Dear Ms Loom,
Acknowledgement of receipt of Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request received by the Minister for Aged Care and Sport (the Minster) dated 9 December 2022 for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
You have requested access to:
I request all correspondence between the Minister, Senators, Members, or the Australian Football League (or the Australian Football League Commission) in relation to funding of an AFL team for Tasmania. I am seeking documents held by the Minister or the Minister's office. I am not seeking draft documents
The department provides administrative assistance to the Minister’s Office in relation to FOI matters, and we are acknowledging receipt of your request on behalf of the Minister.
The reference number for the request is FOI-4133. Please ensure that you quote this number in future correspondence with the department.
Timeframes
Your request was received on 9 December 2022. The statutory timeframe for processing the requests is 30 calendar days and you should expect to be notified of a decision from the Minister for Aged Care and Sport on or before 08 January 2023. The period of 30 days may be extended if the Minister for Aged Care and Sport needs to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
Request for 10 day extension
The FOI Act requires the department to provide you with an access decision by 08 January 2023 (30 days).
Many areas of the department, including the FOI Section, will be closed from 24 December 2022 to 2 January 2023.
To ensure the Minister for Aged Care and Sport has sufficient time to process your request and provide access to all relevant documents, we are seeking your agreement to extend the period for completing your FOI request by 10 days under section 15AA of the FOI Act). If you agree to this extension, the Minister for Aged Care and Sport would be required to provide you with an access decision by 18 January 2023.
If you agree to this extension, could let us know by return email to [email address].
Other information
The Minister for Aged Care and Sport may impose a charge for the work involved in providing access to the documents. If this request attracts a charge you will be notified in writing.
Unless you advise otherwise:
· any draft and duplicate documents will be excluded from the scope of your request, and
· any public service employee names below Senior Executive Service level and direct telephone numbers of all staff will be excluded from the scope of your request under s22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be published online on our disclosure log www.health.gov.au/resources/foi-disclosure-log, subject to certain exceptions. (For example, personal information will not be published where this would be unreasonable.)
You can contact the FOI team via email at [email address] or by phone on 02 6289 1666, should you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Daniel
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and present
-----Original Message-----
From: Andorra Loom
Sent: Friday, 9 December 2022 9:41 AM
To: FOI
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request FOI- 4121 - Transfer of request to Department of Health and Aged Care [SEC=OFFICIAL]
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Dear Daniel,
Thank you for your email.
I can confirm that I agree to transfer the following request to the Minister:
I request all correspondence between the Minister, Senators, Members, or the Australian Football League (or the Australian Football League Commission) in relation to funding of an AFL team for Tasmania. I am seeking documents held by the Minister or the Minister's office. I am not seeking draft documents.
I appreciate your assistance in providing this application to the Minister.
I am also happy to proceed with the application held by the Department, given you are a separate entity under the Act and that you have identified that there are documents that you may hold that the office does not.
I also acknowledge and understand that the Department or the Minister will not be able to provide documents that may have been held by a former Minister.
If you could please confirm your actioning of the above, that would be appreciated.
Regards,
Andorra
-----Original Message-----
Dear Ms Loom
Thank you for providing this clarification.
Noting the elapse of time, the fact that your request has already been transferred between agencies, and to avoid any further ambiguity, we recommend that you submit a new request for the Office of the Minister for Sport. You can do this by responding to this email to [1][email address].
The Department will register the new request on behalf of the Minister for Sport and will forward it to the Minister's Office for their action.
We propose the following wording:
"I request all correspondence between the Minister, Senators, Members, or the Australian Football League (or the Australian Football League
Commission) in relation to funding of an AFL team for Tasmania. I am seeking documents held by the Minister or the Minister's office, not those held by the department or managed by the department on their behalf. I am not seeking draft documents."
Please note that the timeframe for documents held by the Minister for Sport starts on 1 June 2022, the date that the current Minister was sworn in, in accordance with the Office of the Information Commissioner's (OAIC) FOI Guidelines, section 2.52, which states: "The application of the FOI Act to documents ‘in the possession of a minister’ excludes by implication documents held by a former minister", see [2]https://www.oaic.gov.au.
If you accept this proposal, or would prefer to submit your own preferred wording to the Minister for Sport, would you please respond by COB Friday
9 December 2022.
Would you please also confirm if you would like to continue or withdraw the current request FOI 4121, that is, for the Minister for Sport's correspondence held and managed by the Department in its record-keeping system PDMS.
Kind regards,
Daniel
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [3][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and present
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