2019 Correspondence with three organisations
Luke Bacon made this Freedom of Information request to Department of the Environment and Energy
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Department of the Environment and Energy,
Could you please send through any documents containing the following correspondence and discussions:
- all correspondence, since January 1 2019, from and to the Business Council of Australia, Minerals Council of Australia, or Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
- internal discussion in relation to this correspondence.
Where possible, I would prefer that this information is provided in it's original format - that is to say, either in Microsoft Word or HTML (where received online or via email). I ask that you not use PDFs wherever possible as it makes it difficult to read the information.
If possible, please treat this as an administrative/informal request. Otherwise please proceed with my request as a formal information request under the Act.
Thank you for your work as always.
Yours faithfully,
Luke
Dear Luke
Thank you for your request.
We would like to discuss the scope of your request. Would it be possible for you to provide a contact phone number or alternatively contact us on 02 6274 2098?
We look forward to speaking with you.
Kind regards
Felicity Slater
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch
Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-----Original Message-----
From: Luke Bacon [mailto:[FOI #5340 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2019 4:33 PM
To: FOI Contact Officer <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - 2019 Correspondence with three organisations
Dear Department of the Environment and Energy,
Could you please send through any documents containing the following correspondence and discussions:
- all correspondence, since January 1 2019, from and to the Business Council of Australia, Minerals Council of Australia, or Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
- internal discussion in relation to this correspondence.
Where possible, I would prefer that this information is provided in it's original format - that is to say, either in Microsoft Word or HTML (where received online or via email). I ask that you not use PDFs wherever possible as it makes it difficult to read the information.
If possible, please treat this as an administrative/informal request. Otherwise please proceed with my request as a formal information request under the Act.
Thank you for your work as always.
Yours faithfully,
Luke
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5340 email]
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Hi Felicity,
I'm actually overseas at the moment in Europe, and it's a bit tricky to call. If you don't mind, email would suit me better.
I'm happy to adjust the scope though, what were your thoughts?
Yours sincerely,
Luke Bacon
Hi Luke
Thanks for your email.
We are unable to process your request because it does not contain sufficient information to enable us to identify the document(s) that you are after. We are not able to identify the documents that fall within the second point of your request ('internal discussion in relation to this correspondence') without first identifying the documents that fall within the first point of your request (the correspondence). Further, this first dot point may attract practical refusal due to the large number of documents that are likely to be captured within the scope of your request.
We think one way to address both of these issues is to identify a particular project or issue that you are interested in within that correspondence.
Feel free to submit a new request.
Kind regards
Felicity Slater
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch
Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-----Original Message-----
From: Luke Bacon [mailto:[FOI #5340 email]]
Sent: Friday, 5 April 2019 9:58 PM
To: FOI Contact Officer <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - 2019 Correspondence with three organisations [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]
Hi Felicity,
I'm actually overseas at the moment in Europe, and it's a bit tricky to call. If you don't mind, email would suit me better.
I'm happy to adjust the scope though, what were your thoughts?
Yours sincerely,
Luke Bacon
-----Original Message-----
Dear Luke
Thank you for your request.
We would like to discuss the scope of your request. Would it be possible for you to provide a contact phone number or alternatively contact us on 02 6274 2098?
We look forward to speaking with you.
Kind regards
Felicity Slater
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5340 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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Hi Felicity,
That's really useful to know, thank you.
I would like to make a new request then, narrowed to just correspondence with the 'Minerals Council of Australia', and just from March 2019.
As per your suggestion, let's exclude that second point from my original request this time.
Also, as always and where possible, I would prefer that this information is provided in it's original format---like the original request.
Thanks for clarifying with me.
Yours sincerely,
Luke Bacon
Hi Luke
Thanks for your email. Unfortunately, your new scope 'correspondence with Minerals Council of Australia from March 2019' does not contain sufficient information to enable us to identify the document(s) that you are after. We are unable to process your request. As flagged below, you may wish to identify a particular project or issue that you are interested in within that correspondence.
Kind regards
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-----Original Message-----
From: Luke Bacon [mailto:[FOI #5340 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 9 April 2019 3:11 PM
To: FOI Contact Officer <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - 2019 Correspondence with three organisations [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]
Hi Felicity,
That's really useful to know, thank you.
I would like to make a new request then, narrowed to just correspondence with the 'Minerals Council of Australia', and just from March 2019.
As per your suggestion, let's exclude that second point from my original request this time.
Also, as always and where possible, I would prefer that this information is provided in it's original format---like the original request.
Thanks for clarifying with me.
Yours sincerely,
Luke Bacon
-----Original Message-----
Hi Luke
Thanks for your email.
We are unable to process your request because it does not contain sufficient information to enable us to identify the document(s) that you are after. We are not able to identify the documents that fall within the second point of your request ('internal discussion in relation to this correspondence') without first identifying the documents that fall within the first point of your request (the correspondence). Further, this first dot point may attract practical refusal due to the large number of documents that are likely to be captured within the scope of your request.
We think one way to address both of these issues is to identify a particular project or issue that you are interested in within that correspondence.
Feel free to submit a new request.
Kind regards
Felicity Slater
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5340 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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Hi there,
I will try and be more specific :) To clarify, by 'correspondence with Minerals Council of Australia from March 2019' I mean: emails, letters, and other submissions, sent to the Department by Minerals Council of Australia staff in March 2019, and any responses.
Is that sufficient information to enable you to identify the documents I am after?
Thanks for your help as always,
Luke Bacon
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the response. The issue from our side is that it is not clear from the request where we would hold the document(s) you seek.
If we were to action it in its current form , we would need to approach every team in the Department to ask if they contacted the Minerals Council for any reason in March. As you can understand, this would be a very large task for us to undertake, and we think that you may be interested in something a bit more specific, which would in turn, help us identify the right team to ask.
To this end, is there any specific subject matter in the correspondence between the Department and the Minerals Council you are interested in?
If you're unsure, feel free to contact us on (02) 6274 2541 to discuss further.
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2541
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-----Original Message-----
From: Luke Bacon [mailto:[FOI #5340 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 10 April 2019 12:28 AM
To: FOI Contact Officer <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - 2019 Correspondence with three organisations [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]
Hi there,
I will try and be more specific :) To clarify, by 'correspondence with Minerals Council of Australia from March 2019' I mean: emails, letters, and other submissions, sent to the Department by Minerals Council of Australia staff in March 2019, and any responses.
Is that sufficient information to enable you to identify the documents I am after?
Thanks for your help as always,
Luke Bacon
-----Original Message-----
Hi Luke
Thanks for your email. Unfortunately, your new scope 'correspondence with Minerals Council of Australia from March 2019' does not contain sufficient information to enable us to identify the document(s) that you are after. We are unable to process your request. As flagged below, you may wish to identify a particular project or issue that you are interested in within that correspondence.
Kind regards
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5340 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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Aha, now I understand. Sorry, I assumed you had some kind of search tools to search across Department records.
Would it help if we narrowed the scope to just correspondence with the Ministers' Office, rather than the whole Department?
Also, could you please point me to a list of the teams in the department?
Thanks again,
Luke Bacon
Hi Luke
Thanks for your email. Here is a copy of our organisation chart to assist you in narrowing down your request.
https://www.environment.gov.au/system/fi...
Kind regards
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2541
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-----Original Message-----
From: Luke Bacon [mailto:[FOI #5340 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 10 April 2019 2:42 PM
To: FOI Contact Officer <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - 2019 Correspondence with three organisations [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]
Aha, now I understand. Sorry, I assumed you had some kind of search tools to search across Department records.
Would it help if we narrowed the scope to just correspondence with the Ministers' Office, rather than the whole Department?
Also, could you please point me to a list of the teams in the department?
Thanks again,
Luke Bacon
-----Original Message-----
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the response. The issue from our side is that it is not clear from the request where we would hold the document(s) you seek.
If we were to action it in its current form , we would need to approach every team in the Department to ask if they contacted the Minerals Council for any reason in March. As you can understand, this would be a very large task for us to undertake, and we think that you may be interested in something a bit more specific, which would in turn, help us identify the right team to ask.
To this end, is there any specific subject matter in the correspondence between the Department and the Minerals Council you are interested in?
If you're unsure, feel free to contact us on (02) 6274 2541 to discuss further.
FOI Contact Officer | General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: 02 6274 2541
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5340 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
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