Bob Buckley
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Buckley
Freedom of Information Internal Review LEX 52942
I refer to your application under Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) made to the Department
of Social Services (the Department) on 13 February 2025. The application seeks internal review of the
decision made in respect of the FOI request LEX 52785 (original decision) which sought access to:
A file (a .csv or .xlsx (not PDF)) with columns/fields of from, to, cc, subject, date, and a column
with the text of the paragraph from the body of the email that mentions “mild autism” and
where the date field is in July to December 2023 (inclusive).
I am authorised to make internal review decisions under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act and am
writing to inform you of that decision.
The original decision
The original decision refused the request on the basis that the documents requested do not exist.
A copy of the original decision is enclosed at Attachment A.
Internal review decision
I have decided to affirm the original decision, agreeing that the documents requested do not exist.
You are seeking a list that includes extracts of emails that fal within your search parameters. The IT
team can conduct electronic searches of databases to assist in identifying documents relevant to a
particular FOI request, but it does not have the capacity to automatical y create a document with
relevant parts of those documents extracted.
As a result, creation of the document sought would require first retrieving the individual emails
sought, and then manual y extracting relevant parts of them into a separate document. The
Department does not hold this document, nor does FOI Act does not require the Department to take
these steps.
Material relied upon in making this decision
I relied on the fol owing material in coming to this decision:
the terms of the FOI request;
the application for internal review;
the FOI Act; and
the Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (FOI Guidelines).
Review rights and complaints
Information concerning how you may seek a review of this decision or make a complaint about the
handling of this request is at Attachment B.
Contact
If you would like to discuss any aspect of my decision, please contact me at xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Alan Hilvert-Bruce
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
14 March 2025
Attachments
Attachment A – Original Decision
Attachment B – Review Rights
ATTACHMENT B
REVIEW RIGHTS
Review or Complaints to the Information Commissioner
You may seek review of this decision via the Australian Information Commissioner (Information
Commissioner) within 60 days of the receipt of this decision letter.
You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner concerning actions taken by the
Department while exercising its powers or performing its functions under the FOI Act.
Further details on both processes above can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/.
