FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
PRINCIPAL REGISTRY
LEVEL 17
LAW COURTS BUILDING
QUEENS SQUARE
SYDNEY NSW 2000
5 June 2023
Watson Norwood
Right to Know
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Norwood,
Request under the Freedom of Information Act
I refer to your request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (
FOI Act) made on 6 May 2023 to the Australian Competition Tribunal (the
Tribunal).
Specifically, you requested the following:
I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a complete copy of
the departments' Freedom of Information (FOI) logs for the period 2013-2023, including any
secondary departments controlled by the agency.
I request that this is provided as a document and not a simple redirect to the agency website as
I am of the view that your online disclosure logs do not actively reflect your FOI requests that
you have received in this period.
I would appreciate it if you could provide me with this information in an electronic format, such
as a PDF or spreadsheet, if possible.
On 22 May 2023, the Federal Court of Australia (the
Court) advised that your request to the
Tribunal had been transferred to the Court under section 16 of the FOI Act. Section 16 of the
FOI Act provides that an agency can transfer a request if the requested document is not in the
possession of the agency but is in the possession of another agency, or if the subject matter of
the document is more closely connected with the functions of another agency. The email to
you dated 22 May 2023 also noted the following:
I note that the Tribunal has no physical resources of its own, and that registry services and
administrative support for the Tribunal are provided by staff of the Tribunal and the Court.
More information about the Tribunal can be found on its website at
https://www.competitiontribunal.gov.au/about/about-the-tribunal.
For the avoidance of doubt, and as advised in the email to you dated 22 May 2023, the FOI
request you initially made to the Tribunal has been dealt with by the Court. The purpose of
this letter is to inform you of the decision that has been made on your FOI request.
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Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions on behalf of the Court in
relation to requests made under the FOI Act.
Decision
I have decided, pursuant to subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act, to refuse your request for access
to documents because as I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find any
documents that may fall within the scope of your request, but the documents cannot be found
or do not exist.
I have taken the following into account in making my decision:
• the terms of your request;
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act and case law considering those provisions; and
• the FOI Guidelines, issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Reasons for Decision
Subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides:
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
Extensive searches were undertaken by senior staff of the Tribunal and the Court. These
searches involved searches of electronic documents on the Tribunal’s shared drive, and
searches of hard copy documents in the Tribunal’s administration files. These searches took a
total time of one and a half (1.5) hours.
As a result of the searches undertaken, no documents could be found that fell within the scope
of your request. I am not aware of any other steps that could reasonably have been taken to
identify any documents that fall within the scope of your request.
Having regard to the above, I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find any
documents within the ambit of your request, and that the documents cannot be found or do not
exist. As there are no documents to provide you, I must refuse access to the documents
requested under subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act.
Charges
You have not been charged for the processing of your request.
Your Review Rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or to the Information
Commissioner for review of those decisions. I encourage you to seek internal review as a first
step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
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Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Court for an internal review
of my decision. The internal review application must be made within thirty (30) days of the
date of this letter.
Where possible, please attach reasons as to why you believe review of the decision is necessary.
The internal review will be carried out by another officer within thirty (30) days.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner
to review my decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be
made in writing within sixty (60) days of the date of this letter and be lodged in one of the
following ways:
online:
Information Commissioner Review Application form (business.gov.au)
ema
il: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
More information about the Information Commissioner review is available on the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) website at:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-
of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-agencies/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review-process.
Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with the way the Court has handled your FOI request, you may complain
to the Information Commissioner in writing. There is no fee for making a complaint. More
information about making a complaint is available on the OAIC website at:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICCA_1.
Yours sincerely,
R Muscat
Registrar
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