Our Ref: CS015224b
Jarred Crowe
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Jarred
Freedom of Information – Notice of Decision
I refer to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (
FOI Act) received by
the Department of Transport and Planning (Department) on 16 July 2024. You requested
access to:
I am formally requesting access to documents under FOI, in relation to outages and
copper cable theft at street lighting sites managed by DTP/VicRoads/Regional Roads
Victoria (RRV) between 1 January 2023 and 16 July 2024.
I kindly request the following documents;
1. A spreadsheet containing a list of all street lighting sites managed by
DTP/VicRoads/RRV,
2. All Documents that contain details of the extent of the street lighting outages, the
copper cable theft issue and any impact this has on the safety of Victorian Roads.
Including meeting minutes, reports, and correspondence between officials concerning
these topics.
3. All Documents that discuss/detail plans or attempts to repair street lighting faults
and reduce/combat the copper cable theft issue. Including meeting minutes, and
correspondence between officials, utility providers and councils concerning this issue.
4. All Documents that reference street lighting faults and/or copper cable theft at sites
C124 Breakwater Bridge and M1 Geelong Ring Road.
5. All correspondence between DTP officials and the Minister for Roads and Road
Safety in relation to the copper cable theft issue and street lighting outages.
I do not seek access to any private/personally identifiable information and parts of
documents that are not relevant to this request. For example, Meeting minutes that
contain other topics/items may have these sections redacted.
For clarity in this request the term "street lighting" refers to lighting for which the sole
purpose is to illuminate a road, footpath or public place to improve visibility and safety,
This request is not related to Traffic Signals.
Clarification confirmed 17 August 2024:
We are proposing that we provide the following information (At this stage the below
information is proposed)
[1]. A list of all Victorian street lighting sights managed by DTP with a flag
that indicates if the site has been affected by cable theft (this list will
include sites C124 Breakwater Bridge and M1 Geelong Ring Road)
[2]. An Internal noting brief to a Tier 2 Network and Operations Committee
lead by a Dep Sec., outlining the problem and what actions are being
taken (This document would need to be redacted to remove names and
other personal information).
[3]. A document that provides the status update of an ongoing cable theft
treatment trial within a section of the M80.
Right of access
The FOI Act establishes a general right of access to documents held by state government
agencies and ministers. However, in order to protect essential public interests and the private
and business affairs of individuals, this right of access does not apply to documents identified
under the FOI Act as exempt.
The FOI Act also provides for documents containing exempt matter to be released in part,
after the exempt matter has been redacted, and where it is practicable to do so, for applicants
who would wish to access such documents.
Document search
In response to your request, the Department undertook a search of its records and located 6
documents relevant to the scope of your request as described in the attached schedule of
documents.
Decision
The documents were assessed in accordance with the FOI Act to determine whether they
could be released to you in full, released to you in part, or whether they are exempt from
release.
Access has been refused in full to all documents and the decision was made on the following
grounds:
Section 29A(1B)(a) – documents affecting critical infrastructure
Under section 29A(1B)(a), a document is exempt if is a document created for or with respect
to emergency risk management arrangements for critical infrastructure resilience under Part
7A of the
Emergency Management Act 2013 for the purposes of administering, complying
with, or enforcing that Part.
Documents 1 to 6 contain information with respect to emergency risk management
arrangements for critical infrastructure as described with Part 7A of the
Emergency
Management Act 2013.
Section 30(1) – internal working documents
Under section 30(1) of the FOI Act, a document is exempt when the following three conditions
are satisfied:
(a) the document or information is matter in the nature of:
a. opinion, advice or recommendation prepared by an agency officer or a Minister;
or
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b. consultation or deliberation that has taken place between agency officers or
Ministers; and
(b) the matter was created during the deliberative process of an agency, Minister, or the
government’s functions; and
(c) disclosure of the matter would be contrary to the public interest.
Document 5 contains opinions and recommendations prepared by the Department as a result
of consultations and deliberations that has taken place between DTP officers. Disclosure is
contrary to the public interest as it discloses methods or procedures to prevent theft and
discloses information relating to the management and administration of a critical infrastructure.
Section 31(1)(d) – methods or procedures
A document or information is exempt under section 31(1)(d) if two conditions are satisfied:
(a) disclosure of the information would, or would be reasonably likely to disclose methods
or procedures for preventing, detecting, investigating, or dealing with breaches of the
law; and
(b) release of the information would, or would be reasonably likely to prejudice the
effectiveness of those methods or procedures.
Documents 1 to 5 contain methods or procedures for preventing, detecting, and investigating
cable theft. Disclosure of these documents would reasonably likely hinder, impair, and
undermine the effective investigations of cable theft offences in the future.
Section 32(1) – legal privilege
Section 32(1) exempts documents subject to legal professional privilege or client legal
privilege. This exemption has been applied to legal advice contained in parts of document 5.
Complaint and review rights
If you are dissatisfied with an aspect of how this request was processed, under section 61A of
the FOI Act, you may make a complaint to the Victorian Information Commissioner by
submitting the grounds of your complaint in writing within 60 days of the date of the action you
are complaining about.
Under section 49A of the FOI Act, you also have the right to make an application to the
Victorian Information Commissioner for a review of the Department’s decision to refuse or
defer access to the requested documents. Any application for review should be made in writing
and submitted within 28 days of receipt of this letter.
For further information about these processes, please visit the Commissioner’s website at
www.ovic.vic.gov.au or telephone 1300 006 842.
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Contact
Please contact me by e-mail at
xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx quoting the reference number above
if you have any questions about this decision.
Yours sincerely
Mary Paton
Privacy and information access lead
2/12/2024
Schedule of documents
No.
Date of
Document Description
No. of
Decision
document
pages
1
5/09/2024
Regional List
3
Denied in full pursuant to sections
29A(1B)(a) and 31(1)(d) of the
FOI Act.
2
5/09/2024
Metro List
6
Denied in full pursuant to sections
29A(1B)(a) and 31(1)(d) of the
FOI Act.
3
5/09/2024
Managed Motorway List
4
Denied in full pursuant to sections
29A(1B)(a) and 31(1)(d) of the
FOI Act.
4
-
Managed Motorway Trial
1
Denied in full pursuant to sections
summary
29A(1B)(a) and 31(1)(d) of the
FOI Act.
5
24/05/2024
Network Operations
6
Denied in full pursuant to sections
Committee Paper
29A(1B)(a), 31(1)(d), 30(1), and
32(1) of the FOI Act.
6
5/09/2024
Lighting List
38
Denied in full pursuant to section
29A(1B)(a) of the FOI Act.
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