours sincerely

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/