Disclosure log

I am requesting documents in the possession of the Department of the Environment as follows: Any documents concerning the Swift Parrot produced in the course of preparing, negotiating, agreeing and implementing the November 2017 variation to the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement, including documents relating to the Swift Parrot recovery plan and Forest Practices Code.
Types of documents:
•          Documents such as correspondence, reports, minutes, guidelines, plans, emails including internal reports, briefing notes etc
•          Correspondence with the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
•          Correspondence with Tasmanian Government ministers and departments, Sustainable Timber Tasmania and the Forest Practices Authority

Dates: From 1/7/2016 to 30/10/2019

The signed referral decision brief for EPBC approval 2018/8329, including all attachments to the brief.

1. A list of companies, organisations and individuals which have received a copy of the ‘Expert Panel Examining Opportunities for Further Abatement’ discussion paper of October 2019, as sent by the Department, or a member of the ‘Expert Panel Examining Opportunities for Further Abatement’.
2. A copy of letters sent by the department, to which the ‘Expert Panel Examining Opportunities for Further Abatement’ discussion paper was attached, and sent to the following organisations (or their representatives):
   
    - The Minerals Council of Australia
    - The Clean Energy Council
    - The Carbon Market Institute
    
3. Formal briefs and/or ‘minutes’ provided by the Department to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction regarding the ‘Expert Panel Examining Opportunities for Further Abatement’.
4. A copy of any ‘terms of reference’, or equivalent document, provided to Mr Grant King, in his capacity as a member of the ‘Expert Panel Examining Opportunities for Further Abatement’ by the Department.

I am seeking documents exchanged between the department and the Northern Territory government about the policy options and arrangements to fulfil recommendation 9.8 of the Northern Territory Hydraulic Fracturing Inquiry, that is, “That the NT and Australian governments seek to ensure that there is no net increase in the life cycle GHG emissions emitted in Australia from any onshore shale gas produced in the NT.”

I limit my request to the period between February 1 2019 and today (25 October 2019).

The documents could include those generated at a workshop on the subject that the media advisor for the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor advises was conducted in February this year, and any further discussion of the policy options discussed in correspondence since.

We request access to all documents that were before Mr Andrew McNee, Assistant Secretary, Assessments and Governance Branch (including (without limitation) any proposed decision brief (or similar document) and any attachments to it) for consideration when making the following decisions in relation to the Galilee Gas Pipeline Project, Queensland (EPBC 2019/8484) (Project):
•          The decision of 3 October 2019 that the Project is a controlled action (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) s 75); and
•          The decision of 3 October 2019 that the project will be assessed under the assessment bilateral agreement with Queensland (EPBC Act s 87).

We do not seek access to copies of any such documents as are publicly available.

I would like, under the FOI Act, to be provided with all notes from meetings or phone calls (including handwritten notes and minutes taken), and all emails and written correspondence between the Department of the Environment and Energy, and Northern Territory Government Ministers and officials, which mention options for offsetting the emissions from the Northern Territory onshore gas industry from within the date range 1 May 2019 to 31 October 2019 . 

I would like, under the FOI Act, to be provided all with documents, emails and briefing notes sent to Angus Taylor or his office within the date range 1 May 2019 to 31 October 2019 by the Department of the Environment and Energy which mention the emissions that may be produced by the Northern Territory's onshore gas industry. 

I wish to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, for a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding to support a Climate Adaptation Partnership between the Department of Environment and Energy, and the Department of Defence. I will take the final, signed form if this is available, or the most recent draft version if it is not yet completed.

This request refers to the recent decision of the Department not to grant FOI access to documents showing:

a)          how the purported extract from the 2017-18 Annual Report of the City of Sydney pertaining to travel costs came into the Minister’s possession and 
b)          talking points prepared by the prime minister’s office or the minister’s office and/or the Minister’s department for use by the minister between 24 and 25th October.
For clarity, this request does not seek access to any of those documents themselves. 

Specifically, this request does seek access to any documents outlining why the decision to refuse access, which is reported to have included a determination that the requests concerned a deliberative processes relating to an agency or minister’s functions (a Conditional Exemption), must, under the FOI Act’s provisions, also have included a determination that the request failed to meet the additional required public interest test.

The documents sought are those explaining the grounds for this apparent failure of the public interest test, which the FOI Act explicitly describes as including the scrutiny of government and informing debate amongst reasons why access should be granted, and which the Act explicitly describes as disallowing embarrassment to or loss of confidence in the government being taken into account.

[Item 1] Information and/or briefings regarding the compliance action against Jam Land Pty Ltd supplied by the department to Josh Frydenberg or his office on the following dates: February 15, 2017, February 16 2017, February 21, 2017, March 7 2017 and August 3 2017. In seeking this I request the following: any briefing or information supplied on those dates and the attached correspondence, any internal departmental correspondence relating to the preparation of this information (including emails to and from staff), any requests from the Minister or his office for this information - in the form of emails, phone messages or notes from meetings - and any follow up correspondence from either the Minister, his staff, or staff in the department once the information had been supplied. Please note, when I state correspondence from department staff I am referring to both internal correspondence between department staff and correspondence with the Minister's office.

For your reference, I include links to additional documents for the senate inquiry into the faunal extinction crisis where the relevant dates have been supplied by the department in document 5 and document 7.

Additional Documents

[Item 2] Any documents that record the dates and/or full attendance list for any meetings or site visits with Jam Land and/or its representatives, including, but not limited to, a meeting in March 2017. I include department staff, any ministers or MPs, and any member of the Taylor family in this request. I also include internal departmental correspondence discussing any of the above.

[Item 3] Any documentation of contact by Angus Taylor with the department about the Jam Land compliance action. This includes phone messages/notes from phone calls, meeting records, emails and/or letters, diary entries or visits to the department as well as internal department correspondence referencing such contact.

[Item 4] Any internal department correspondence regarding company searches, ASIC searches and other record searches related to Jam Land Pty Ltd and any associated companies.

[Item 5] Any documents that proposed, considered and/or briefed changes to condition thresholds for the natural temperate grassland of the south-eastern highlands. Please restrict the date range to November 18 2016 - November 1 2018. I include all drafts in this request. I also request department correspondence related to the preparation of such documents.