Megan Easton
Senior Data Governance
Officer
Records and Archives
Scholarly Information
Services Division
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
1 August 2024
Stephen Proust
Via Email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Freedom of Information Request 202400095
Dear Stephen Proust,
On 3 July 2024, the Australian National University received your request seeking
access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act)
.
I, Megan Easton, am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make
decisions in relation to FOI requests.
I am satisfied, for the reasons outlined below, that your request in its current form
creates an unreasonable diversion of this agency’s resources. On this basis I intend to
refuse access to the documents you have requested. This is called a ‘practical refusal
reason’ (section 24AA of the FOI Act).
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 under the heading ‘what you need to do’.
Why I intend to refuse your request
Your request received on 3 July 2024 is as follows:
‘In a quote to RiotAct yesterday, your spokesperson referred to: In the last 12 months
alone, the university has completed 244 corrective or reactive maintenance work orders at
The Australian National University
Canberra 2600, ACT Australia
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University)
CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C
a cost of almost $1 million across the four heritage buildings where the childcare centres
are based.
(S
ee https://the-riotact.com/anu-under-federa. .). I request access to both any document,
list or database that lists those corrective or reactive maintenance work orders, including
the dates and value of that maintenance work’
On receipt of your request, the University undertook preliminary searches for
documents within scope of the request. As a result of those searches, in excess of 244
documents were identified as potentially relevant to your request for one point of your
request alone.
I have decided that a practical refusal reason exists. Under section 24AA(2) the agency
or Minister must have regard to the resources that would be used for identifying,
locating or collating the documents within the filing system of the agency. In relation to
this, I advise the following:
• The ANU has identified at least 244 documents that appear to fall within the
parameters of your request. The 244 documents relate to mainly work orders, which
will likely require third party consultation;
• Using a conservative estimate, it would take a minimum of 82 hours to assess the
documents to determine if they are relevant to your request (based on a baseline
estimate that the documents are brief and can be reviewed in about 5 minutes
each);
• After all documents within scope have been identified, internal consultation is
required to assess whether any exemptions may apply to the documents, adding
further time to the estimated figure stated above and potentially impacting the
work of those areas;
• On initial assessment of the number and type of documents generated regarding
this request, it is likely that a number of third party consultations may also be
required, adding further time to the estimate; and
• A significant amount of time would then be required to assess, process any
consultation responses, create a schedule and apply any redactions required under
the FOI Act.
Charges
The Freedom of Information Act allows for the application of processing charges for
matters that are not of a personal nature.
The Australian National University
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
Although, the ANU is advising you that processing of your request is currently
considered to be an unreasonable diversion of resources of the agency, the processing
of a request of this nature would attract a processing charge. The processing of a
request of this nature would attract a significant charge that would likely be in excess
of 1400 dollars, not including any additional charges for any third party consultation
that may need to be undertaken.
Please see the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) guidance on
charges for providing access: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-
information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-agencies/foi-
guidelines/part-4-charges-for-providing-access
Request consultation process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.
If you wish to revise your request, you may consider the following options to remove the
practical refusal reason:
Specify documents: By providing specific information about exactly what documents
you are seeking, our agency will be able to pinpoint the documents and/or business
areas you are interested in and avoid using excessive resources to locate and process
documents that you are not interested in.
Increase precision: The more precise you can be with your request, the easier it is to
locate documents and process them. If you are aware of a specific document or
documents you want access to, provide as much information about that document as
possible to assist with searches. Broad information leads to broad searches, which
leads to increased processing times to work through the larger number of documents
obtained.
What you need to do
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in writing,
in accordance with section 24AB(6) of the Act:
• Make a revised request – according to the advice above or in another way; or
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
• Tell us that you do not wish to revise the request; or
• Withdraw the request.
The consultation period runs for 14 days and starts on the day after you receive this
notice.
If you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal
grounds outlined above, we will recommence processing it. (Please note that the time
taken to consult you regarding the scope of your request is not taken into account for
the purposes of the 30-day time limit for processing your request.)
If you do not do one of the three things listed above during the consultation period,
your request will be taken to have been withdrawn.
Contact officer
If you would like to discuss revising your request or have any questions, please contact
our office via email in the first instance v
ia xxx@xxx.xxx.xx quoting FOI 202400095 as
your reference number in the subject line.
Yours sincerely
Megan Easton
Senior Data Governance Officer
Scholarly Information Services
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2601
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
CRICOS Provider No. 00120C
The Australian National University
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CRICOS Provider #00120C
Document Outline
