OFFICIAL

FOI Reference: LEX4388

Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your email dated 12 September 2021 seeking access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 to:

“I request all communications between DFAT, Israel's MFA, Australia's then
ambassadors to Israel Mr Dave Sharma and Mr Chris Cannan and World Vision,
relating to the 2016 arrest in Israel of Mohammed al-Halabi and his
continuing incarceration.”

This email sets out some information about how your request will be
processed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Scope of request:

In order to commence searches for documents relevant to your request, we
would be grateful if you could please specify a timeframe for your FOI
request.

If it emerges that the scope of your request is unclear or is too large
for processing, the Department will contact you to discuss re-scoping the
request.

Timeframe:

We received your request on 12 September 2021 and the 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that
date. 

We would be grateful if you could please confirm whether you agree to an
extension of 30 days to process your request (under section 15AA of the
FOI Act). The department is currently complying with all lockdown
requirements consistent with instructions from the ACT Government. This
includes remote and split working arrangements. As such, the department is
experiencing delays to the conduct of searches and internal consultations
on FOI requests. We will continue to process all FOI requests as
efficiently as possible. 

Should you agree to an extension, the department will notify the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner.

Charges:

Please note that the Department may issue charges for processing FOI
requests.  We will advise you of any relevant charges when we are in a
position to estimate the resources required to process your request.

Disclosure log:

Please note that, with some exceptions (such as personal information),
documents released under the FOI Act may later be published on the
department’s disclosure log:
[1]https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/corpora...

Exclusion of officials’ names and contact details:

It is the Department’s policy to withhold the mobile numbers of all
government officials, and the names and contact details of government
officials not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) or equivalent. If you
require this information, please let us know at [2][DFAT request email];
otherwise we will take it that you agree to that information being
excluded from the scope of your request.

Personal Information:

If we need to consult with other people or organisations regarding your
FOI request, we may need to disclose your personal information (e.g. your
name).  When we consult it may be apparent that you have made a request,
even if we do not disclose your identity.  Please let us know if you have
any concerns in this regard.  The Department’s privacy policy is available
at dfat.gov.au/privacy.html.

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact us by return email at [3][DFAT request email].

Regards

DFAT FOI Team

Freedom of Information and Privacy Law Section
Legal Division | Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[4]DFAT.GOV.AU | [5]Twitter | [6]Facebook | [7]Flickr | [8]YouTube

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL

FOI Reference: LEX4388

Dear Mr Smith

Please find attached correspondence relating to your request.

Regards

DFAT FOI Team

Freedom of Information and Privacy Law Section
Legal Division | Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]DFAT.GOV.AU | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Flickr | [5]YouTube

References

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