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RECORD RADAR · ROTATION 006
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MON 08 JUN 2026
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— ROTATION 006 / 2026.06.08
Rotation 006 /027
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The 27 new FOI releases from Federal government departments and eight key agencies are summarised below. This week: big release week for Infrastructure and Attorney General's departments; Mark Butler's "bot-generated FOIs" claim evidence still unclear; Anthropic lobbying on copyright and AI; Veteran's Affairs claims backlog; and NDIA governance gap with no written agreement with Ombudsman. If you've been forwarded this email, you can subscribe here. To find out more about how to lodge your own FOI requests, head to Right to Know. The initial release summaries are produced by AI, but verified and summarised by humans. All feedback is welcome, just hit reply.
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27
Found
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09
Recommended-read
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11
Look
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25%
Avg redact
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ATTORNEY GENERAL
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5 found · 1 recommended-read · 1 look
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READ
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ATTORNEY GENERAL
· % REDACTED 20%
Evidence for Butler's "AI bot" FOI claims withheld as Cabinet material
Around thirty documents released in part outlining the Attorney‑General's Department internal case file for an previous FOI seeking the evidence behind Minister Mark Butler's claims that FOI is being flooded by anonymous, bot‑generated and foreign‑linked requests. The bulk of the documents track a timeline dispute between the AGD, the OAIC and the applicant. Beyond that, eighteen documents were identified, of which four were released in full, seven in part, and seven refused under s 34 and s 47C(1) (Cabinet and deliberative). It seems the seven refused might contain the evidence for Mr Butler's claim, but remain unreleased. Redactions: mostly minor, under s.22(1), with a smaller number of full‑page redactions.
See the disclosure →
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SKIP
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ATTORNEY GENERAL
· % REDACTED 40%
Heavily redacted response to document request regarding Mahmood Fazal and FriendlyJordies/Jordan Shanks
Substantially redacted release (only the request remains) for any documents referencing former ABC journalist Mahmood Fazal. The complaint/request alleges ABC journalist Mahmood Fazal threatened Jordan Shanks (FriendlyJordies) on behalf of a criminal gang over a video linked to the 2022 firebombing of Shanks' house, references an October 2025 SMH article, and asks what the government intends to do about the ABC employing Fazal. Redactions under s.22.1.
See the disclosure →
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SKIP
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ATTORNEY GENERAL
· % REDACTED 5%
Unsolicited case for proscribing Iran's Revolutionary Guard reached Dreyfus, marked "nil action required"
Two documents, released in part, including a 19-page report sent unsolicited to the Attorney-General by a member of the public in July 2023, arguing that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) should be treated as a terrorist organisation. Its central claim is that the IRGC is an organ of the "Islamic Revolution" rather than of the Iranian state, and therefore not a state organ, a distinction that bears on whether Australia can proscribe it. The department marked the report "info only" and "nil action required", routing it to the national security area. Redactions: minimal.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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ATTORNEY GENERAL
· % REDACTED 0%
Federal scheme covering court fees and expert reports for non-criminal Commonwealth cases has more than halved since its mid-2010s peak
One document: a data table the department generated on 6 May 2026 in response to a request to set out the total amount paid ($389,700) and per year under the Disbursement Support Scheme (financial assistance schemes for non-criminal Commonwealth cases). Annual spending peaked at about $76,860 in 2015-16, then fell sharply, settling between $16k to $25k recently. Figures only, no explanation of what the scheme funds, who received the money or what drove the decline. Redactions: none.
See the disclosure →
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SKIP
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ATTORNEY GENERAL
· % REDACTED 15%
Constitutional lawyers vetted government's reply to FOI disputing King Charles III's Australian title
Two documents released, one in full and one in part: the decision letter and schedule from an earlier request seeking documents on the legal basis for King Charles III's royal title, plus a December 2023 email chain in which officials handled a separate request questioning the Constitution's head of power for the title and the legitimacy of the Crown and the government's authority in Australia. The emails show the Attorney-General's Department's Office of Constitutional Law (OCL) checking and editing a reply that PM&C planned to send to that applicant, whose request PM&C noted had turned up no documents. One OCL email mentions holding a copy of "the Guy Aitken advice." Redactions: minor redactions (s.22 etc) plus one s.47c deliberative passage, and two pages blanked as duplicates of already-released material.
See the disclosure →
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DCEEW
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2 found · 1 recommended-read · 1 look
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READ
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DCEEW
· % REDACTED 30%
Legal advice on ICJ climate ruling withheld as government prepares defensive talking points on fossil fuels
Three documents released in part: DFAT media talking points from November 2025 and two near-identical DCCEEW briefs (January 2026) on the ICJ's unanimous July 2025 advisory opinion on state obligations in respect of climate change. The talking points include prepared lines on Australia's support for the Vanuatu-led process, its 62% to 70% NDC target; the COP31 bid with the Pacific, and a defensive section noting North West Shelf facilities are subject to the Safeguard Mechanism. The briefs confirm DCCEEW requested legal advice from AGD's Office of International Law, with the substance of the legal advice entirely withheld under s.42(1) (legal professional privilege). Further redactions include under s.33 (international relations) removing what appear to be sensitive diplomatic lines. One full page on each brief is redacted under s.42, and s.33.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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DCEEW
· % REDACTED 80%
COP31 documents show who Bowen met with but what was discussed withheld entirely
Thirty-four documents released in part covering Minister Chris Bowen's COP31 engagement from December 2025 to April 2026 as President of Negotiations. Meeting headers confirm over 25 bilaterals with counterparts, but the substance of every briefing is entirely redacted. The only unredacted material is a staffing breakdown showing 105.83 FTE across four COP31 divisions, and a travel spreadsheet showing all officials flew business class. Redacted exclusively under s 22(1)(a)(ii), with the department treating all substantive content as outside the scope of a request for "travel and APS staff details."
See the disclosure →
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VETERAN'S AFFAIRS
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1 found · 1 recommended-read
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READ
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VETERAN'S AFFAIRS
· % REDACTED 0%
Nearly 6,800 veteran claims sitting in the queue as at end of April
A single-page document created under section 17 of the FOI Act provides four figures on claims awaiting determination as at 30 April 2026: 1,296 incapacity benefits claims, 704 service pension claims, 3,330 new household services claims, and 1,461 variations to approved household services claims, with a combined total of 6,791. Redactions: none.
See the disclosure →
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SKIP
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DFAT
· % REDACTED 70%
Substantially redacted planning documents for Ambassador Kevin Rudd farewell events
Planning documents released in part for two farewell receptions for Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Capitol Hill in March 2026. Correspondence is primarily between Embassy congressional liaison staff and the Ambassador's executive office, and Therese Rein's withdrawal from one event after a long trip from New York. RedactionsL moderate under s.33(a)(iii) (international relations) and s.33(b) (confidential communications), which appear to cover the substantive briefing material, as well as Capitol access instructions redacted under s.47E(d).
See the disclosure →
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EDUCATION
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1 found · 1 look
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LOOK
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EDUCATION
· % REDACTED 5%
Contract to run the surveys behind Australia's university comparison site released, minus the price
A 180-page bundle released in part about the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) program, the official measurement surveys of Australian higher education offerings from 2024 to 2027, between the Department and the Social Research Centre Pty Ltd. The bundle includes the full contract terms and sets out each survey's methodology. Redactions: the contract value etc is withheld under s 47G (business information), with one further redaction under s 46.
See the disclosure →
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INDUSTRY, SCIENCE & RESOURCES
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3 found · 1 recommended-read · 2 look
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LOOK
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INDUSTRY, SCIENCE & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 5%
Lobbyists Hawker Britton pressed Treasury for ConocoPhillips meeting as gas-tax inquiry loomed
One document in which lobbying firm Hawker Britton, acting for ConocoPhillips, asks for a meeting with the senior Treasury officials. Sent just as the Senate launched its inquiry into the Taxation of Gas Resources and weeks before the May Budget, the email seizes on reports that PM&C had asked Treasury to model changes to LNG tax arrangements, and warns that taxing gas differently would undermine investment and Australia's standing as a reliable supplier to Asia. Redactions: minor, under s.22 (irrelevant material).
See the disclosure →
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READ
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INDUSTRY, SCIENCE & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 60%
Industry department helped Anthropic line up copyright meetings as the government wrote its AI copyright policy
Seven documents released in part: 2025 and 2026 emails between the US artificial-intelligence company Anthropic and senior DISR officials about copyright and AI; and support to set up government 2026 briefings on national security, safeguards and user wellbeing, copyright, infrastructure, AI adoption and its datacentre investments. DISR officials offered to connect the company with the Attorney-General's Department, which leads the government's copyright and AI work through a reference group that was due to report by the end of 2025. Several emails are labelled "OFFICIAL: Sensitive, Legal-Privilege." Redactions: mostly under s.22, one document is withheld under s 47C (deliberative processes), and the attachments are not released, so what survives is largely the meeting logistics rather than the substance of the copyright discussions.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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INDUSTRY, SCIENCE & RESOURCES
· % REDACTED 5%
FOI release reveals the editing trail of the $276m Black Friday bushfire recovery grants rulebook
Twenty-six pages released in part, consisting almost entirely of screenshots of file and document properties for the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grant Opportunity Guidelines. This document is the rulebook for the Commonwealth's $276 million program for communities hit by the 2019-20 bushfires, but the FOI relates only to their metadata: the Word and PDF document properties plus two business.gov.au and GrantConnect system audit log entries, for two versions of the guidelines. Redactions: s 22(1)(a)(ii) over the usernames of the officials shown as having last saved or modified each file.
See the disclosure →
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INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, ARTS ETC
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1 found · 1 look
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LOOK
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INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 100%
Department details release MA15+ ratings by Classification Board for Bugonia + Bridget Jones's Diary but does not list documents
No documents were actually published in this entry, which is unusual for this department, instead directing anyone who wants the documents to email foi@infrastructure.gov.au "so we may consider your request further". Let us know if you seek out these documents (and why?)
See the disclosure →
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
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8 found · 4 recommended-read · 3 look
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READ
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 90%
One meeting only: Anika Well's diary on under-16 social media ban diplomacy
A single day from the diary of the Minister for Communications, Anika Wells, for Tuesday 7 April 2026, with nearly all of it blacked out. The request sought the Minister's diary meetings with international counterparts for a fortnight in April 2026 to promote Australia's under-16 social media ban. The released document is only one day showing a single visible entry, a 12:30pm meeting "w UK Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister." The rest of the day's schedule is removed as out of scope. So across the fortnight requested, the release confirms just one in-scope meeting. Redactions: major, under s.22(1)(irrelevant material).
See the disclosure →
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SKIP
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 5%
Three releases about Norfolk Island: ageing power grid, internet funding and governance
Three FOI releases from Infrastructure this week relate to Norfolk Island. The first is the Regional Council's 59-page Electricity Asset Management Plan, which rates the power station switchboard an "extreme" risk for island-wide blackout and flags a $49 million funding gap the council cannot cover alone. The second is a $7.35 million Commonwealth funding agreement for internet backhaul to the island's school and health facilities. The third covers governance of the KAVHA World Heritage site, confirming its advisory committee has no executive powers, no ability to enter contracts or authorise spending.
See the disclosure →
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READ
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 20%
Sham contracting roundtable documents show last-minute scramble, internal scepticism about agreed outcomes
Internal government documents reveal the behind-the-scenes scramble around the 5 November 2025 Road Transport Industry Roundtable on sham contracting. Infrastructure department officials sent urgent late-Friday emails to DEWR seeking talking points days before the event, while DEWR noted the post-roundtable communiqué "perhaps overstates the government actions that were agreed." Senator Sterle's increasingly frustrated letters to ATO Commissioner, accusing the ATO of misunderstanding the crisis and citing the industry as the fourth-largest in the black economy, are included alongside Heferen's replies deflecting to the Fair Work Ombudsman. Minister King's draft response to Senator McKenzie on trucking insolvencies leans heavily on infrastructure spending rather than addressing sham contracting directly. Redacted under s.22, and s 47C (deliberative content, with several pages fully obscured).
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 5%
LDV Deliver 9 fuel line recall: 11,962 vehicles affected by fire risk defect
Safety recall documentation for nearly 12,000 LDV Deliver 9 vans (MY19–MY23) over a defective low-pressure fuel line that can deteriorate and leak, posing a fire risk. Includes the formal recall submission to the department, internal correspondence negotiating the public recall notice wording, and a later request from Ateco to soften the consumer action language after customers assumed automatic replacement rather than inspect-first. The department's suggested hazard wording was notably more direct than the supplier's, flagging potential injury or death, while Ateco's original version hedged with "environmental concerns" and "engine performance issues." Redactions: minor.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 40%
Six-week sprint to replace NCA chief executive drew 16 applicants
Eight documents released in part, covering the recruitment of the new National Capital Authority Chief Executive Karen Doran, after Sally Barnes resigned effective 29 February 2024. The Minister wanted no gap between CEOs, so the department ran a compressed six-week process with 6 applications, five shortlisted. The individual candidate assessments are deleted entirely. Redactions: heavy on candidate-level material under s.47E plus some s.22.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 25%
Closed non-competitive $5m grant to Neerim Health hub released with agreement blanked
Five documents released in part, covering a $5 million Priority Community Infrastructure Program grant to Neerim Health Incorporated in Neerim South, Victoria, to convert its aged care facility into a community health hub with consulting suites, urgent care and childcare spaces. The program was closed and non-competitive.
See the disclosure →
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READ
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 5%
Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Review submissoions reveal consensus Australia gutted its international media voice
Five submissions released largely in full from the January 2023 Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy Review consultation run jointly by the department and DFAT. Submissions span academia, former senior ABC and SBS executives, and AAP, and the consensus is blunt: Australia's international broadcasting spending was cut by roughly two thirds over the 2010s and needs to be rebuilt to at least $55 to $75 million a year. Three submissions propose new governance bodies to shield international broadcasting from domestic ABC politics. Redactions: minor.
See the disclosure →
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READ
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INFRASTRUCTURE, ARTS ETC
· % REDACTED 10%
Woodside withdrew its Browse carbon capture and storage referral in March 2026
Two documents released in part, covering minutes from two Burrup Hub Project Assessment Plan meetings in 2026 between DCCEEW, Woodside, NOPSEMA. The key development is in the March meeting: DCCEEW confirms it received a withdrawal letter from Woodside for the Browse Carbon Capture and Storage project (EPBC 2024/10028). The separate Browse to North West Shelf gas development (EPBC 2018/8319) remains under active assessment, with Woodside working through requests for information on oil spills and greenhouse gas emissions. Redactions: minor under s.22 and s.47.
See the disclosure →
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INFRASTRUCTURE
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1 found · 1 recommended-read
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READ
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INFRASTRUCTURE
· % REDACTED 5%
Social media minimum age, online gambling reform included in 45 Communications estimates briefs
Forty-five briefing documents on online gambling reform, ABC and SBS board appointments, news bargaining incentives and the social media minimum age, as well as AI and online safety plans etc prepared for departmental representatives appearing at the February 2026 additional estimates for the Environment and Communications portfolio, released in part. Other topics include duty of care for platforms, NBN pricing and upgrades, the NBN Co/Kuiper satellite agreement, the national messaging system, classification reform, commercial broadcasting tax, and mobile and regional telecommunications. Redactions: minor, with occasional redactions for personal privacy and business affairs.
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SKIP
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ATO
· % REDACTED 0%
ATO refuses FOI request seeking 13 years of spending data across seven major government digital programmes
A seven-page practical refusal notice under s.24AA in response to a Right to Know request seeking cumulative appropriation registers and cost ledgers for seven major Commonwealth digital programmes including myGovID, MBR, and ATO ICT Modernisation. The ATO cited both resource diversion and insufficient specificity. Parts of the request were transferred to Services Australia, the Digital Health Agency, Finance, and Health. The applicant has 14 days to revise or the request is deemed withdrawn.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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ASIC
· % REDACTED 15%
Inside ASIC's super fee disclosure review: briefings, lobby pressure and three drafts of a Senate answer
Twenty-six documents released in part, of communications between ASIC and Treasury on the review of superannuation fee disclosure under Regulatory Guide 97. The material traces ASIC's Superannuation Investment Working Group establishment after the Treasurer's August 2025 Investor Roundtable, through to proposed reforms of averaging stamp duty disclosure over seven years and bringing forward a full review from 2029 to FY2026/27. Redactions are minor, mostly under s47G as deliberative content on ASIC's internal decision-making.
See the disclosure →
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LOOK
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OAIC
· % REDACTED 5%
NDIA confirms Participant Service Guarantee reporting agreement with Ombudsman was verbal, not documented
A single email released in part, sent from the CEO's office in September 2024 in response to an internal FOI search consultation. The email from an executive coordinator to CEO Rebecca Falkingham confirms that no formal, written or documented agreement exists between the NDIA and the Commonwealth Ombudsman regarding Participant Service Guarantee reporting as the arrangement was verbal only.
See the disclosure →
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SKIP
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OAIC
· % REDACTED 5%
OAIC's internal data breach response plan simulation exercise and assessment
Three documents covering the OAIC's June 2022 simulation test of its own Data Breach Response Plan, a compliance activity under its Privacy Management Plan: meeting minutes from a response team session chaired by General Counsel Caren Whip with representatives from five OAIC teams; a memorandum to the Senior Assistant Commissioner summarising the exercise; and a step-by-step assessment against the DBRP's five response stages, all marked satisfied. Redactions minor, all under s.22.
See the disclosure →
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Quiet this rotation · no releases from PM&C, HOME AFFAIRS, FINANCE, TREASURY, HEALTH, SOCIAL SERVICES, DEWR, AGRICULTURE, DEFENCE, ACCC, APRA, AUSTRAC, AFP, SERVICES AUSTRALIA, IP AUSTRALIA, AEC, RBA.
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Same rotation Monday · 09:00 AEST
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