Dear Glenn Hamiltonshire

Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request No: LEX 31964

I refer to your request, received by the Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry on 18 July 2024 for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) made in the following terms:

‘I request access to the Style Guides/Brand Guides/Writing Guides
currently used for the Department of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry.’

Your address

The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[1][FOI #11714 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address.

Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish for correspondence to be
sent to another address or if your address changes. If you do not advise
us of changes to your address, correspondence and notices will continue to
be sent to the address specified above.

Disclosure log

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI
Act requires this publication, however it is subject to certain
exceptions, including where publication of personal, business,
professional or commercial information would be unreasonable.

Exclusion of junior department employee details

The department is working towards ensuring that all employees have a
choice about whether they provide their full name and direct contact
details in response to public enquiries. Where such details are included
in the scope of a request, this may add to processing time and applicable
charges as it may be necessary to consider whether the details are exempt
under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we will
assume that these details are out of scope of your request, and they will
be redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act.

Further assistance

If you have any questions please email [2][email address].

Regards,

FOI Contact Officer | Legal Division

E: [3][email address]

___________________________________________

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

GPO BOX 858 CANBERRA ACT 2601

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Good afternoon

Please find attached correspondence from the Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry in relation to your FOI request LEX 31964.

Regards

FOI Contact Officer | Legal Division

E: [1][email address]

___________________________________________

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

GPO BOX 858 CANBERRA ACT 2601

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

------ IMPORTANT - This email and any attachments have been issued by the
Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth). The material transmitted is for
the use of the intended recipient only and may contain confidential,
legally privileged, copyright or personal information. You should not
copy, use or disclose it without authorisation from the Commonwealth. It
is your responsibility to check any attachments for viruses and defects
before opening or forwarding them. If you are not an intended recipient,
please contact the sender of this email at once by return email and then
delete both messages. Unintended recipients must not copy, use, disclose,
rely on or publish this email or attachments. The Commonwealth is not
liable for any loss or damage resulting from unauthorised use or
dissemination of, or any reliance on, this email or attachments. If you
have received this e-mail as part of a valid mailing list and no longer
want to receive a message such as this one, advise the sender by return
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Good morning

We refer to your email below, contesting the department's preliminary charges notice in respect of LEX 31964.

The department will now consider your contention and make a decision on the amount (if any) of charge payable. Section 29(6) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) provides that the department must notify you of its decision no later than 30 days after the day on which you notified us of your request to reconsider the charges. This means you can expect a decision in respect of charges by 5 September 2024.

Kind regards

FOI Contact Officer | Legal Division
E: [email address]
__________________________________________¬_
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
GPO BOX 858 CANBERRA ACT 2601

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately and permanently delete this email.

-----Original Message-----
From: Glenn Hamiltonshire <[FOI #11714 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 3:32 PM
To: Foi <[email address]>
Subject: Re: LEX 31964 - Freedom of Information (FOI) Charges Notification [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Dear FOI Contact Officer

Using the option provided by Section 29(5) of the FOI Act 1983, I seek to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, and that it should be substituted for no charge at all.

In making my request, I note that the decision to calculate a charge for a department's style guide/related documents is something which has been repeatedly provided by other similarly situated departments, and has been made public on the Right To Know website by other users, showing that zero charge has been generated, or any charge that *would* be generated is well within the free-5 hour charge timeline.

These include:

Example 1- Home Affairs: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/h...

Example 2- Defence: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/d...

Example 3- Finance: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/f...

Example 4- Treasury: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/t...

Given that these other departments were able to process functionally identical requests from other Right To Know users, I see it as being entirely inconsistent with the principles of the Freedom of Information Act to impose charge.

This appears to be uncomfortably common for the Department of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry, to generate or estimate unreasonably lengthy processing times, far higher than other departments. I believe this is a wrongful process, and should be repeated, with the aim of eradicating any charge for a request like this.

If it's good enough for Defence, Treasury, Finance, and Home Affairs, surely it's goof enough for Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry.

Yours sincerely,

Glenn Hamiltonshire

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

Good afternoon

Please find attached correspondence from the Department of Agriculture,

Fisheries and Forestry in relation to your FOI request LEX 31964.

Regards

FOI Contact Officer | Legal Division

E: [1][email address]

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[FOI #11714 email]

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:

https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

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OFFICIAL

Good afternoon

Please find attached correspondence from the Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry in relation to your FOI request – LEX 31964.

Regards,

FOI Contact Officer | Legal Division

E: [1][email address]

___________________________________________

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

GPO BOX 858 CANBERRA ACT 2601

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

OFFICIAL

------ IMPORTANT - This email and any attachments have been issued by the
Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth). The material transmitted is for
the use of the intended recipient only and may contain confidential,
legally privileged, copyright or personal information. You should not
copy, use or disclose it without authorisation from the Commonwealth. It
is your responsibility to check any attachments for viruses and defects
before opening or forwarding them. If you are not an intended recipient,
please contact the sender of this email at once by return email and then
delete both messages. Unintended recipients must not copy, use, disclose,
rely on or publish this email or attachments. The Commonwealth is not
liable for any loss or damage resulting from unauthorised use or
dissemination of, or any reliance on, this email or attachments. If you
have received this e-mail as part of a valid mailing list and no longer
want to receive a message such as this one, advise the sender by return
e-mail accordingly. This notice should not be deleted or altered ------

References

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