Dear Department of Communications and the Arts,

I request electronic copies of all meeting minutes for or mentioning the 5G Working Group.

Yours faithfully,

c.faulk

Dear Melissa,

Thank you for your prompt response. Please provide the meeting minutes of the 5G Working Group.

Yours sincerely,

c.faulk

Dear Mr Mason,

I contend that the charge should not be imposed as the requested minuted documents is in the general public interest as well as different aspects being of interest of a substantial section of the public.

The initial invited members of the Working Group involved both Government agencies and Industry (namely Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone Australia along with the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, the Communications Alliance and Internet of Things Alliance Australia).

There is a substantive potential conflict of interest where Government and Industry form a Working Group in the midst of the auctioning of the 3.6GHz spectrum by ACMA. Therefore it is in the general public interest to demonstrate that the Working Group operated with good intention and in the interests of the Australian public.

It would be in the general public interest to know what the Working Group has discussed with regards to security, in particular with regards to the involvement of Huawei.

In August 2018 Australia as part of the Five Eyes international intelligence alliance declared the use of Huawei telecommunications equipment, particularly in 5G networks, posed "significant security risks” yet they remain listed as members of the 5G Working Group – it is in the general public interest to know what discussions Huawei have been involved in or continue to influence with regards to the Working Group.

It is in the general public interest to know of discussions pertaining to small cell architecture and densification of mobile transmitters. A substantial section of the public is, or may have concern to the probability of more transmitting stations being built near to their home or place of work or indoors.

Dense Air CEO Paul Senior expects small cell infrastructure to be deployed in indoor locations in metro areas as well as outer metro areas for example. There are a substantial section of the public who would be interested in this with regards to their health.

The public expects the rollout of 5G to be done in a safe manner. It is in the general public interest to know what safety measures may or may not have been discussed. A substantial section of the public woud have concern in particular to the safety of proposed small cell architecture. A substantial section of the public would have concern to the roll-out of mm wavelength frequencies and would like to hear what the industry is pushing for in regards to what bandwidths are being discussed.

There are legitimate health concerns with regards to 5G. Releasing the minutes of the Working Group would allow the general public to be informed about Industry and Government intention for the future deployment and intesification of the mobile network.

The release on discussion about where, how and how much frequency and power would be of speicific interest to a substantial section of the public who may be electomagnetically hypersensitive or have concern as to the exposure of themselves or their children.

It is in the general publics interest to know if health was disussed with regards to the first term of reference for the Working Group: identify enablers and barriers to the deployment and effective use of 5G in Australia, including at the sector and industry level; and if there were considerations which people with health concens would like to adapt to.

It is in the general publics interest to know if health was discussed with regards to the third term of reference for the Working Group: examine how the Commonwealth regulatory settings in sectors, including but not limited to communications, can be optimised for 5G networks and technologies; and if expertise was sought for health limits, or if ARPANSA were consulted at any stage.

I suggest also that the amount of time quoted to do this search is excessive as we are requesting whole documents from a specific set of meetings. I expect that these minutes are filed in a specific place and certainly would not take more than a few hours to peruse (your quote: 12 hours of work seems excessive). Regardless, under section 29 (5) (b) of the FOI Act where the document in question is in the general public interest or in the interest of a substantial section of the public, the Agency may determine that a charge may be exempt. I hope that I have demonstrated enough to suggest that the above may apply.

Yours sincerely,

c.faulk