Kathryn Dan
University Archivist
Associate Director, Records
and Archives
Scholarly Information
Services Division
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
15 June 2023
Watson Norwood
Via email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST NO 202300043
Intention to Refuse Request under section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act
Dear Watson Norwood,
I refer to your request dated 10 May 2023 for documents under the FOI Act (‘Request’).
Your request was as follows:
‘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.
If there are any fees associated with fulfilling this request, please let me know in advance
so that I can consider my options.’
Date range for the documents being requested: 10 Years (1 January 2013 – Present)
Practical Refusal – Request Consultation
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I am writing to tell you that I believe that the work involved in processing your request in its current
form would substantial y and unreasonably divert the resources of the University from its other
operations due to its size, complexity and broad scope. This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’
(section 24AA).
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
Why I intend to refuse your request
Initial assessment of your request indicates that the information you have requested has been
made available to the public in line with the requirements set out under s11C of the FOI Act.
Given that the documentation is available publicly, and factoring in the considerable time and
effort that has already gone towards the maintenance of the University’s disclosure log, the
additional time it would take to deal with your request – particularly due to its broad scope and
substantial timeframe - would amount to an unreasonable diversion of resources.
On this basis, I intend to refuse access to the documents you requested. However, before I make
a final decision to do this, you have an opportunity to revise your request. This is called a ‘request
consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You have 14 days to respond
to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Consultation Period
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed. In accordance with
Sections 24(1)(a) and 24AB(2) of the Act, you may contact me via email
(xxx@xxx.xxx.xx) to
consult about your Request and my intention to refuse it within fourteen calendar days after this
notice is given.
I wil take al reasonable steps to assist you in revising your request to the extent where the
practical refusal reason no longer exists. If you revise your request in a way that adequately
addresses the practical refusal grounds outlined above, we wil recommence processing it.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more manageable
or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by providing more
specific information about exactly what documents you are interested in, the ANU wil be able to
pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive resources to process documents
you are not interested in.
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in writing:
• withdraw your request
• make a revised request
• tell us that you do not wish to revise your request.
If you do not do one of the three things listed above during the consultation period or you do not
consult the contact person during this period, your request wil be taken to have been withdrawn.
Disclosure Log Requirements
For further information regarding the requirements of Disclosure Logs, please see the below link:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-
agencies/proactive-publication-and-administrative-access/information-publication-scheme
I draw your attention to the information about what is and is not required to be published on a
disclosure log.
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
If you have any questions or wish to discuss this decision further, please contact me at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Kathryn Dan
Associate Director
Records and Archives
The Australian National University
Canberra 2600, ACT Australia
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University)
CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
Document Outline
