Submission by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority

Does your agency have concerns about releasing the names and contact details of staff in response to FOI requests? If so, what are your concerns? Has your agency experienced any specific work health and safety issues as a result of a person’s name or contact details being released in response to an FOI request?

-	CASA has not experienced any specific work health and safety issues as a result of a person’s name or contact details being released in response to an FOI request. That being said, CASA does ask applicants to consider whether the names of CASA officers (and any third parties) are within scope of their request. This is due to a small number of CASA officers raising concerns about their privacy being adversely impacted by the release of documents containing their names, particularly in cases involving controversial or publicly visible issues. CASA releases the contact details of CASA officers as these are work details rather than personal details.

Have your agency’s views on this issue changed over time? If so, please describe any factors that have affected your agency’s approach, including technological, environmental or legal factors. 

-	CASA previously released the names and position titles of CASA officers contained within documents, whilst redacting mobile telephone and email contact details. This view altered when CASA chose to also release contact details as it was felt that these are not personal details, rather they are work details and thus do not form part of an individual’s personal information. As mentioned above, CASA routinely asks applicants if they consent to the names of CASA officers (and any third parties) being redacted when making a FOI request. 

Does your agency advise staff, including contractors undertaking functions on behalf of the agency, that names and contact details may be released in response to an FOI request as part of your agency’s training and induction programs? 

-	To my knowledge, CASA does not advise staff, including contractors undertaking functions on behalf of the agency, that names and contact details may be released in response to an FOI request as part of your agency’s training and induction programs

How do you balance work health and safety considerations with the objects of the FOI Act, which include increasing public participation in Government processes with a view to promoting better-informed decision making and increasing scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of the Government’s activities?

-	As mentioned previously, CASA has not experienced any specific work health and safety issues as a result of a person’s name being released in response to an FOI request, and the majority of FOI applicants are not interested in obtaining the names of CASA officers. In some specific cases where CASA feels that a CASA officer may have reasonable concerns about their personal details being released, CASA will consult with the officer regarding this.

If your agency considers that disclosure of a public servant’s name or contact details will negatively impact their health or safety, what evidence do you require before deciding that their name or contact details are exempt from disclosure?

-	As mentioned, in those cases where CASA feels that a CASA officer may have reasonable concerns regarding the release of personal information, CASA will consult the officer and obtain their views. These views would need to constitute credible reasons, in line with the relevant exemptions provided under the FOI Act (s 47F and s 47E(c-d)) for such details to be exempted. CASA concurs with the advice provided in s 6.157 of the OAIC guidelines, which states ‘There needs to be careful consideration of the exemption where the personal information does not relate to the public servant’s usual duties and responsibilities. For example, if a document included information about an individual’s disposition or private characteristics, disclosure is likely to be unreasonable. This would generally include the reasons a public servant has applied for personal leave, information about their performance management or whether they were unsuccessful during a recruitment process.’ 

Do you consider the FOI Guidelines provide enough guidance for agencies when considering these issues? 

-	Yes.

In what circumstances do you consider that a public servant’s personal information (name and contact details) are irrelevant to the FOI request?

-	If an FOI applicant does not agree to the names of CASA officers being outside the scope of their request, CASA believes that this information is relevant to the request, unless, as mentioned above, the CASA officer(s) concerned have reasonable concerns regarding the release of their personal information.

Where you have withheld the names and contact details of public servants, what impact does deleting this information from documents have on the time it takes to process FOI requests?

-	The time taken to redact the names and contact details of public servants can be lengthy, depending on the documents within scope, particularly requests containing lengthy email chains that not only contain many signature blocks but also contain numerous references to CASA officers within the body of emails.

Thank you again for the opportunity to provide feedback regarding this matter.