OFFICIAL

Good afternoon,

I refer to your email attached seeking access to the following under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982:

“I request all available information regarding presentations,
correspondence, speeches, emails or divisional minutes provided to members
of the Royal Australian Navy Band (Sydney) regarding the current state of
workplace culture and steps to be undertaken to improve any perceived or
actual negative workplace culture within the organisation.

I am particularly keen to understand the steps and support mechanisms
provided to the organisation to anyone that may be change-affected by any
culture reform issues or workplace development activities.

The scope of my request is any documentation over the period FY 2021-2022
and the current year to date. I am not requesting any names, numbers,
postal addresses or any other identifying information.”

Unfortunately, in its current form your request is not considered valid
under section 15(2)(b) [Requests for access] of the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (FOI Act) as you have not provided such specific information
concerning the documents as is reasonably necessary to enable a
responsible officer of the agency to identify them. 

Section 24(1) of the FOI Act provides that:

(1) If an agency or Minister is satisfied, when dealing with a request for
a document that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to the
request (see section 24AA), the agency or Minister:

(a) must undertake a request consultation process (see section 24AB); and

(b) if, after the request consultation process, the agency or Minister is
satisfied that the practical refusal reason still exists—the agency or
Minister may refuse to give access to the document in accordance with the
request.

Section 24AA(1) of the FOI Act provides that:

(1) For the purposes of section 24, a practical refusal reason exists in
relation to a request for a document if either (or both) of the following
applies:

(a) the work involved in processing the request:

(i) in the case of an agency – would substantially and unreasonably divert
the resources of the agency from its other operations; or

(b) the request does not satisfy the requirement in paragraph 15(2)(b)
(identification of documents).

In accordance with section 24AB of the FOI Act, Defence is required to
consult with you advising of the intention to refuse access to your
request in its current form.

In accordance with paragraph 24AB(2)(c) of the FOI Act, I am the nominated
person with whom you should contact with a view to agreeing to one of the
following options:

    a.    withdraw your request

    b.    revise your request; or

    c.    indicate that you do not wish to revise your request.

In accordance with section 24AB(9) of the FOI Act, Defence is only
required to undertake this consultation process once, and you must contact
me within 14 days to discuss.

Specifically, your request in its current form is seeking access to an
extremely broad range of documents to/from all ADF members engaged in a
particular unit within the Royal Australian Navy. Requests of this nature
are likely to not only capture high level documents sent to all members of
the unit in question, but will also capture all emails or other
correspondence relating to the subject in question sent to/from all
members of the unit as well as documents relating to possible personnel
management issues resulting from the subject matter. Noting the broad
interpretation that could be applied to the subject matter of your
request, Defence considers that your request does not meet the
requirements under section 15(2)(b) to provide such information about the
documents to enable a responsible officer to identify the specific
documents you are seeking through your request.

In order to remove the practical refusal reason and provide a revised
scope that Defence is able to reasonably process, I encourage you to
consider what specific information or documents you are seeking to obtain
through your request and revise your scope to capture these specific
documents.

I encourage you to contact me so I can assist you in moving forward with
your inquiry.

Kind regards,

Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division
Department of Defence

e: [1][email address]

w: [2]https://defence.gov.au/foi/

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://defence.gov.au/foi/

OFFICIAL

Dear Charles,

I refer to your correspondence of 28 July 2022 seeking access, under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the
Department of Defence (Defence). This email is to advise you that your
request has been received and allocated to a Case Manager.

The scope of your request is:

“Presentations, including slide decks, audio/visual material and
accompanying reference documents, such as members guides or work books
provided to members of the Royal Australian Navy Band (Sydney) regarding
the current state of workplace culture and steps to be undertaken to
improve any perceived or actual negative workplace culture within the
organisation. The time frame of my request is for the period July
2021-August 2022..”

Where staff details are captured in documents within the scope of your FOI
request, this information will be redacted; this includes private email
addresses, signatures, personnel (PMKeyS) numbers and mobile telephone
numbers, unless you specifically request such details. Defence excludes
duplicates of documents and any documents sent to or from you.
Furthermore, Defence only considers final versions of documents.

The statutory deadline for you to receive a response to your request is 29
August 2022. The decision package will be provided by email.

I am the Case Manager for this request. Should you have any questions
relating to your request, please do not hesitate to contact me via email
to [1][email address].

Regards

Will Herron|FOI Case Manager

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division

Department of Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

OFFICIAL

Good afternoon Charles,

Due to the processing demands associated with your request our office is
seeking your agreement to a 7 day extension of the statutory deadline
under section 15AA [extension with agreement] of the FOI Act. We will
endeavour to process your request as soon as we can.

The current statutory deadline for you to receive a response to your
Defence FOI request is 29 August 2022.

Should you agree, the statutory deadline for you to receive a response to
your request will expire on 5 September 2022.

It would be much appreciated if you could confirm your agreement to this
extension of time via e-mail by close of business 31 August 2022.

I am the Case Manager for your request and should you have any questions
regarding this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Will Herron|FOI Case Manager

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division

Department of Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

OFFICIAL

Dear Charles

Please find attached the Decision and documents relating to Defence FOI
051/22/23.  A schedule of documents is also attached.

In accordance with the requirements of section 11C of the FOI Act, Defence
is required to publish details of information released under the FOI Act.
Defence publishes identified documents relating to finalised requests
within ten working days of receipt by the applicant. Defence will also
publish the statement of reasons with privacy deletions. 

Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you are entitled to request a review of
this decision. Your review rights are attached.

Please contact this office should you require any further information.

Regards

Will Herron|FOI Case Manager

Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division

Department of Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.