Mr Phillip Tweedie
University Secretary
Director, Corporate
Governance and Risk Office
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
7 April 2025
Mr Bruce Jost
Via Email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Freedom of Information Request 202500033 – Practical Refusal Notice
Dear Mr Jost,
On 8 March 2025, the Australian National University received your request seeking
access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act)
.
Practical Refusal
I, Phillip Tweedie, am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make
decisions in relation to FOI requests.
I have considered the scope of your request and I am satisfied, for the reasons outlined
below, that your request in its current form:
1. Would create a substantial and unreasonable diversion of this agency’s
resources were the request to be processed.
On this basis I intend to refuse access to the documents you have requested. This is
called a ‘practical refusal reason’ (section 24AA of the FOI Act).
However, before I make a final decision to do this, you have an opportunity to revise
your request. This is called a ‘request consultation process’ as set out under section
24AB of the FOI Act. You have 14 days, commencing the day after you receive this
notice, to respond in one of the ways set out below under the heading ‘what you need to
do’.
The Australian National University
Canberra 2600, ACT Australia
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University)
CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C
Why I intend to refuse your request
Your request received on 8 March 2025 is as follows:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 1982, I would like to request a copy of all
Estimates Briefing Papers prepared for all ANU staff members appearing before the
Senate for Estimates on 27 February 2025, 7 November 2024 and 6 June 2024. Estimates
Briefing Papers should be construed to include all documents prepared for all ANU
officials to bring with them to these hearings.
Preliminary searches conducted by the business area you sought documents from
returned over 1000 separate documents during the period.
One of the core requirements of making an FOI request is that the request cannot
create a substantial or unreasonable diversion of the resources of the agency to which
the request relates (section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the Act).
Regarding the broad scope of your request, the preparation for attending the various
hearings was significant, and therefore generated a significant amount of
documentation.
Without more specific information to significantly refine the scope of your request,
there is currently in excess of 1000 documents relating to the scope of your request. All
of these documents would then need to undergo processing by the FOI team,
something that would create a significant and unreasonable diversion of the resources
of this agency.
Under section 24AA(2) I must have regard to the resources that would be used for
‘identifying, locating or collating the documents within the filing system of the agency’.
In assessing the resources that would be required, I have determined that the amount
would be significant, and have therefore decided that a practical refusal reason exists.
The Australian National University
2
CRICOS Provider #00120C
Request consultation process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed. Below are
some effective methods that can be used to revise your request.
Specify documents: By providing specific information about exactly what documents
you are seeking, our agency will be able to pinpoint the documents and/or business
areas you are interested in and avoid using excessive resources to locate and process
documents that you are not interested in.
Increase precision: The more precise you can be with your request, the easier it is to
locate documents and process them. Even if you are not aware of what a specific
document or documents are called that you want access to, provide as much
information about the document(s) as possible to assist us with searches. Broad
information leads to broad searches, which leads to increased processing times to
work through the larger number of documents obtained. If a significant number of
documents fall within your revised scope, the practical refusal reason will not be
considered to be removed.
What you need to do
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in writing,
in accordance with section 24AB(6) of the Act:
•
Make a revised request – according to the advice above or in another way; or
• Advise us that you
do not wish to revise the request; or
•
Withdraw the request.
The consultation period runs for 14 days and starts on the day after you receive this
notice.
If you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal
grounds outlined above, we will recommence processing it. (Please note that the time
taken to consult you regarding the scope of your request is not taken into account for
the purposes of the 30-day time limit for processing your request.)
The Australian National University
3
CRICOS Provider #00120C
If you do not do one of the three things listed above during the consultation period,
your request will be taken to have been withdrawn, and you will receive formal
notification of this once the request consultation process has been finalised.
If you attempt to revise your request but fail to remove the practical refusal reason, we
will advise you as such. If you do not submit further revisions within the consultation
period, your request will be deemed refused at the conclusion of the consultation
period.
Contact officer
If you would like to discuss revising your request or have any questions, please contact
our office via email in the first instance v
ia xxx@xxx.xxx.xx quoting FOI 202500033 as
your reference number in the subject line.
Yours sincerely
Mr Phillip Tweedie
University Secretary
Director, Corporate Governance and Risk Office
Australian National University
The Australian National University
4
CRICOS Provider #00120C
Document Outline
