Our ref:
FOI23/548; CM23/35971
27 June 2024
CB
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear CB
Freedom of Information Request FOI23/548 – Request consultation process
The purpose of this letter is to seek information from you about your request for access to documents
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) which you submitted to the Attorney-General's
Department (the department).
Your Request
On 24 October 2023, you requested access in the following terms:
I would like to request all Ministerial submissions provided to the Attorney-General Dreyfus since
their appointment as Attorney-General.
I request it in the fol owing format:
Date of submission,
PDR number
Section of the Department
On 25 October 2023, the department acknowledged your request.
Between 25 October 2023 and the 10 November 2023, the department corresponded with you about the
scope of your request. During this timeframe you agreed to narrow the timeframe of your request from
1 June 2022 to 1 June 2023. You also confirmed you were seeking the title of the ministerial submission and
agreed with the department’s proposal to list the ‘section of the Department’ at Branch level.
On 11 November 2023, you agreed to the department’s request for a 25-day extension of time under
s 15AA of the FOI Act.
Between 4 December 2023 and the 29 May 2024, correspondence was sent between the department and
you about the processing of this request (i.e. processing updates). To review all the correspondence the
department has sent to you about this request see the Right to Know webpage:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/ministerial_submissions#incoming-34958.
On 11 December 2023 and 15 January 2024, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner agreed
to the department’s extension of time requests under s 15AB of the FOI Act.
The due date for this request was the 15 January 2024.
Practical refusal reason
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to freedom of
information requests made to the department.
I acknowledge this request has taken significant time to progress due to its volume and complexity. In
progressing the request, I have identified that the work involved in continuing to process this request in its
current form would substantial y and unreasonably divert the resources of this department from its other
operations due to its voluminous nature and the breadth of internal and external consultations required.
Section 24AA of the FOI Act refers to this as a ‘practical refusal reason’ (see
Attachment A).
I have detailed the estimate of work undertaken and work stil required to be undertaken to finalise this
request below.
Work undertaken to date
Line by line
Estimated Time
assessment
(1009 titles in
total)
Identify and collate the material in scope of the request
n/a
1 hour
Examine the document to identify relevant business units to consult
n/a
2 hours
Informal consultation with you on the scope of request
1 hour
Prepare consultation documents and consult with relevant business
n/a
15 hours
units including responding to queries and requests for advice (37
business units)
Relevant business units assessing material and preparing feedback on 6 min x 1009
100.9 hours
whether to grant or refuse access
lines
Preparation of documents for a staged release
1 min x 1009
16.81 hours
lines
Assessment as to whether material is already in public domain and
8 min x 550
73.33 hours
making recommendation to redact the exempt material from the
lines
document
Total
210.04 hours
Work yet to be undertaken
1009 titles in Estimated
total
Time
Consultation with Attorney-General’s Office (AGO) on stage 1 release 4 min x 550
36.66 hours
Decision maker assessment of material for stage 1 release
2 min x 550
18.33 hours
Stage 2 Work commences
Assessment as to whether material is already in public domain and
3 min x 459
22.95 hours
making recommendation to redact the exempt material from the
lines
document (on remaining lines of information –
stage 2 release)
Identifying third parties and external agencies to be consulted
1 hour
Consulting with third parties and other agencies with an interest in
1 hour per
the material
consultation
identified
Consultation with AGO on stage 2 release
3 min x 459
22.95 hours
Decision maker assessment of material for stage 2 release
3 min x 459
22.95 hours
Preparation of decision (including preparation of statement of
5 hours
reasons)
Total estimated hours
130.84 hours
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/548 - Request consultation process
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Request consultation process
While this FOI request is now deemed (overdue), the department is still obliged to provide you with a
statement of reasons and as such, in processing this request, we are following the steps required for a
decision under s 24 of the FOI Act.
Where a department is of the view that a practical refusal reason exists, s 24AB of the FOI Act provides for
a ‘request consultation process’ (copy at
Attachment A). This letter initiates the ‘request consultation
process’. This means you have 14 days in which to respond to this notice revising your request in one of the
ways described below. If you would like to proceed with your FOI request, you must make a revised
request, in writing, within 14 days of the date you receive this letter.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more manageable or
explaining in more detail the nature of the material you wish to access. For example, by providing more
specific information about exactly what material you are interested in, the department may be able to
avoid using excessive resources to assess ministerial submission titles that are not of interest to you.
We have summarised submissions by departmental group below for your information. More information
about our organisational structure, which reflects the type of work undertaken across the department, is
on the website a
t https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/publications/attorney-generals-department-
organisational-structure.
Submissions by Departmental Group
Number of ministerial submission lines in
scope (in its current form)
Enabling Services Group
121
Integrity & International Group
302
National Security & Criminal Justice Group
272
Justice & Communities Group
314
During the consultation period, you are welcome to seek assistance from the contact person named below
to revise your request. If you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal
grounds outlined above, the department wil recommence processing it.
If you do not wish to proceed with your FOI request, you may either withdraw your request or advise the
department that you do not wish to revise your request. Your request wil be withdrawn if you do not
contact us or provide written notice of the revised scope of your request within 14 days from receipt of this
notice. It is also open to you to you withdraw this request and resubmit a new FOI request. As internal
review rights are not available to applicants of deemed decisions, lodging a new FOI request would
reinstate the internal review rights available to you.
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOI case officer for this matter is Joanna, who can be reached on
(02) 6141 6666 or by email to
xxx@xx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Jess Hockings
Director
Strategy and Governance Branch
Attachments
Attachment A:
Sections 24AA and 24AB of the FOI Act
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/548 - Request consultation process
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Attachment A
Section 24AA of the FOI Act: When does a practical refusal reason exist?
(1) For the purposes of section 24, a
practical refusal reason exists in relation to a
request for
a
document if either (or both) of the following applies:
(a) the work involved in processing the
request:
(i) in the case o
f an agency--would substantial y and unreasonably divert the resources
of the
agency from its other operations; or
(ii) in the case of a Minister--would substantial y and unreasonably interfere with the
performance of the Minister's functions;
(b) the
request does not satisfy the requirement
in paragraph 15(2)(b) (identification
of
documents).
(2) Subject to
subsection (3), but without limiting the matters to which the
agency or Minister may
have regard, in deciding whether a
practical refusal reason exists, the
agency or Minister must
have regard to the resources that would have to be used for the fol owing:
(a) identifying, locating or collating the
documents within the filing system of the
agency, or
the office of the Minister;
(b) deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a
document to which
the
request relates, or to grant access to an
edited copy of such a
document, including
resources that would have to be used for:
(i) examining the
document; or
(ii) consulting with any person or body in relation to the
request;
(c) making a copy, or
an edited copy, of the
document; (d) notifying any interim or final decision on the
request.
(3) In deciding whether a
practical refusal reason exists, an
agency or Minister must not have regard
to:
(a) any reasons that the
applicant gives for
requesting access; or
(b) the
agency's or Minister's belief as to what the
applicant's reasons are
for
requesting access; or
(c) any maximum amount, specified in the regulations, payable as a charge for processing
a
request of that kind.
Section 24AB of the FOI Act: What is a request consultation process?
Scope
(1) This section sets out what is a
request consultation process for the purposes of section 24.
Requirement to notify
(2) Th
e agency or Minister must give th
e applicant a written notice stating the following:
(a) an intention to refuse access to a
document in accordance with a
request; (b) the
practical refusal reason; (c) the name of an
officer of the
agency or member of staff of the Minister (the contact
person ) with whom th
e applicant may consult during a period;
(d) details of how the
applicant may contact the contact person;
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI23/548 - Request consultation process
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(e) that the period (the consultation period ) during which the
applicant may consult with the
contact person is 14 days after the day th
e applicant is given the notice.
Assistance to revise request
(3) If th
e applicant contacts the contact person during the consultation period in accordance with the
notice, the
agency or Minister must take reasonable steps to assist the
applicant to revise
the
request so that th
e practical refusal reason no longer exists.
(4) For the purposes of
subsection (3), reasonable steps includes the fol owing:
(a) giving the
applicant a reasonable opportunity to consult with the contact person;
(b) providing the
applicant with any information that would assist th
e applicant to revise
the
request.
Extension of consultation period
(5) The contact person may, with the
applicant's agreement, extend the consultation period by
written notice to th
e applicant.
Outcome of request consultation process
(6) Th
e applicant must, before the end of the consultation period, do one of the fol owing, by written
notice to the
agency or Minister:
(a) withdraw the
request; (b) make a revised
request; (c) indicate that the
applicant does not wish to revise the
request.
(7) Th
e request is taken to have been withdrawn under
subsection (6) at the end of the consultation
period if:
(a) the
applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice; or
(b) the
applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in
subsection (6) before the end of
the consultation period.
Consultation period to be disregarded in calculating processing period
(8) The period starting on the day a
n applicant is given a notice under
subsection (2) and ending on
the day the
applicant does one of the things mentioned in
paragraph (6)(b) or (c) is to be
disregarded in working out the 30 day period mentioned in
paragraph 15(5)(b).
Note:
Paragraph 15(5)(b) requires that an
agency or Minister take all reasonable steps to notify
an
applicant of a decision on the
applicant's request within 30 days after the
request is made.
No more than one request consultation process required
(9) To avoid doubt, this section only obliges th
e agency or Minister to undertake a
request
consultation process once for any particular
request.
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