HUAWEI — RADIO
SYSTEMS REPLACEMENT CONTRACT
584. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the minister representing the
Minister for Transport:
I
refer to my freedom of information application of 25 March this year and the
eventual decision by the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia
on 6 May to refuse outright my access to two documents; namely, first, the
final proposal recommendation tender PTA170013 for the Public Transport
Authority radio systems replacement project and, second, the Public Transport
Authority radio systems replacement design build contract PTA170013.
(1) How is the
PTA's refusal consistent with the minister's repeated
commitments, made through answers to parliamentary questions, to release the
two documents, subject to probity considerations?
(2) Is the PTA
decision to deny access to these two documents consistent with advice provided
to the minister by the State Solicitor?
(3) What
interaction has the minister and/or her office had with the PTA in respect of
the release of the two aforementioned documents?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
On behalf of the Minister for
Environment, I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) The Public Transport Authority is the
decision-making authority accountable for decisions on applications
directed to it under freedom of information legislation. The minister had
previously responded that advice had been sought on the release to Parliament
of the tender evaluation recommendation report and/or of the contract, and that
the release of the former would depend on the advice received.
(2) The advice
sought from the State Solicitor's Office referred to by the minister in
her previous response addressed the release of the documents to Parliament. The
State Solicitor's Office was not asked to consider the application of
the Freedom of Information Act in that advice.
(3) The minister
refers to her responses to the member's previous questions on 23
August, 12, 18 and 19 September and 4 December 2018 regarding various advice
sought by the PTA and advice provided by the PTA to the minister concerning the
release of the documents to Parliament. Neither the minister nor her office has
interfered with the PTA's decision in response to the FOI application.