Dear Mr Pentland

I am the officer with carriage of your FOI request made on Thursday 28
March 2024.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act), the Commission
has until Monday, 29 April 2024 to make a decision in relation to your
request.

If your request covers documents which contain personal information of
third parties and the Commission is required under the FOI Act to consult
prior to making a decision on the release of those documents, the
processing period will be extended a further 30 days. We will advise if
this is required.

We are processing your request and seek your clarification on the below:

1.               In your request you seek ‘correspondence between
officials of the Australian Human Rights Commission’. On one view, that
could relate to any person working for the Commission. To assist in
directing our search for relevant documents, would you be agreeable to
refine your request to correspondence sent between relevant Commission
staff who were involved in preparing the piece and having it published (we
anticipate those staff members would include Commissioner Finlay, the
Human Rights team and the Communications team)?

2.               Are you agreeable for the Commission to redact names and
personal details of non-SES Commission staff in the requested documents?
Information such as the names and contact details of non-SES staff that is
considered irrelevant to a request can be redacted under s 22 of the FOI
Act.

Please contact me if you have any queries.

Kind regards,

Jessica Tran
Senior Lawyer

Australian Human Rights Commission
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
T +61 2 9284 9726
E [1][email address] W [2]humanrights.gov.au

Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday

[3]The Australian Human Rights Commission logo, a blue globe on a white
background. Text reads Australian Human Rights Commission. Everyone,
everywhere, everyday.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Austraila,
and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We
pay our respects to their Elders - past, present and future.

[4]Free + Equal Human Rights Conference. 6-7 June 2024. Registrations now
open! URL links to https://www.freeandequal.com.au

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Pentland <[5][FOI #11282 email]>
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2024 2:43 AM
To: Freedom of Information <[6][Australian Human Rights Commission request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Correspondence Regarding
Lorraine Finlay's piece in The Nightly

[You don't often get email from
[7][FOI #11282 email]. Learn why this is
important at [8]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Verify
the sender before you click links or open attachments. Email purporting to
be from staff may be an impersonation attempt.

Dear Australian Human Rights Commission,

This is a Freedom of Information Request for the purposes of the Freedom
of Information Act 1982.

I seek access to Correspondence between officials of the Australian Human
Rights Commission relating to Lorraine Finlay's piece in The Nightly
titled "Do not turn a blind eye to hate/In silence, anti-Semitism and
racism flourishes", accessible here:
[9]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
(I note the title in the linked article here is different compared to the
original published article in the Digitial Edition of The Nightly. For the
purposes of this request, feel free to treat them identically)

Yours faithfully,

Alex Pentland

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hide quoted sections

Dear Mr Pentland

I refer to your FOI request dated 28 March 2024.

Please find attached a notice of decision, schedule and bundle of
documents in response to your request.

Kind regards,

Jessica Tran
Senior Lawyer

Australian Human Rights Commission
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
T +61 2 9284 9726
E [1][email address] W [2]humanrights.gov.au

Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday

[3]The Australian Human Rights Commission logo, a blue globe on a white
background. Text reads Australian Human Rights Commission. Everyone,
everywhere, everyday.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Austraila,
and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We
pay our respects to their Elders - past, present and future.

[4]Free + Equal Human Rights Conference. 6-7 June 2024. Registrations now
open! URL links to https://www.freeandequal.com.au

***********************************************************************
WARNING: The information contained in this email may be confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part
of this information is unauthorised. If you have received this email in
error, we apologise for any inconvenience and request that you notify
the sender immediately and delete all copies of this email, together
with any attachments.
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References

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2. http://humanrights.gov.au/
4. https://www.freeandequal.com.au/

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Thank you for your email. I am out of the office and will action your
email on my return.

If your matter is urgent, please contact Julie O’Brien at
[email address]

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WARNING: The information contained in this email may be confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part
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Dear Mr Pentland

With reference to your below email, please find attached the decision in
relation to your request for an FOI internal review.

Kind regards,

Hashini Panditharatne
Senior Lawyer
Australian Human Rights Commission
Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
T +61 2 9284 9712
E [1][email address] | W [2]humanrights.gov.au

Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday

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

From: Alex Pentland <[3][FOI #11282 email]>
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2024 3:20 AM
To: Jessica Tran <[4][email address]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request -
Correspondence Regarding Lorraine Finlay's piece in The Nightly

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Verify
the sender before you click links or open attachments. Email purporting to
be from staff may be an impersonation attempt.

Dear Jessica Tran,

I apologise for my late reply to this matter.

I seek to request an internal review of the decisions to redact under both
47C and S47E.

While I acknowledge that the deliberative processes exemptions can be
broad in the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (47C), these exemptions are
not absolute. Referring to cases such as Rex Patrick and Department of
Defence (No 2)
([5]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...),
which held that an exemption was not valid, as the material sought did not
"contains any opinion, advice or recommendations, nor is there a weighing
up or evaluation of competing arguments or considerations." While I am
unable to make a complete judgement in these cases, given that they are
redacted, I struggle to see how the information contained here would be
exempt, considering what was already made publc with the final opinion
piece.

With recards to the second exemption, S47E(d), I am not satisfied that the
AHRC has submitted a reasonable justification as to how this formation
would adversely impact on the operation of the agency. The purpose of the
Human Rights Commission under its legislation is indeed to uphold
tolerance and promote the protection of human rights, yet it is not clear
how such information here would lead to a violation of these duties and
responsibilities. I note a previous case, Seven Network Operations Limited
and Australian Human Rights Commission [2021] AICmr 66 (10 November
2021)([6]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...)
in where the AHRC used the same clause as an attempt to redact information
with AHRA staff, Roy Morgan Research staff and Universities Australia
employees. In that case, it was found that "The material is not
conditionally exempt under s 47E(d)", and if that material were not
conditionally exempt, I would be highly shocked if material from within
the Australian Human Rights Commission would be exempt.

it is my best view that the removal of these exemptions and redactions
would not violate the public interest tests of the FOI act, but would
actually help aid the general principles of the Human Rights Commission,
in ensuring for a more lively and engaging public forum for discussing
human rights.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Pentland

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

Dear Mr Pentland

 I refer to your FOI request dated 28 March 2024.

 Please find attached a notice of decision, schedule and bundle of

 documents in response to your request.

 Kind regards,

 Jessica Tran

 Senior Lawyer

 Australian Human Rights Commission

 GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

 T +61 2 9284 9726

 E [1][email address] W [2]humanrights.gov.au

 Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday

 [3]The Australian Human Rights Commission logo, a blue globe on a white

 background. Text reads Australian Human Rights Commission. Everyone,

 everywhere, everyday.

 We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Austraila,

 and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We

 pay our respects to their Elders - past, present and future.

 [4]Free + Equal Human Rights Conference. 6-7 June 2024. Registrations now

 open! URL links to
[7]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

References

 Visible links

 1. [8]mailto:[email address]

 2.
[9]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 4.
[10]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

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

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

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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:

[12]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

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.

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

***********************************************************************
WARNING: The information contained in this email may be confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part
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error, we apologise for any inconvenience and request that you notify
the sender immediately and delete all copies of this email, together
with any attachments.
***********************************************************************

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