Response from the Department of Treasury

The Auditor General has recognised that strategic asset plans (SAPs) are developed to inform Budget decisions by Ministers and Cabinet, and that elements of the Education, Health and Police SAPs that were sought for public release were Cabinet-in-confidence. In that context, the Department of Treasury is of the view that each Minister’s decision not to provide their SAP was reasonable and consistent with advice provided by Treasury.

Thus far, SAPs have been treated as integrated documents comprising confidential material and some public information. The Auditor General has identified the opportunity to develop a new SAP approach that would apply to all agencies, including Government Trading Enterprises (GTEs), in order to distinguish between strategic planning information that is either confidential or publicly available.

The proposed approach will require careful consideration and approval by Cabinet; particularly to avoid the inadvertent release of material that is Cabinet-in-confidence or would undermine the financial interests of the State. Moreover, as indicated by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, identifying and separating confidential information from agencies’ SAPs will be a time consuming process that may add little value to material that is already available to the public.

Given the complexities involved and the need to seek Cabinet agreement, the provision of sound advice on the options for releasing SAP-related information may not be possible by 30 November 2016. Notwithstanding the above, the Department of Treasury will use best endeavours to meet the recommendations identified in the Report.

Response from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet

In response to the recommendation directed to this Department it is accepted and the Department intends to recommend to the Premier amendments to the Cabinet Handbook and possibly provide separate advice to agencies concerning the types of information and documents that may inform or reveal Cabinet deliberations, discussions or decisions or those of other executive bodies.

It is noted however that in the Department’s opinion it is not possible to provide an exhaustive list of information or documents that may or may not inform or reveal Cabinet deliberations, discussions or decisions or those of other executive bodies. It is not possible to simply restrict this to information, data or documents that appear in a Cabinet submission or attachments, agenda or other meeting related documents. Cabinet deliberations, discussions and decisions are informed by a variety of data, information and documents at different stages of the Cabinet process that occur outside of individual meetings. Some material may be contained in a final Cabinet submission while others are retained for use by the Minister during discussions or are used to develop positions that may be accepted, rejected or simply discussed by Ministers in Cabinet or other Executive bodies. Legal precedent demonstrates that claims for public interest immunity on the grounds of cabinet consideration require an individual assessment of the data, information or documents in question and a blanket exemption or inclusion is not warranted.

This position is demonstrated in the example of Strategic Asset Plans. It is the Department’s view that the agencies involved in this particular inquiry followed the correct procedure in identifying the plans as constituting part of the deliberations or decisions of Cabinet. The plans form an integral part of the Government’s Budget process and the detail contained in them informs Cabinet’s Budget planning deliberations and decisions. The principle of not releasing cabinet related material is a long standing one and is central to Government, through the Cabinet process, being able to consider and make decisions about critical issues. It underpins the Westminster principle of Cabinet collective responsibility.

Your observations that some of the plans contained information available from other public sources and this information should have been released are noted. The Department is of the view that agencies should continue to consider the plans as cabinet in confidence and instead make alternative arrangements for providing that publically available information to Parliament or any others seeking access to the plans. The process of identifying and redacting non-public information in documents such as these plans is time consuming for agencies and ultimately pointless in terms of providing information to those seeking it. It is preferable to direct them to the publically available sources used in the plans or provide it directly to them. The Department will work with the Department of the Treasury to provide guidance to agencies around this issue in Strategic Asset Plans.