Your Ref
Our Ref
LEX 1297
Oliver Smith
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Smith,
Your Freedom of Information request - charge
I refer to your request, received by the Department of Education (department) on
28 November 2024, for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the
following documents:
" I seek documents created since 1 July 2024 in relation to funding for events, projects or
anything else in relation to Australia Day 2025.”
Preliminary assessment of the charge
Under the FOI Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a charge for the processing of
your request. My preliminary assessment of the charge is $182.00, calculated as follows:
Search and retrieval time: 5.0 hours, at $15.00 per hour
$75.00
Decision-making time including consultation with relevant third parties, after
$107.00
deduction of 5 hours*: 5.35 hours, at $20.00 per hour
TOTAL
$ 182.00
*The FOI Act provides that the first five hours of decision-making time are free of charge and this is reflected in
the calculation.
I am advised that the department has in its possession approximately 14 documents with
approximately 100 pages relevant to your request.
Interpretation of the scope of your request
For the purposes of processing your request, we have interpreted your request to be for
final documents only and have excluded any drafts or duplicates. Please let us know by
COB
GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | www.education.gov.au | ABN 12 862 898 150
Thursday 19 December 2024 if the department has not correctly interpreted your request
and you would like duplicates and drafts to be included within the scope of your request. If
that is the case, we will send you a revised charge notice incorporating these documents. If
we do not hear from you by this time, we will process your request on the basis that we
have interpreted your request correctly.
Required action
If you would like the department to continue processing your request, you must notify the
department in writing within 30 days of receiving this notice that you:
• agree to pay the charge
• wish to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, should be reduced or
not imposed or both or
• withdraw your request.
If you do not respond within 30 days, your request will be taken to have been withdrawn by
the operation of the FOI Act.
Option - pay the charge
As the charge exceeds $25, you are required to pay a deposit of $45.50 within 30 days of
receiving this notice. You may elect to pay the charge in full at this point.
Payment can be made by credit card by completing the attached credit card authorisation
and sending a scanned copy to xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
If you are unable to pay by credit card, please contact us on the above email.
Please note that the charge is a fee for processing your request, not a payment for access to
documents. Payment of the charge does not guarantee you access to any or all of the
documents you have requested. Access to documents will be considered by the decision
maker in accordance with the FOI Act.
Option - seek reduction or non-imposition of the charge
If you want to ask the department to reduce or not to impose the charge, you should tell us
why and give us evidence to support your reasons. You may wish to tell us:
• whether paying the charge would cause you financial hardship and/or
• whether access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the interest
of a substantial section of the public.
We must take these matters into account in deciding whether or not to reduce or not
impose the charge.
Time limits for processing your request
Under the FOI Act, the time limit for processing your request is suspended from today until
the day following payment of the charge (in full or the required deposit) or, if applicable, the
day following a decision not to impose the charge.
As your request covers documents that contain information concerning the business,
commercial or financial affairs of an organisation or information about other persons, I need
to ask that organisation or person about the release of that information before making a
decision on your request. For this reason, the department has extended the time for
processing your request by 30 days under the FOI Act.
To assist you, I have set out the relevant sections of the FOI Act at
Attachment A.
Further assistance
As an alternative, you may wish to consider revising the scope of your request. If you would
like to revise your request, please email xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Jessica
Authorised decision maker
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
16 December 2024
Attachment A
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Charge
Section 29(1) of the FOI Act provides that, where the department decides that an applicant is
liable to pay a charge in respect of a request for access to a document, or the provision of
access to a document, the department must give the applicant written notice. The notice
must state, among other things, that the applicant must within 30 days after the notice was
given tell the department in writing that the applicant:
• agrees to pay the charge
• wishes to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced
or not imposed or both or
• wishes to withdraw the request.
Under section 29(2) of the FOI Act, if the applicant does not do one of these things within 30
days, the request will be taken to have been withdrawn.
Consultation
Section 27 of the FOI Act provides that if the department receives a request for access to
documents containing information in relation to the business, commercial or financial affairs
of an organisation or a person’s professional affairs and believes the organisation or person
may object to the release of the documents, the department is required to consult with that
organisation or person before making a decision on access to the documents.
Section 27A of the FOI Act provides that if the department receives a request for access to
documents containing the personal information of another person and believes the person
may object to the release of the documents, the department is required to consult with that
person before making a decision on access to the documents.
Section 15(6) of the FOI Act provides that when the department consults with a person
under section 27 and/or section 27A of the FOI Act, the 30 day period for processing a
request under the FOI Act is extended by 30 days.
