Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This auto-reply email confirms your email has been delivered to the
[email address] mailbox. If you have written to the department to submit an
FOI request, please consider this email to be an acknowledgement of its
receipt. 
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u...
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may: 
* provide assistance to you to help you make a valid FOI request, 
* seek further information from you to help us process your request, 
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or 
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored during business hours Monday to Friday,
excluding public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you. 
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.

OFFICIAL
Dear Tyler,

Thank you for your request, which was received by the Attorney-General’s Department (the department) on Friday 18 October 2024.

Your request is for:

- documents that were submitted to the Governor-General for approval of appointment of Stephen Gageler AC as (a) Solicitor-General in 2008, (b) Justice of the High Court in 2012, (c) Chief Justice of the High Court in 2023;

- documents indicating the Governor-General's approval of the above appointments (including, as Justice (2012) and Chief Justice (2023) of the High Court, any commission of appointment that may have been issued).

Documents for part 2 of your request have been previously released by the department and can be accessed via the department’s disclosure log via the following links:
• 2008 appointment to Solicitor-General (page 7): https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect...
• 2012 appointment to Justice of the High Court (page 2): https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect...
• 2023 appointment to Chief Justice of the High Court: https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect...

On this basis, the department would be grateful if you could please advise whether you agree to withdraw part 2 of your request.

For part 1 of your request the department seeks further clarification. Are you requesting the same documents as in part 2 only unsigned by the Governor-General?

We note you submitted your FOI request via the Attorney-General’s page on Right To Know. The documents you are requesting are more likely to be in the possession of the department. Considering this, please confirm if you wish your request to be processed by the department or to the Attorney-General’s Office.

Kind regards,
Rebekah
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [email address]
OFFICIAL

-----Original Message-----
From: Tyler <[FOI #12181 email]>
Sent: Friday, 18 October 2024 9:20 AM
To: AGD FOI Requests <[email address]>
Subject: CM: 18.10.24 - APPLICANT TO FOI - FOI24/513 - Freedom of Information request - Appointment of Solicitor General (2008), and Justice (2012) and Chief Justice (2023) of the High Court - Stephen Gageler AC

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not follow guidance, click links, or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Attorney-General,

Is it possible to provide the following:

- documents that were submitted to the Governor-General for approval of appointment of Stephen Gageler AC as (a) Solicitor-General in 2008, (b) Justice of the High Court in 2012, (c) Chief Justice of the High Court in 2023;

- documents indicating the Governor-General's approval of the above appointments (including, as Justice (2012) and Chief Justice (2023) of the High Court, any commission of appointment that may have been issued).

Thank you

Yours faithfully,
Tyler

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #12181 email]

Is [Attorney-General request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Attorney-General? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...

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...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Attorney-General’s Department may collect your personal information where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions, including those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and the Privacy Act 1988. We may collect your name, email address and telephone number so that we can contact you about your request or privacy complaint. If your request concerns accessing or correcting your personal information, we will collect the minimum amount of evidence necessary to verify your identity. We hold personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act and our privacy policy. If you have an enquiry or complaint about your privacy, please contact the Privacy Officer on 02 6141 6666 or via e-mail [email address]. 
If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by return email and delete all copies. If this email or any attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of information in the email or attachments.

hide quoted sections

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This auto-reply email confirms your email has been delivered to the
[email address] mailbox. If you have written to the department to submit an
FOI request, please consider this email to be an acknowledgement of its
receipt. 
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u...
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may: 
* provide assistance to you to help you make a valid FOI request, 
* seek further information from you to help us process your request, 
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or 
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored during business hours Monday to Friday,
excluding public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you. 
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.

OFFICIAL
Dear Tyler,

Thank you very much for your response. Through consideration of the condition you have outlined below, the department is proceeding to process your request as:

'documents that were submitted to the Governor-General for approval of appointment of Stephen Gageler AC as (a) Solicitor-General in 2008, (b) Justice of the High Court in 2012, (c) Chief Justice of the High Court in 2023'

Request for extension of time:
We received your FOI request on 18 October 2024 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced on the following day. The statutory due date for decision is currently Monday 18 November 2024. Due to an increase in the number of information access applications currently being received by the department, we seek your agreement to a 30-day extension of time to process this request under s 15AA of the FOI Act. This would mean that a decision about your request would be due on 17 December 2024.

If we are in a position to make a decision earlier than this date, we will endeavour to do so. The statutory period may also be extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons permitted under the FOI Act. We will advise you if this happens.

Request to exclude certain information from the scope of your request:
The department is seeking your agreement to exclude the following categories of information from the documents in your request:
- duplicates of documents that are in scope;
- personal information of members of the public;
- contact details for teams, internal to the department and other agencies
- personal information belonging to officers of the department and other government agencies.

Excluding the information listed above enables us to process your request more efficiently. If you agree to the above exclusions, the names of senior executive officers will be released where they are present in the documents and do not attract an FOI exemption. In addition, publicly available telephone numbers and email addresses will generally be released.

Next steps:
Please respond to this email by Wednesday 13 November 2024 to confirm if you agree to this extension of time and to the exclusion of the above information. If you agree to the extension, we will notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) of your agreement under s 15AA of the FOI Act, including your name and contact details.

If you would like to discuss this further please contact the FOI Team by phoning (02) 6141 6666 or emailing [email address].

Kind regards,

Kind regards,
Rachel
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [email address]

OFFICIAL

-----Original Message-----
From: Tyler <[FOI #12181 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 31 October 2024 4:29 PM
To: AGD FOI Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FOI24/513 - Freedom of Information request - Scope clarification: Appointment of Solicitor General (2008), and Justice (2012) and Chief Justice (2023) of the High Court - Stephen Gageler AC [SEC=OFFICIAL]

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not follow guidance, click links, or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear AGD FOI,

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply.

First, if the documents are more likely in the possession of the Attorney General's Department, I would be happy to have my request presented to and processed by that Department.

Then, as to the documents requested:

IF-- Part One of the request (i.e. "documents that were submitted to the Governor-General for approval of appointment of Stephen Gageler AC as (a) Solicitor-General in 2008, (b) Justice of the High Court in 2012, (c) Chief Justice of the High Court in 2023") covers both [1] the documents as submitted to the Governor-General and [2] the Governor-General's indication of approval (e.g. by way of signature etc.),

then my interest is just for Part One of the request. and if so, there will be no need to further consider or for me to pursue Part Two of the request because of the information that you so helpfully mentioned..

Thank you soso much again

Yours faithfully,
Tyler

-----Original Message-----

OFFICIAL
Dear Tyler,

Thank you for your request, which was received by the Attorney-General’s Department (the department) on Friday 18 October 2024.

Your request is for:

- documents that were submitted to the Governor-General for approval of appointment of Stephen Gageler AC as (a) Solicitor-General in 2008, (b) Justice of the High Court in 2012, (c) Chief Justice of the High Court in 2023;

- documents indicating the Governor-General's approval of the above appointments (including, as Justice (2012) and Chief Justice (2023) of the High Court, any commission of appointment that may have been issued).

Documents for part 2 of your request have been previously released by the department and can be accessed via the department’s disclosure log via the following links:
• 2008 appointment to Solicitor-General (page 7): https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect...
• 2012 appointment to Justice of the High Court (page 2): https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect...
• 2023 appointment to Chief Justice of the High Court: https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect...

On this basis, the department would be grateful if you could please advise whether you agree to withdraw part 2 of your request.

For part 1 of your request the department seeks further clarification. Are you requesting the same documents as in part 2 only unsigned by the Governor-General?

We note you submitted your FOI request via the Attorney-General’s page on Right To Know. The documents you are requesting are more likely to be in the possession of the department. Considering this, please confirm if you wish your request to be processed by the department or to the Attorney-General’s Office.

Kind regards,
Rebekah
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [email address] OFFICIAL

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #12181 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...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Attorney-General’s Department may collect your personal information where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions, including those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and the Privacy Act 1988. We may collect your name, email address and telephone number so that we can contact you about your request or privacy complaint. If your request concerns accessing or correcting your personal information, we will collect the minimum amount of evidence necessary to verify your identity. We hold personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act and our privacy policy. If you have an enquiry or complaint about your privacy, please contact the Privacy Officer on 02 6141 6666 or via e-mail [email address]. 
If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by return email and delete all copies. If this email or any attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of information in the email or attachments.

hide quoted sections

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This auto-reply email confirms your email has been delivered to the
[email address] mailbox. If you have written to the department to submit an
FOI request, please consider this email to be an acknowledgement of its
receipt. 
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u...
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may: 
* provide assistance to you to help you make a valid FOI request, 
* seek further information from you to help us process your request, 
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or 
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored during business hours Monday to Friday,
excluding public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you. 
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.