Good afternoon Amanda,
Thank you for your email below requesting documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Invalid request – Application fee required
The Act provides that an application fee of $32.70 must accompany each
request. In the current circumstances, the department's preferred method
of payment is via the Victorian Government's online FOI portal at the
below link:
[1]https://online.foi.vic.gov.au/
If it is your first time using this portal, please click “self-register”
and follow the prompts.
Please quote your reference number (F24/1572) in the "Request Details"
section of the online form. You do not need to provide the wording of your
request again.
The Act also provides that the application fee may be waived or reduced if
payment of the fee would cause financial hardship. If you consider this to
be the case the fee may be waived or reduced on production of evidence of
how the payment of the application fee would cause you hardship. 
As stated on the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner’s
website, an applicant should provide evidence of hardship when they are
requesting an agency to waive or reduce the application fee:
‘If you request the application fee to be waived or reduced, you should
provide evidence of hardship – for example, a concession or health care
card, a bank statement, or statutory declaration outlining why payment
would cause you hardship.’
Please note your request cannot proceed until the application fee or
evidence of hardship has been received as it is not a valid request.
I would appreciate it if you would respond by 30 July 2024, otherwise I
will assume that you do not wish to proceed and no further action will be
taken by the department.
Please direct all correspondence relating to your request to
[2][Victorian Department of Health request email].
Kind regards,
 
Authorised Officer | Freedom of Information unit 
People, Operations, Legal and Regulation Division
Department of Health 
[3]www.health.vic.gov.au
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear Amanda,

I refer to your application under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
requesting access to:

“I am writing to request:

(1) all documents (emails, faxes, letters or text messages) resulting in
the commissioning of Michelle Spence RN to the advert/promotion of COVID
vaccination broadcast on TV or in print media on or around 03/10/2021].
The documents should include the full trail from the agreement of RN
Spence to appear, retrospectively back to the first related email that
enquires as to the availability of a nurse to promote the COVID vaccines
in the manner displayed. The documents should also include any contracts
signed by the hospital or RN Spence to appear.

(2) a list of all COVID-related payments received by Royal Melbourne
Hospital in relation to COVID or COVID vaccines or any vaccines in the
time period 03/04/2021-03/04/2022 being aprox. the 6 months before and 6
months after the appearance of Michelle Spence."

I write to seek your consideration for granting an extension to the
legislated time frame for processing this request.

In accordance with section 21(2)(b) of the Act, an agency can extend the
period for which a decision for a request is required to be provided by a
period of no more than 30 days at a time, with the express agreement of
the applicant. Therefore, due to the high workload of internal
stakeholders involved in responding to this request, I would like to
request that you consider granting an extension of 15 days to process this
request.  

I would appreciate if you could please indicate in writing by COB 10
August 2024 whether you agree to the extension of 15 days to the
legislated time frame for processing this request. If you agree to the
extension the revised due date for a decision on your request will be 26
August 2024.

Please note that you are also welcome to provide an alternative period of
extension if you believe the number of additional days requested above to
be unsatisfactory.

I can be contacted via email at [1][Victorian Department of Health request email].

Kind regards,

Authorised Officer | Freedom of Information unit 
People, Operations, Legal and Regulation Division
Department of Health 

[2]www.health.vic.gov.au

This email contains confidential information intended only for the person
named above and may be subject to legal privilege. If you are not the
intended recipient, any disclosure, copying or use of this information is
prohibited. The Department provides no guarantee that this communication
is free of virus or that it has not been intercepted or interfered with.
If you have received this email in error or have any other concerns
regarding its transmission, please notify [email address]

This email and/or attached documents may include Victorian protective
markings as set out by the Office of the Victorian Information
Commissioner (OVIC). More information on protective markings can be found
[3]here

OFFICIAL

References

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1. mailto:[Victorian Department of Health request email]
2. http://www.health.vic.gov.au/
3. https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/protective-m...