Dear sir/madam

Pursuant to section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Commonwealth) (FOI Act), I request access to the following documents in relation to the elections for the Parliament of the Commonwealth conducted on 7 September 2013:

In relation to the half-Senate election for Western Australia:

* any documents prepared prior to any requests for a recount anticipating a recount

* all documents relating to the requests for a recount lodged by Senator Scott Ludlam and Mr Wayne Dropulich, including but not limited to:
- the original requests to the AEO Western Australia
- documents relating to the consideration of those requests by the AEO Western Australia
- the record of and reasons for decision by the AEO Western Australia
- the appeals to the Electoral Commissioner
- documents relating to the consideration of those appeals by the Electoral Commissioner
- the record of and reasons for decision by the Electoral Commissioner
- legal advice obtained by the AEC in relation to the request for a recount (including documents subject to legal professional privilege insofar as the documents fall within the definition of operational information as given in section 8A of the FOI Act, or the AEC is prepared to waive legal professional privilege)

* all documents relating to the loss of 1,375 ballot papers as announced in an AEC media release of 31 October 2013, including but not limited to:
- memoranda prepared by AEC staff (whether in Western Australia or elsewhere) in relation to the loss of ballot papers
- reports prepared in relation to the loss of ballot papers
- documents (including memoranda, reports, presentations or evidentiary material) provided to Mr Mick Keelty in the course of his inquiry
- legal advice obtained by the AEC in relation to the lost ballots (including documents subject to legal professional privilege insofar as the documents fall within the definition of operational information as given in section 8A of the FOI Act, or the AEC is prepared to waive legal professional privilege)

In relation to all House of Representatives and half-Senate elections:

* any documents relating to complaints by members of the public, scrutineers, candidates or AEC staff relating to the conduct of the election

I note that some of the documents requested may be conditionally exempt under section 47C of the FOI Act as they constitute deliberative matter. I note that access must still be granted unless access would be contrary to the public interest. I ask that the AEC consider the strong public interest in free and fair elections, and in particular the public interest relating to the Western Australian Senate recount.

I also request a waiver of all fees and charges on the grounds of general public interest. Furthermore, I am a full-time university student without regular employment, and my main source of income is from Centrelink payments. As such, I request a waiver of charges on the ground of financial hardship.

I request that documents be provided via email to this address.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Donnellan

Dear sir/madam

I write in relation to my FOI request of 8 November 2013.

In view of the understandably high workload of AEC staff in relation to the WA Senate investigations, I am prepared to narrow the scope of the request to reduce the volume of documents if necessary.

I also consent to a voluntary extension of time of up to 30 days under section 15AA of the FOI Act, if the AEC deems such an extension necessary.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Donnellan

Dear Mr Kristjanson,

Thank you for your response of 20 November.

I have decided to narrow the scope of the request down to the specific set of documents I explicitly listed in my original request, rather than requesting any/all documents in relation to the overall matter. In relation to the loss of ballot papers, I have also limited my request to documents prepared prior to the commencement of the Keelty Inquiry, and removed the request for Keelty Inquiry documents in general. I have removed the final section of my request relating to complaints against the AEC.

I thus revise my request to the following:

* in relation to the requests for a recount of the 2013 WA Senate election lodged by Senator Scott Ludlam and Mr Wayne Dropulich:

- the original requests submitted by Senator Ludlam and Mr Dropulich to the AEO Western Australia

- documents relating to the consideration of those requests by the AEO Western Australia

- the record of and reasons for decision by the AEO Western Australia

- the appeals submitted by Senator Ludlam and Mr Dropulich to the Electoral Commissioner

- documents relating to the consideration of those appeals by the Electoral Commissioner

- the record of and reasons for decision by the Electoral Commissioner

- legal advice obtained by the AEC (including documents subject to legal professional privilege insofar as the documents fall within the definition of operational information as given in section 8A of the FOI Act, or the AEC has waived legal professional privilege)

* in relation to the loss of 1,370 ballot papers in the 2013 WA Senate election:

- memoranda or reports prepared prior to the commencement of the Keelty Inquiry on 5 November 2013

- legal advice obtained by the AEC prior to the commencement of the Keelty Inquiry on 5 November 2013 (including documents subject to legal professional privilege insofar as the documents fall within the definition of operational information as given in section 8A of the FOI Act, or the AEC has waived legal professional privilege)

I hope that the revised request is sufficiently narrow and manageable as to allow the AEC to process it.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Donnellan

Dear Mr Kristjanson,

I write to ask for an update on the status of my request.

Pursuant to Mr Pirani's letter of 20 November 2013, I made a revised request on the same day (20 November 2013), narrowing the scope of my enquiry. I include the terms of the revised request at the end of this email.

It has now been 47 days since I submitted my revised request, and I have not received any further correspondence from the AEC regarding my request, including acknowledgement of receipt or notification of extension of time. As such, it appears to me that a decision has not been made within the statutory 30 day period and is thus a deemed refusal.

As advised in my email of 10 November 2013, if the AEC wishes to extend the deadline, I consent to a 30 day extension under s 15AA - if the AEC wishes to do this, I would appreciate written confirmation of the extension. I am not sure of the legalities surrounding such an extension after the initial decision period has expired, but in any case I am prepared not to take any further action on this request until 20 January 2014, in accordance with a 30 day extension.

I would appreciate a response to this email as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Donnellan

================

SCOPE OF REVISED REQUEST
(lodged by email, 20 November 2013)

* in relation to the requests for a recount of the 2013 WA Senate
election lodged by Senator Scott Ludlam and Mr Wayne Dropulich:

- the original requests submitted by Senator Ludlam and Mr
Dropulich to the AEO Western Australia

- documents relating to the consideration of those requests by the
AEO Western Australia

- the record of and reasons for decision by the AEO Western
Australia

- the appeals submitted by Senator Ludlam and Mr Dropulich to the
Electoral Commissioner

- documents relating to the consideration of those appeals by the
Electoral Commissioner

- the record of and reasons for decision by the Electoral
Commissioner

- legal advice obtained by the AEC (including documents subject to
legal professional privilege insofar as the documents fall within
the definition of operational information as given in section 8A of
the FOI Act, or the AEC has waived legal professional privilege)

* in relation to the loss of 1,370 ballot papers in the 2013 WA
Senate election:

- memoranda or reports prepared prior to the commencement of the
Keelty Inquiry on 5 November 2013

- legal advice obtained by the AEC prior to the commencement of the
Keelty Inquiry on 5 November 2013 (including documents subject to
legal professional privilege insofar as the documents fall within
the definition of operational information as given in section 8A of
the FOI Act, or the AEC has waived legal professional privilege)

Dear Mr Ross,

I confirm receipt of the notice of decision and released documents.

Thank you very much for handling my request.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Donnellan

Dear Mr Ross,

Sorry for bringing this up so late - I have noticed that the documents that were provided to me in response to my request have not been posted up on the AEC's FOI Disclosure Log, as required by the FOI Act. Could this please be rectified?

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Donnellan