|
RECORD RADAR · ROTATION 005
|
MON 01 JUN 2026
|
|
— ROTATION 005 / 2026.06.01
Rotation 005 /027
|
|
The 27 new FOI releases from Federal government departments and the eight key agencies we've added to our coverage this week are summarised below. FOI Weekly now includes ASIC, the RBA, APRA, IP Australia, OAIC, AFP, ATO and Services Australia. Topics this week: fuel rationing contingency plans; NDIS data breach; plummeting APRA prudential review rate; environmental approval changes; and AI regulation advice ahead of Treasurer's roundtables withheld through slightly odd s.22 usage. The summaries are produced by humans and AI. If we've missed the mark on a summary or recommendation, or if there is an agency's FOI log you want added to our coverage ASAP, we'd love to hear from you. Just hit reply and let us know. To find out more about how to lodge your own FOI requests, head to Right to Know.
|
|
27
Found
|
09
Recommended-read
|
11
Look
|
22%
Avg redact
|
|
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
|
9 found · 4 recommended-read · 2 look
|
| |
READ
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 60%
Government planned fuel rationing in March, weighed panic-buying messaging
Around twenty documents released in part, indicating the government was planning for fuel rationing during March 2026's unfolding shortage, while internal notes weigh how to message it without sparking panic buying. The material documents DCCEEW's contingency planning for a liquid fuel supply crisis, including the legislative background, the published‑media summaries, the decision criteria for declaring a fuel emergency, and scattered lines flagging planning for demand rationing while noting "hesitations around signalling and tempering public panic”. Redactions: significant under s 22(1)(a)(ii), with small amounts of s 47F and s 47E(d).
See the disclosure →
|
| |
READ
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 30%
DCCEEW docs reveal heavily redacted procurement of Fivecast social media intelligence software
Twelve documents about DCCEEW’s procurement of Fivecast Pty Ltd social media intelligence analysis software for the Compliance and Enforcement Branch. The material includes an approval minute, Software Marketplace contract, supplier response records, Fivecast quotes, digital investment request forms, a statement of work, privacy impact assessment threshold material, and a later decision brief recommending extension of the contract for a second year with reduced users and cost. Redactions: significant, across the procurement rationale, software/service details, pricing, financial implications, operational material, supplier quote details, with exemptions marked s.47E(d), s.47G(1)(a), s.47F(1) and s.22
See the disclosure →
|
| |
READ
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 0%
56 safety incidents logged across Antarctic stations with four rated as catastrophic potential
One document, released in full, of a register of 56 work health and safety incidents recorded across the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) between April 2025 and April 2026. Each listing includes dates, actual and potential severity, consequence type, responsible division and location. Most are logged as near misses or injuries with a "Major" potential severity, and four are rated "Catastrophic". Potential catastrophic category included a maritime grounding event involving the icebreaker RSV Nuyina off Heard Island, an A319 aircraft fuel spill and venting during refuelling, quad bikes driven over under‑snow high‑voltage cables at Casey Station, and an unreported landslide on Macquarie Island. Redactions: none.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 55%
Documents behind the temporary 20 per cent reduction to Australia's fuel Minimum Stockholding Obligation in March to June 2026
Thirteen documents across 55 pages showing how DCCEEW temporarily reduced Australia's Minimum Stockholding Obligation (the legal floor on how much fuel companies must keep in reserve) by 20 per cent in March 2026 under section 16A of the Fuel Security Act 2021. Redactions: significant, under s 47G and s 47(1)(b) (commercial), alongside personal details (s 47F), confidential material (s 45) and out-of-scope content (s 22), with more than 20 pages blanked entirely.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
SKIP
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 35%
Email confirming Canberra's move to open EPBC bilateral talks with WA but with substance redacted
One email and an attached draft letter withheld entirely, across three pages, capturing the federal government's first move to implement its recent EPBC Act reforms by overhauling the bilateral agreements that let states run environmental assessments on the Commonwealth's behalf, starting with WA. Email is from March 2026, between DCCEEW Branch Head Kylie Calhoun to WA environment department's Emily Briggs at WA's environment department (DWER) flagging that the federal Minister intends to write to Premier Roger Cook to open negotiations on new bilateral agreements, and asks WA to review a draft of that letter within two days so the Minister can sign "next week". Retractions: none.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
READ
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 55%
Cabinet submission reveals plan to let the Environment Minister waive EPBC approval for offshore petroleum and carbon capture projects
Two documents over 10 pages, released in part on internal review and marked PROTECTED | CABINET. These show how DCCEEW proposed to use the EPBC Act reforms to cut environmental scrutiny of offshore petroleum and carbon capture (CCS) activities. Includes a September 2025 ministerial submission to the Environment Minister proposing a power for the Minister to "declare" that activities approved under the offshore petroleum law (OPGGS Act) need no separate EPBC approval, bypassing the public consultation and parliamentary disallowance in the current process. Documents also note CCS is politically sensitive and contested between the Environment and Resources portfolios, and includes a 2025 letter from Resources Minister Madeleine King to Environment Minister Murray Watt on the same issue. Redactions: Significant, with recommendations and most analysis withheld under s 47C (deliberative).
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 40%
September 2025: 28 ministerial briefs from the environment portfolio
Twenty-eight documents over 94 pages making up a mixed tranche of talking points, meeting briefs and a few decision submissions to the Environment and Water Minister across September 2025, offering a window into what was crossing the Minister's desk including koalas, marine protection, the Great Artesian Basin, nature finance, and First Nations water. The more pointed items include a brief for the Minister to meet the CEOs of major environmental NGOs (ACF, WWF, Greenpeace) on EPBC reform and deforestation. Retractions: Several whole documents and most "sensitivities" sections are withheld mostly under s 47C (deliberative).
See the disclosure →
|
| |
SKIP
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 20%
NOSEC meeting minutes + admin documents in late February 2026
Fourteen documents released in part of emails, three sets of NOSEC meeting minutes (3, 6 and 10 March 2026), two contact lists, a confidential state-level petroleum stockholding table, Commonwealth talking points and an AIP public statement. Correspondence between the NOSEC secretariat, DCCEEW officers, all state and territory energy agencies, Defence and six oil-industry bodies (AIP, BP, Ampol, ExxonMobil, Viva and EG Fuelco) records no supply shortages but elevated prices, localised shortages from panic buying, suppliers moving to 100% bulk allocation, China suspending fuel export approvals, and the committee's repeated decision not to activate the National Liquid Fuel Emergency Response Plan.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
SKIP
·
CLIMATE, ENERGY ETC
· % REDACTED 0%
DCCEEW releases supplier list for rehabilitation services under corporate-plan risk
One document released in full, approximately one page, relating to DCCEEW’s capabilities and enterprise risks under its Corporate Plan. The released material itself is a table marked “OFFICIAL” with two columns, “Contract Description” and “Supplier Name”, listing twelve suppliers for “Rehabilitation Services on and off ORAMS Panel,” including Lifeworks Health Services, Easec, The Rehabilitation Company and others. Redactions: none.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
SKIP
·
PM&C
· % REDACTED 5%
Official delegation list and staff travel itineraries for the Prime Minister's February 2026 visit to Indonesia
Thirty pages covering logistical details of the Prime Minister's official visit to Indonesia in February 2026, released in part. Includes the official delegation list including Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and PM&C First Assistant Secretary Lauren Bain. The rest are itineraries and invoices. Redactions: minor, only under s.22(1)(a)(ii) (irrelevant material); s.47F (personal privacy); booking totals under s.47G(1)(a) (business affairs).
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
PM&C
· % REDACTED 10%
2023 PM–Governor-General correspondence: ceremonial business, the GG's redacted overseas trip reports, and a Victoria Cross recommendation
125 pages of 2023 correspondence between PM Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley. Mostly routine ceremonial and constitutional business: the King's Coronation, a ministry reshuffle, and the GG transmitting the Robodebt and Disability royal commission final reports. More interesting but redacted are the GG's candid reports back to the PM on overseas visits (UK, UAE, Solomon Islands, Thailand etc) with his assessments of foreign leaders, blacked out under the international-relations exemption. Also includes documents on the tribunal decision recommending a Victoria Cross for the late Private Richard Norden (Vietnam, 1968), released in full. Redaction summary: s.22 (irrelevant material), s.47F (personal privacy), s.45 (confidential communications), s.42 (legal professional privilege); substantive trip-report redactions under s.33 (international relations).
See the disclosure →
|
|
HEALTH, DISABILITY & AGING
|
1 found · 1 recommended-read
|
| |
READ
·
HEALTH, DISABILITY & AGING
· % REDACTED 0%
Health Secretary used Copilot to write a 1,000-word essay on GST versus emissions trading politics
Two documents, released in full, showing Health Secretary Blair Comley use of AI (Copilot) for a for a 1,000-word comparison of the political economy of Australia's GST and emissions trading in March 2026. FOI request for was for all use within three months.
See the disclosure →
|
|
EDUCATION
|
1 found · 1 look
|
| |
LOOK
·
EDUCATION
· % REDACTED 5%
ANU, Melbourne + 7 more universities allocated a cut of the $50m over-enrolment fund, conditional on adopting new governance rules.
Eleven documents of near-identical letters from the Australian Tertiary Education Commission's to the Vice-Chancellors of nine universities including ANU, Monash, UNSW, Melbourne, advising over-enrolment by more than five per cent against its Maximum Basic Grant Amount, making them eligible for a share of the Government's $50 million over-enrolment fund for 2026. Each letter states the university's estimated allocation ($1.12m to the $10m). Documents also include a letter from Education Minister Jason Clare setting out the over-enrolment fund, and the full "Final Principles of the Expert Council on University Governance", including disclosure of Vice-Chancellor remuneration, consultancy spending and governing-body composition. Redactions summary: minor with names and contact details under s.22 and one email under s.47F.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
ASIC
· % REDACTED 35%
Citing "post-Bondi" security, company directors lobbying Treasury to remove home addresses from ASIC public register
Forty-four documents released in part, covering early 2026 correspondence on ASIC's decision to remove company officeholders' residential addresses from extracts on ASIC Connect. The standout content is lobbying from the Australian Institute of Company Directors, pressing ASIC and Treasury to urgently remove directors' addresses from the public Companies Register, citing the "security environment post Bondi" and the risk of 3 million people's home addresses being public. Redactions: significant, while the AICD's lobbying survives, the government side's reasoning is mostly blacked out ybder s.47C and s.47E(d).
See the disclosure →
|
|
APRA
|
1 found · 1 recommended-read
|
| |
READ
·
APRA
· % REDACTED 0%
APRA's prudential reviews falling sharply since 2015 from 237 a year to 34
Two pages, released in full summarising APRA's data response on its supervisory activity. Table 1 gives the number of prudential reviews completed each year from 2015 to 2025, showing a steep, sustained decline from 237 in 2015 to 34 in 2025, with the drop setting in around 2020. Table 2 breaks down prudential meetings with regulated entities by industry (ADIs, insurers, super trustees and holding companies) over the last five financial years. Redaction summary: none; released in full, though APRA notes some requested data was withheld as confidential under its s.56 secrecy provisions (APRA Act) and that its systems don't capture all supervisory engagements.
See the disclosure →
|
|
IP Australia
|
1 found · 1 recommended-read
|
| |
READ
·
IP Australia
· % REDACTED 10%
IP Australia meets 76% of government's AI Technical Standards
Nineteen pages on IP Australia’s Interim AI Governance Committee on a gap analysis of the agency's practices against the AI Technical Standard, and a preliminary compliance assessment against the updated Policy for responsible use of AI in Government. The gap analysis found IP Australia satisfies 76% of the standard's 148 criteria, partially satisfies 18% and does not satisfy 3%. The five unmet criteria are related to how the agency does not watermark AI-generated content or flag to users when they are interacting with AI. Redactions: moderate; staff names under s.47F, and with key parts of the analysis withheld under s.47C.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
DEWR
· % REDACTED 75%
After big providers pushed back, the Government dropped 10% market-share cap for the NESM
Five heavily redacted documents from 2021 indicate how the Government walked back a proposed limit on how much of the employment-services market any single provider could control. Under the New Employment Services Model, the department had floated a hard 10% cap on any provider's national business share, intended to stop a few big players dominating the sector. Stakeholder feedback was broadly supportive, but the two largest existing jobactive providers and the industry body pushed back. The documents show the department then dropped the binding cap, replacing it with a non-binding "expectation" in the tender that no provider exceed 20%, a setting it noted could be removed under existing authority without involving the Prime Minister. The bulk of the material is withheld under s.22 (out of scope), with some under s.47C (deliberative) and s.34(3) (Cabinet).
See the disclosure →
|
|
TREASURY
|
3 found · 1 recommended-read · 1 look
|
| |
SKIP
·
TREASURY
· % REDACTED 0%
Treasury's consultation feedback on the "look-through" CGT earnout measure
Two pages, a single document of a table summarising stakeholder feedback from targeted consultation on the proposed "look-through" CGT treatment for earnout arrangements, with Treasury's response to each point. Concerns raised include the measure's scope and start date, its exclusion of depreciating assets such as mining tenements and intellectual property, the narrow definition of a "look-through earnout right", and the four-year limit on payments (stakeholders pushed for five or more years). Redactions: none.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
READ
·
TREASURY
· % REDACTED 5%
NSW pushes to pause the National Construction Code 2025 pending a governance review
Five pages released in part about how and when NSW will adopt the National Construction Code 2025 and the intergovernmental machinery behind it, with the operational timelines. Also documents NSW’s push to revisit whether code should be finalised at all, with NSW Minister Anoulack Chanthivong’s communications to federal Housing Minister Clare O'Neil returning NSW's signed Intergovernmental Agreement (adding climate resilience as a Board objective), declining to nominate a plumbing-industry board member, and asking them to take up the Productivity Commission recommendation to pause finalisation of NCC 2025 pending an independent review of the code's governance. Redaction summary: minor with names etc removed under s.22.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
TREASURY
· % REDACTED 10%
ABCB advice to the Housing Minister on finalising NCC 2025, plus its 2025-26 business plan.
Five documents of email chains, letters, the ABCB's 2025-26 business plan and FY24-25 financials, and a ministerial meeting brief. The central item is a September 2025 letter from ABCB Chair Glenys Beauchamp to Housing Minister Clare O'Neil advising the draft NCC 2025 is ready for ministers' consideration with majority but not unanimous board support, recommending adoption on 1 May 2026, as well as dissenting members' reservations. Also includes the Board's position on key changes such as energy and safety issues with cost estimates, and the ABCB's business plan and budget. Redactions summary: minor email metadata under s.22 and s.47E(d), s.47F.
See the disclosure →
|
|
INDUSTRY, SCIENCES & RESOURCES
|
4 found · 2 look
|
| |
LOOK
·
INDUSTRY, SCIENCES & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 5%
AI firm Anthropic asked PM's office to help arrange Attorney‑General meeting on copyright
One document, two pages, released in part. A single email exchange dated 12 March 2026 in which a representative of the AI company Anthropic asks a government contact (at the PM's‑office address) to help arrange a meeting with the Attorney‑General during an upcoming visit, and requests a point of contact. The reply supplies the Attorney‑General's diary manager and the relevant copyright adviser, and offers further help. Redactions: minor and all under s.22, removing the names and email addresses of the people involved.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
SKIP
·
INDUSTRY, SCIENCES & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 5%
Stroke Foundation repeatedly extended $2.5m MRFF grant over COVID delays
Around forty documents (numbered non‑consecutively up to 44, so some were withheld or out of scope), totalling 320 pages, about a $2.5 million Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant awarded in 2018 to the National Stroke Foundation for two clinical trials: Perispinal Etanercept to Improve Stroke Outcomes (PESTO) trial (recruiting through the Florey Institute) and a vocational rehabilitation trial. Materials track successive requests to vary the grant, extending completion dates (eventually to late 2023 and mid‑2024), splitting the activity schedule, and revising milestones due to COVID‑19 delays. Redactions: minor and all under s.22, removing names and contact details.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
INDUSTRY, SCIENCES & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 75%
AI regulation advice ahead of Treasurer's roundtables withheld under slightly odd s22 usage
One heavily redacted document, a single PROTECTED//CABINET ministerial submission from the Department of Industry, marked "FOR ACTION – Approach to AI regulation," addressed to the Minister for Industry, the Minister for Science, and copied to the Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy. It is timed 4 August 2025 to inform next steps on AI regulation ahead of the Treasurer's Economic Reform Roundtables on 19–21 August 2025. Redactions: Significant and oddly classified. Almost all of the substance is withheld under s.22 (which is unexpected, as 34 Cabinet or s 47C deliberative would make more sense).
See the disclosure →
|
| |
SKIP
·
INDUSTRY, SCIENCES & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 35%
Ernst & Young's vetting of COVID‑19 ventilator suppliers
Twenty documents plus seven attachments, totalling 119 pages of mostly email correspondence from March to June 2020 between officers of the department and Ernst & Young (EY), engaged to vet potential suppliers of ventilators and medical equipment. The emails set out EY's screening process (a "red flag" screen, a business and financial screen, and a governance and supply‑chain assessment). Redactions: Moderate Email bodies are largely readable, but redaction is significant with whole pages and specific company identities are withheld under s.22, s.47G and s.47E. Supplier identities, prices and procurement outcomes are not disclosed.
See the disclosure →
|
|
AGRICULTURE
|
1 found · 1 look
|
| |
LOOK
·
AGRICULTURE
· % REDACTED 5%
DAFF releases internal biosecurity playbooks for assessing high-risk imports and overseas animal disease threats
Five documents setting out internal Department of Agriculture’s guidance and policy processes for import risk assessments and biosecurity controls on managing import risks from foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The material explains how the department assesses trading partners’ disease status, responds to disease outbreaks overseas, identifies commodities requiring controls, and conducts plant disease risk assessments. Redactions: minor, mostly contact details under s.22 and some operational or business information, with exemptions marked s.47F(1), s.47E(d) and s.47G(1)(a).
See the disclosure →
|
|
OAIC
|
1 found · 1 recommended-read
|
| |
READ
·
OAIC
· % REDACTED 15%
OAIC notification an NDIA insider breach exposed data of tens of thousands of NDIS participants
Five pages, released in part about Operation Royal, a 2023 data breach at the NDIA by an employee who allegedly accessed the data (name, date of birth, gender, address) of approximately 41,780 individuals, and then disclosed the details of at least 13,000 NDIS participants to a person linked to disability service providers, who allegedly used it to "door knock" participants and offer cash or phone "kickbacks". Documents notes the AFP took enforcement action on 9 November 2023 and the matter is now before the courts. Redaction summary: moderate; a large block on the first page plus officials' names and contact details, all marked s.22.
See the disclosure →
|
| |
LOOK
·
RBA
· % REDACTED 5%
RBA's staff legal-costs policy and compliance certificates
Forty-two pages on the RBA's compliance with the Legal Services Directions 2017, released in part. Mostly routine correspondence between the Attorney-General's Department and the RBA. The substantive document is the RBA's internal policy "Assistance to Staff for Legal Proceedings" (March 2025, released in full), setting out when the Bank funds staff legal costs, damages and fines, the prohibitions under s.22B of the PGPA Rule, the bar on funding staff defamation actions, and that the Governor decides. Redaction summary: minor, with names, contact details consistent with personal privacy (s.47F).
See the disclosure →
|
|
Quiet this rotation · no releases from Australian Federal Police, DFAT, AUSTRAC, ATO, Services Australia, VETERAN'S AFFAIRS, INFRASTRUCTURE, DEFENCE, ATTORNEY GENERAL'S, FINANCE, SOCIAL SERVICES.
|
|
If someone in your world would find FOI Weekly useful, please forward it to them.
Same rotation Monday · 09:00 AEST
— ANI
|
|