Defence FOI 744/24/25
Ray D
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Ray,
NOTIFICATION OF A REQUEST CONSULTATION PROCESS – FOI 744/24/25
I refer to your request for access to the following documents, in the possession of the Department of
Defence (Defence) under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I am writing to tel you that I believe that the work involved in processing your request in its current
form would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of this agency from its other
operations due to its size. This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’ (section 24AA).
On this basis, I intend to refuse your request. However, before I make a final decision to do this, you
have an opportunity to revise your request. This is cal ed a ‘request consultation process’ as set out
under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You have
14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set
out below.
Reason for Intending to Refuse Your Request
In your request, you sought documents relating to:
…any correspondence, including briefs, emails, digital communications and other documents
from the Department of Defence, Royal Australian Air Force, National Headquarters
Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC), Cadet Branch Air Force, and KPMG relating to the
development of the Cadet Learning Continuum Review (CLCR) and the Adult Learning
Continuum Review (ALCR). Specifically, I want information related to:
- Budget and expenditure (including, but not limited to, all associated travel, accommodation,
consultancy expenditure, disbursements)
- Decision making
- Stakeholder consultations
- Selection of the "think tank" and other groups, committees, and forums involved in the
development of the CLCR and ALCR
- Communication between Cadet Branch Air Force, National Headquarters AAFC, and Wing
OCs, Wing XOs, and Squadron COs
- Additional correspondence that includes the following personnel: Chief of Air Force, Deputy
Chief of Air Force, DGCADETS-AF, CDR-AAFC, Staff Officer Learning Systems, KPMG
Engagement Partner, KPMG Director, KPMG Associate Director, KPMG Manager.
Please do not include duplicates, or publicly available documents and transcripts.
2
For the purpose of providing this notice, I have considered whether processing your request would
be unreasonable. I consider that processing your request, as it currently stands, would be
unreasonable because the work involved in processing your request in its current form would
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations.
Section 24(1) of the FOI Act provides that an agency may refuse to give access to documents in
accordance with an FOI request if:
• a practical refusal reason exists in relation to the request; and
• following a request consultation process under section 24AB of the FOI Act, the agency is
satisfied that the practical refusal reason still exists.
Section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to an FOI
request if the work involved in processing the request would substantial y and unreasonably divert
the resources of the department from its other operations.
I find that a significant amount of resources would have to be diverted to arrange for the in scope
material to undergo initial review, and finally to undertake the decision making process in regard to
the information that meets the parameters of your request.
Initial documents searches for your request have identified over 1000 documents, meaning that
allowing an average of two pages per document, 2000 pages would be required to be carefully
reviewed and considered prior to release. Using a conservative estimate of five minutes to review
and make a decision on each page, it would take the decision maker in excess of 166 hours to make
their decision on access. In addition, third party consultations have been identified increasing the
time to process the FOI request.
Request Consultation Process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable Defence to process it.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more manageable or
explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by providing more specific
information about exactly what documents you are interested in, Defence will be able to pinpoint
the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive resources to process documents you are not
interested in.
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in writing:
• Withdraw your request
• Make a revised request
• Tell us that you do not wish to revise your request.
The consultation period starts on the day after you receive this notice and ends on
2 April 2025.
If you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal reason 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.)
3
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.
Contact Officer
If you would like to revise your request or have any questions, please contact the Case Manager by
email, xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
nick.osborne
2025.03.19 09:19:13
+11'00'
JA (Nick) Osborne
Air Commodore
Accredited Decision Maker
Royal Australian Air Force
Department of Defence
Russell Offices
PO Box 7910
Canberra BC ACT 2610
19 March 2025
