Copy of Commissioner Briefs
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I request copy of the following Commissioner Briefs listed at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/8...
Corporate 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
Privacy 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 34
FOI 35-38, 40, 42, 43, 48, 53
Yours faithfully,
Julie
Our reference: FOIREQ22/00095
Dear Julie,
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 10 April 2022.
Scope of your request
In your request you seek access to the following:
“I request copy of the following Commissioner Briefs listed at
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Corporate 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
Privacy 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 34
FOI 35-38, 40, 42, 43, 48, 53”
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
As we received your request on 10 April 2022, we must process your request
by 10 May 2022.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss this matter please contact me on my contact
details set out below.
Regards,
Emily
[1]O A I C logo Emily Elliott | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9852|
[3][email address]
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OAIC reference: FOIREQ22/00095
Dear Julie
I refer to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) and received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 10 April 2022.
Because your request covers documents which contain information concerning
an organisation’s business and professional affairs, the OAIC has decided
it is necessary to consult the affected organisation under s 27 of the FOI
Act before making a decision on release of the documents, in order to
release this material to you.
For this reason, the period for processing your request has been extended
by 30 days to allow time to consult (see s 15(6) of the FOI Act). The
processing period for your request will now end on 9 June 2022.
The consultation mechanisms under s 27 apply when we believe the
organisation concerned may wish to contend that the requested documents
are exempt for reasons of adversely affecting their business or financial
affairs.
We will take into account any comments we receive but the final decision
about whether to grant you access to the documents you requested rests
with OAIC.
Kind regards
Margaret
[1]O A I C logo Margaret Sui | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9879 |
[3][email address]
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OAIC ref: FOIREQ22/00095
Dear Julie
Please find attached our decision, document schedule and first part of the
document bundle regarding your FOI request FOIREQ22/00095.
Please note that due to the size of the document bundle it will be
released to you in two emails.
This is email 1 of 2.
Kind regards
Margaret
[1]O A I C logo Margaret Sui | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4145 |
[3][email address]
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disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
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switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
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OAIC ref: FOIREQ22/00095
Dear Julie
Please find attached the second part of the document bundle regarding your
FOI request FOIREQ22/00095.
Please note that due to the size of the document bundle it will be
released to you in two emails.
This is email 2 of 2.
Kind regards
Margaret
[1]O A I C logo Margaret Sui | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4145 |
[3][email address]
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professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
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Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 'Copy of Commissioner Briefs'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Julie
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
As the OAIC has alleged it needed 30 days to consult a third party for FOIREQ22/00095, I request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) copy of all documents relating to the third party consultations the OAIC says it took for FOIREQ22/00095.
Yours faithfully,
Julie
Our reference: FOIREQ22/00162
Dear Julie
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 1 July 2022.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
“As the OAIC has alleged it needed 30 days to consult a third party for
FOIREQ22/00095, I request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
(FOI Act) copy of all documents relating to the third party consultations
the OAIC says it took for FOIREQ22/00095.”
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during and consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
As we received your request on 1 July 2022, we must process your request
by 1 August 2022.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss this matter, please contact me on my contact
details set out below.
Regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter | [7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
icon Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
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OAIC reference: FOIREQ22/00161
Dear Julie,
I refer to your email of 1 July 2022.
We acknowledge receipt of your application for internal review of the
OAIC’s FOI decision FOIREQ22/00095 dated 9 June 2022.
Section 54C of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) requires this
office to make a fresh decision within 30 days after the day we received
your application.
Because we received your application on 1 July 2022, we must make a fresh
decision by 1 August 2022.
Your application will be allocated to a review officer with no previous
involvement with the earlier decision.
If you have any questions, please contact me at the details provided
below.
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter | [7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
icon Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
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Our reference: FOIREQ22/00162
Dear Julie
Freedom of information request no. FOIREQ22/00162
I refer to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) and received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 1 July 2022.
Because your request covers documents which contain information concerning
an organisation’s business or professional affairs and personal
information, the OAIC is required to consult the individuals and
organisations under ss 27 and 27A of the FOI Act before making a decision
on release of the documents.
For this reason, the period for processing your request has been extended
by 30 days to allow time to consult (see s 15(6) of the FOI Act). The
processing period for your request will now end on Wednesday 31 August
2022.
The consultation mechanisms under ss 27 and 27A apply when we believe the
person or organisation concerned may wish to contend that the requested
documents are exempt for reasons of personal privacy, or may adversely
affect their business or financial affairs. We will take into account any
comments we receive but the final decision about whether to grant you
access to the documents you requested rests with the office of the OAIC.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
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be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
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Dear OAIC - Legal,
The third party consultation provisions in the Freedom of Information Act do not apply to internal reviews. There is no mechanism to extend the the s 54C(3) deadline of 30 days, other than s 54D after a deemed affirmation occurs.
And given the OAIC is the FOI agency, it would be a conflict of interest for the OAIC to extend its own time under s 54C(3) even if this internal review decision had been deemed (which it has not).
The due date remains 1 August.
Yours sincerely,
Julie
Dear Julie
I refer to your email of 16 July 2022, where you stated:
“The third party consultation provisions in the Freedom of Information Act
do not apply to internal reviews. There is no mechanism to extend the the
s 54C(3) deadline of 30 days, other than s 54D after a deemed affirmation
occurs.
And given the OAIC is the FOI agency, it would be a conflict of interest
for the OAIC to extend its own time under s 54C(3) even if this internal
review decision had been deemed (which it has not).
The due date remains 1 August.”
Please find attached a copy of your FOI request in this matter.
We have interpreted your email received by the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (OAIC) 1 July 2022 as a request for access to
documents made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI
Act) as it does not appear to request an internal review.
This FOI request was acknowledged by the OAIC in an email sent 1 July 2022
(copy attached), which confirmed that in the scope of your request you
seek access to the following:
“As the OAIC has alleged it needed 30 days to consult a third party for
FOIREQ22/00095, I request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
(FOI Act) copy of all documents relating to the third party consultations
the OAIC says it took for FOIREQ22/00095.”
Given that you have made an FOI request and not an internal review, the
OAIC is permitted to extend the period for processing your request by 30
days to allow time to consult third parties (see s 15(6) of the FOI Act).
You were notified of this extension in an email sent 8 July 2022, which
included that the processing period for your request will now end on
Wednesday 31 August 2022. We do note however, you do have a current
internal review application for a separate FOI decision. The reference for
that internal review matter is FOIREQ22/00161.
If you have any further questions about this matter, please contact me on
my contact details set out below.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
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disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
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switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
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Dear Toby Shanks,
My internal review request of the 9 June access refusal decision in FOIREQ22/00095, which was published her by Right to Know immediately under that decision https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c... is clearly and explicitly stated as a Freedom of Information Act 1982 Internal Review request.
That internal review request stated:
"Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 'Copy of Commissioner Briefs'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Julie"
That is an internal review request that satisfies all the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act for such requests. The OAIC is statutorily obligated to issue an internal review decision by 1 August 2022 as a result.
Your substitution of that internal review request, which the OAIC received on 1 July at 2:25 pm (as confirmed by the transmission log published by Right to Know), with a later seperate FOI request is untenable.
Ciao
Julie
Dear Julie
There appears to be some confusion between two of your requests -
FOIREQ22/00161 and FOIREQ22/00162.
FOIREQ22/00161
On 1 July 2022 the OAIC received your email, which stated:
“Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 'Copy of
Commissioner Briefs'.”
This email was registered as an internal review - FOIREQ22/00161. Your
request was acknowledged in our email of 6 July 2022, which stated:
“We acknowledge receipt of your application for internal review of the
OAIC’s FOI decision FOIREQ22/00095 dated 9 June 2022.
Section 54C of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) requires this
office to make a fresh decision within 30 days after the day we received
your application.
Because we received your application on 1 July 2022, we must make a fresh
decision by 1 August 2022.
Your application will be allocated to a review officer with no previous
involvement with the earlier decision.”
As of this date, that internal review decision remains due on 1 August
2022.
FOIREQ22/00162
On 1 July 2022 the OAIC received your email, which stated:
“As the OAIC has alleged it needed 30 days to consult a third party for
FOIREQ22/00095, I request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
(FOI Act) copy of all documents relating to the third party consultations
the OAIC says it took for FOIREQ22/00095.”
This email was registered as a FOI request – FOIREQ22/00162. Your request
was acknowledged in our email of 1 July 2022, which stated:
“Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
As we received your request on 1 July 2022, we must process your request
by 1 August 2022”
On 8 July 2022 we notified you that the period for processing your request
had been extended by 30 days to allow time to consult third parties. In
that email we stated:
“Because your request covers documents which contain information
concerning an organisation’s business or professional affairs and personal
information, the OAIC is required to consult the individuals and
organisations under ss 27 and 27A of the FOI Act before making a decision
on release of the documents.
For this reason, the period for processing your request has been extended
by 30 days to allow time to consult (see s 15(6) of the FOI Act). The
processing period for your request will now end on Wednesday 31 August
2022.”
I note that the internal review decision FOIREQ22/00161 remains due on 1
August 2022, and that the FOI request decision FOIREQ22/00162 is now due
on 31 August 2022.
If you have any further questions about this matter, please contact me on
my contact details set out below.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
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professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
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References
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FOIREQ22/00161
Dear Julie
Please find attached our internal review decision of today’s date.
Kind regards
Emma.
[1]O A I C logo Emma Liddle | Director, Legal
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4153 |
[2][email address]
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professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
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Dear OAIC - Legal,
Instead of saying Toby was "confused", he should have apologised for asserting aggressively that I had not made an internal review request when the OAIC had received this internal review request.
It was not necessary for Toby to gaslight me about this, and he should have checked his claim first before sending.
The exemptions affirmed still have been applied more broadly than appears reasonable so I have requested review by the Commissioner.
Ciao
Julie
OAIC Ref: FOIREQ22/00162
Dear Julie
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 1 July 2022.
Please find attached:
1. Decision of todays date,
2. Schedule of documents, and
3. Documents released.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter | [7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
icon Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
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Arthur Jordan left an annotation ()
Well written Julie. It seems that the OAIC is guilty of using "Template" or "Boilerplate" forms in all correspondence to Applicants (like DVA do) without reviewing whether they are appropriate or correct. Also, the conflict of interest you mention is so obvious it shouldn't need you to point it out to the OAIC.