PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900
F (03) 9619 5000
vline.com.au
11 December 2024
Mr Conner Brown
By email only: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Conner,
Notice of intention to refuse your freedom of information request and invitation to consult
I refer to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (FOI Act) which we
received on 3 November 2024.
You requested access to:
..requests access to documents and internal communications related to the handling of
overcrowding on V/Line services between 2022 and 2024.
-
Any internal communications (emails, memos, reports) between V/Line staff or between
V/Line and PTV regarding overcrowding issues on V/Line services.
-
Reports, studies, or analyses conducted by or for V/Line addressing the causes, frequency,
and impact of overcrowding on passenger services.
-
Plans, strategies, or actions taken or proposed to manage or alleviate overcrowding during
this period.
-
Any communications with government agencies, including briefings or updates, concerning
overcrowding on V/Line services.
Your request would substantially and unreasonably divert our resources
We assessed your request and our view is the work involved to process it in its current form
would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of this agency from its other
operations.
Having considered the terms of your FOI request, V/Line considers your terms of your request
to broad and covers a wide range of documents that following initial searches from one
business unit resulted in hundreds of internal documents for the time period 2022 to 2024. It
would require staff over at least multiple areas within V/Line in circumstances where the FOI
decision-maker has limited capacity to respond to the request, consistent with attendance to
core responsibilities (including that as a legal officer).
The scope of the request is broad and seeks multiple types of documents, it covers multiple
areas and would require a significant time period devoted to processing to enable the other
operations of V/Line and relevant resources to continue, all of which it is respectfully
submitted leads to a conclusion that the diversion of resources to process the request would
be substantial.
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege
PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900
F (03) 9619 5000
vline.com.au
As such, in accordance with section 25A(6)(i) of the FOI Act, we intend to refuse access to the
documents you requested unless you sufficiently narrow the terms of the request.
Invitation to consult with us to narrow the scope of your request
We invite you to consult with us to narrow the scope of your request, so that processing it
would no longer be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of this agency’s resources from
its other operations.
To assist you in narrowing the scope of your request, you may wish to consider:
• specifying or reducing the number of categories of documents you are requesting;
• specifying or reducing the types or formats of documents you are requesting.
For instance, I suggest narrowing the scope of your FOI request to:
“Request access to the following documents relating to the handling of overcrowding
between 2022 and 2024:
-
Reports, studies, or analyses conducted by or for V/Line addressing the causes,
frequency, and impact of overcrowding on passenger services.
-
Plans, strategies, or actions taken or proposed to manage or alleviate
overcrowding during this period.”
Please note, accepting our suggestions means the ground for refusal under section 25A(1) of
the FOI Act may be removed, but it does not necessarily mean you will receive access to
those documents. We would still need to assess each document to determine whether an
exemption applies to it in full or in part.
What you need to do
To proceed with your request, please consider our suggestions above and provide an
amended, narrowed, request by 10 January 2025.
Please let us know if you require more time to narrow the scope of your request. Please be
aware that the time for processing your request is suspended until a narrowed request is
confirmed. The time in which we must process your request will resume if we receive a
request we can process or if you tell us you wish to continue with your original request.
If we do not hear from you, or you do not sufficiently narrow your request by the date above,
we may provide you with a final decision to refuse access to the requested documents under
section 25A(1) of the FOI Act.
We have provided the name and contact details of a staff member who can assist you with
narrowing the scope of your request. Please contact them to consult on the scope of your
request.
If you have any questions about this letter, please contact us by email at xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege
PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900
F (03) 9619 5000
vline.com.au
Yours sincerely
Ashley Peter-Budge
Lawyer – Public Law and Litigation
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege
