Carbon Tax distribution
Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
The Australian people were promised a significant drop in costs, however few have seen this. I am therefore requesting any available documents that show the true spread of cost reduction rather than average per household.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Pirina
UNCLASSIFIED
FOI/2015/035
Dear Chris Pirina,
Thank you for your email dated 19 February 2015, received by the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), in which
you made a request to the Department under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (the FOI Act) in the following terms:
‘Documents that show the true spread of cost reduction rather than average
per household’ in relation to carbon tax distribution.
Timeframe for receiving your decision
We received your request on 19 February 2015 and the 30 day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that
date. The due date for the decision is 21 March 2015. As this date falls
on a weekend the decision may be notified on the next available business
day being Monday, 23 March 2015. The period of 30 days may be extended in
certain circumstances. We will advise you if there is any extension of
time.
Charges
Agencies may decide that an applicant is liable to pay a charge in respect
of a request for access to documents. If the Department decides that you
are liable to pay a charge, we will send you a preliminary assessment of
the charge as soon as possible.
Publication of documents
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published online on our disclosure log at
[1]http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...
subject to certain exceptions. If you think you might wish to raise any
objections to the publication of any of the information which may be
released to you please contact us by email at [2][DPMC request email]. If you
do wish to object to the publication of information, you would need to
provide supporting reasons.
Exclusion of officers’ names and contact details
The department’s policy is to withhold the names and contact details of
officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES). It is also the
Department’s policy to exclude the mobile or direct numbers of SES
officers within the Department and other agencies contained within
documents that fall within scope of the request. The names and other
details of departmental or agency SES officers will not be withheld unless
there is some reason for that information to be exempt from release. If
you require the names and contact details of non-SES officers or the
mobile or direct numbers of SES officers please let us know at
[3][DPMC request email] so the decision-maker may consider; otherwise we will
take it that you agree to that information being excluded from the scope
of your request.
We will write again when the Department has more information. Further
information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner at
[4]http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_....
Regards
Adviser
Access and Administrative Review Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. 02 6271 5849
e. [5][email address]
[6]www.dpmc.gov.au | [7]www.indigenous.gov.au
PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
[8]Description: Description: Description: FOI design element
______________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/accountabilit...
2. mailto:[DPMC request email]
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/
7. http://www.indigenous.gov.au/
UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon Chris Pirina,
Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request with
the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet – reference:
FOI/2015/035.
Regards
Adviser
Access and Administrative Review Section | Legal Policy Branch
Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
p. 02 6271 5849
e. [1][email address]
[2]www.dpmc.gov.au | [3]www.indigenous.gov.au
PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
[4]Description: Description: Description: FOI design element
______________________________________________________________________
IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the
message from your computer system.
______________________________________________________________________
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/
3. http://www.indigenous.gov.au/
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
In the current form of the request it will be refused, almost with certainty. If it is not refused, it will be said that in the current form it is invalid for the reasons that follow.
Section 15(2)(b) of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/c...) requires that an person who applies for access to a document, "provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister, to identify it." In the case of this application, there is no reasonable possibility for a particular document to be identifed as relevant for the request. The applicant says, "I am therefore requesting any available documents that show the true spread of cost reduction rather than average per household."
The FOI officer now has to guess what the applicant means by "the true spread" and "cost reduction", and it is not the duty or responsibility of the officer to guess. What cost of what item or items is the applicant meaning? From what price or cost at what time to what new price at what new time does the applicant mean? It might be the belief of the applicant that all these things should be obvious to a reader of her application but it is not obvious.
I suggest that the applicant make a follow-up email with sufficient details in it to (i) tell the department what time period is relevant for the request; this is, in what time period does she think that the document was created that she wants, (ii) explain clearly what cost she is talking about and what "cost reduction" she means. Without this, there will most likely be a 30 day waiting while the department processes the application, and then a letter to say that the application is invalid and to invite the applicant to make a valid request!
So, it is better not to waste time and to fix the invalidity now. Many people on Right to Know can give assistance if it is wanted.