23 Marcus Clarke Street
Canberra ACT 2601
GPO Box 3131
Canberra ACT 2601
tel: (02) 6243 1111
Our ref:
PRJ1008007
fax: (02) 6243 1199
Contact officer:
FOI team
Contact phone:
02 6243 1244
www.accc.gov.au
11 April 2025
Mr. Squiggle
Sent via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr. Squiggle
Charges for processing your freedom of information request
I refer to the email dated 25 March 2025 in which you request access, under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth), to:
‘In the period 1 October 2024 to 31 January 2025:
1. Any advice given to senior ACCC officials with regard to their Qantas Chairman's
Lounge membership
2. Any documents detailing the decisions made by the senior ACCC officials to resign
their Qantas Chairman's Lounge membership (or not resign)
3. Any documents that detail any real or perceived reputational issues, code of
conduct issues, or conflict of interest issues, with regard to senior ACCC officials (or
any other ACCC staff) holding Qantas Chairman's Lounge membership
4. Any instructions/advice/communications from the ACCC agency head to lower level
senior officials that are related to Qantas Chairman's Lounge membership
*By ‘senior ACCC officials’ I mean anyone considered senior enough by Qantas/Virgin to
have been invited to their exclusive airline lounges.
*By ‘ACCC agency head’ I mean the ACCC Chair and the ACCC Chief Executive Officer.
*By ‘lower level senior ACCC officials’ I mean staff who might have an exclusive lounge
membership, but are not the Chair or CEO.’
In accordance with s.29 of the Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a charge
in respect of the processing of your request. My preliminary assessment of that
charge is
$500.29 (AUD).
Please note that this charge is for the processing of your FOI request. Unless waived
or otherwise not imposed, charges imposed are payable irrespective of whether the
documents are released.
What you are required to do
Within 30 days of receipt of this notice, you are required to do one of the fol owing or
your request wil be taken to be withdrawn:
(a) agree to pay the charge and forward the deposit; or
(b) contend that the charge -
(i) has been wrongly assessed, or
(ii) should be reduced, or
(iii) should not be imposed, or both; or
(c) withdraw your request.
Option 1: Agree to pay the charge and pay the deposit
You must notify us of your agreement to pay the charge in respect of the
processing your request. You can notify us by email
(xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx). Please
also advise the method by which you wil make payment and when you have made
payment.
As the charge exceeds $25, a deposit of 25 percent of the estimate is required in
order for your request to proceed. If you agree to pay the charge as assessed above,
you should forward the deposit of
$125.07 (AUD).
You can pay the deposit online or electronically.
To pay online, please go to
www.accc.gov.au/payments. In the payment type please
select
Freedom of Information request. In the payment description please include
FOI – PRJ1008007.
To pay electronically, please use the following information:
Account Name: ACCC Of icial Departmental
BSB: 032 730
Account: 146593
Reference:
FOI – PRJ1008007 Option 2: Ask us to reduce or not impose the charge
You may request that we reduce or not impose the charge, but you wil need to
provide information to support that claim. Usually we wil only reduce or not impose a
charge on financial hardship or public interest grounds. We are also able to take into
account other matters if they are relevant.
Financial Hardship
If you would like the ACCC to consider a waiver/reduction based on financial
hardship, please provide further details of your financial situation, such as:
• your income, debts and assets (an estimate is sufficient and you do not need
to provide copies of supporting documentation)
• any other supporting information about your financial situation.
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Public Interest
If you consider reducing or waiving the charges would be in the public interest, you
wil need to make clear submissions as to:
• why you believe the release of the material is in the public interest
• how the information would come to the attention of the public
• how the information would inform public debate on the subject
You should also advise whether there is any commercial benefit to you associated
with the release of the documents.
Payment of the deposit is not required if you choose this option, but you may do so if
you wish for us to keep processing your request while we consider the issue of
charges. Any deposit paid wil be refunded if we decide not to impose the charge.
Option 3: Contend that the charges have been wrongly assessed
If you believe the charges have been wrongly assessed you need to tell us now and
explain the basis for your belief.
Payment of the deposit is not required if you choose this option, but you may do so if
you wish for us to keep processing your request while we consider your contentions.
Any deposit paid wil be refunded if we decide not to impose the charge.
Option 4: Withdraw your request
Please notify us if you wish to withdraw your request.
Calculation of charges
We calculated the estimate of the charge as required in the
Freedom of Information
(Charges) Regulations 2019. You can only be required to pay a higher charge if more
work is involved than we anticipated and we give full access to all of the documents
sought. If the final charge is less than the estimate, you wil only have to pay the
lesser amount.
Please note you wil have to pay the balance of the charge
regardless of the decision made in relation to the documents.
The above estimate includes approximately 9 hours finding the documents covered
by your request. It also includes approximately 22 hours examining the documents
and making a decision. There are approximately 27 documents within the scope of
your request.
Please note, the estimated decision making time is significant as we expect that 9
third parties may need to be consulted. The recommended time for this task is two
hours per party.
Timeframes
Under s.31 of the Act, the statutory timeframe for processing your request is on hold
until there is an agreed outcome on any charges. This means that the 30 day limit for
processing your request is on hold from the day that you receive this notice and
begins again on either:
• the day you pay the deposit sought; or
• if applicable, the day on which the ACCC makes a decision not to impose a
charge.
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Yours sincerely
Sonya Petreski
FOI Officer
Specialist Advice and Services Division
Sent by email 11/04/2025
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Attachment
Information on rights of review of cost estimate
Contention of Estimate
This cost estimate is only a preliminary assessment of expected charges at this time.
Please note that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) wil
only charge you for the time actually spent processing your application. This estimate
works as a cap of these charges.
If you do not agree with the cost estimate provided to you, please contact the ACCC
within 30 days of receipt of this letter. You may claim that we have wrongly assessed
the charge, or that we should reduce or not impose the charge (i.e. waiver of charge
due to financial hardship or public interest in access). You wil need to provide
information to support your claim.
Please send correspondence to the FOI Team by either:
Email:
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post:
GPO Box 3131, Canberra ACT 2601
Complaint to the Information Commissioner
You may complain to the Information Commissioner regarding the ACCC’s actions in
connection with the cost estimate prepared in relation to your FOI request. The
Information Commissioner wil consider your complaint and, if appropriate, conduct
an investigation. Any investigation wil be completely independent.
Is there a charge?
There is no charge payable for making a complaint to the IC.
Lodging an IC complaint
You must lodge your complaint in writing and give a clear and brief description of
each issue you’re complaining about and what outcome you’d like.
You can lodge a complaint in one of the following ways:
Online: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/make-an-
foi-complaint
Post:
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax:
+61 2 9284 9666
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
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Document Outline
