30 January 2025
Our reference: 2024/2723
Glenn Hamiltonshire / Right to Know
By email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Hamiltonshire,
Freedom of Information Request – Notice of Decision
I refer to your email dated 1 December 2024, making a request under the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act) in the following terms:
‘I request access to the Style Guides/Brand Guides/Writing Guides currently used for Comcare’
Decision
I am authorised under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI requests.
Comcare holds 1 document (33 pages) that falls within the scope of your request. I have decided to
grant access to the document in full.
Section 22 – irrelevant information
In our acknowledgment email of 5 December 2024, you were advised that the names and contact details
of staff members may be excluded from the request under section 22 of the FOI Act. You did not make
any submissions regarding the relevance of staff names, so they have been removed from the
document.
Publicly available documents
In addition to the internal Comcare document, the business areas advised Comcare also uses the
following publicly available guides which are intended for all Australian Government departments:
•
Australian Government Style Manual: Australian Government Style Manual
•
Australian Government Branding Guidelines: Australian Government Branding Guidelines |
PM&C
•
Government Writing Handbook: Government writing handbook [PDF]
Rights of review
If you are not satisfied with this decision, you are entitled to seek review. Your review rights are set out
at
Attachment A to this notice.
Contacts
Should you require clarification of any matter discussed in this letter, please contact me by email to
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Sam
Senior Statutory Oversight Officer
Legal Group
Comcare
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ATTACHMENT A
INFORMATION ON RIGHTS OF REVIEW
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
Application for review of decision
The
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives you the right to apply for a review of this decision.
Under sections 54 and 54L of the FOI Act, you can apply for a review of this decision by:
(i) an internal review officer within Comcare; or
(ii) the Information Commissioner.
Internal Review
If you apply for internal review, it will be carried out by a different decision-maker who wil make a fresh
decision on your application. An application for review must be:
•
made in writing;
•
made within 30 days of receiving this letter; and
•
sent to the postal or email address shown in this letter.
No particular form is required, but it is desirable to set out in the application the grounds upon which
you consider the decision should be reviewed.
If the internal review officer decides not to grant you access to al of the documents to which you have
requested access, you have the right to seek a review of that decision by the Information Commissioner.
You will be further notified of your rights of review at the time you are notified of the internal review
decision.
Please note that if you apply for an internal review and a decision is not made by an internal review
officer within 30 days of receiving the application, you have the right to seek review by the Information
Commissioner for a review of the original FOI decision on the basis of a 'deemed refusal' decision, An
application for Information Commissioner review in this situation must be made within 60 days of the
date when the internal review decision should have been made (provided an extension of time has not
been granted or agreed).
Information Commissioner review
You must apply in writing within 60 days of the receipt of the decision letter and you can lodge your
application in one of the following ways:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
mail:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
If a person has sought an internal review and no result of that review is provided within 30 days, then
the applicant may apply to the Information Commissioner to review the matter.
An application form is available on the website at
www.oaic.gov.au. Your application should include a
copy of the notice of the decision that you are objecting to (if one was provided), and your contact
details. You should also set out why you are objecting to the decision.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner or the Commonwealth Ombudsman
You may complain to either the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the Australian Information
Commissioner about action taken by Comcare in relation to your request. The Ombudsman wil consult
with the Australian Information Commissioner before investigating a complaint about the handling of an
FOI request.
Your enquiries to the Ombudsman can be directed to:
Phone:
1300 362 072 (local cal charge)
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Your enquiries to the Australian Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone:
1300 363 992 (local cal charge)
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
No particular form is required to make a complaint to the Ombudsman or the Australian Information
Commissioner. The request should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is
considered that the action taken in relation to the request should be investigated and identify Comcare
as the relevant agency.
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