Department materials on social media age ban
Dear Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications,
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am seeking briefing notes and other briefing materials (such as emails or presentations prepared by the Department) to the Secretary, eSafety Commissioner, or to the Minister/Minister's office on the proposed age restrictions or under-age access ban to be imposed on social media platforms.
I am seeking the materials that were sent/received between 1 September 2024 and 7 November 2024.
Please exclude personal information of individual staff, documents that are explicitly prepared for submission to Cabinet or National Cabinet, and drafting instructions for legislation. For clarity, I am also not seeking correspondence received or sent to stakeholders external to government, or briefings prepared by external parties to government.
I am only seeking final versions, not drafts.
Yours faithfully,
Ash Roth
OFFICIAL
Dear Applicant
Thank you for your email of 8 November 2024 requesting access to documents
held by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts (the Department) under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
You have requested access to:
Seeking briefing notes and other briefing materials (such as emails or
presentations prepared by the Department) to the Secretary, eSafety
Commissioner, or to the Minister/Minister's office on the proposed age
restrictions or under-age access ban to be imposed on social media
platforms.
I am seeking the materials that were sent/received between 1 September
2024 and 7 November 2024.
Please exclude personal information of individual staff, documents that
are explicitly prepared for submission to Cabinet or National Cabinet, and
drafting instructions for legislation. For clarity, I am also not seeking
correspondence received or sent to stakeholders external to government, or
briefings prepared by external parties to government.
I am only seeking final versions, not drafts.
Your request has been allocated the reference number FOI 25-176. Could you
please ensure that you quote this reference number in all future
correspondence with the Department.
Timeframes
The statutory due date for you to receive a decision on your request is 9
November 2024. This date may be extended in certain circumstances, and in
the event that this occurs, the Department will notify you. Where the due
date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the timeframe will
expire on the next working day.
Other information
Please note that the Department considers the following information
outside the scope of your request unless you specifically request it:
o personal information of third-party individuals; including public
servants below the SES level and all email addresses, signatures and
direct telephone numbers
o any duplicates and drafts of final versions of documents captured by
your request
o any correspondence sent directly to or from you.
The Department may impose a charge for the work involved in providing
access to the documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information
(Charges) Regulations. You will be notified separately if the Department
decides to impose a charge. There is no charge for documents that contain
your own personal information.
Where documents are released to you under the FOI Act in response to your
request, the Department must publish those documents on its FOI Disclosure
Log within 10 business days of their release to you, unless they contain
personal information or business affairs information that would be
unreasonable to publish. Further information regarding the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log can be found [1]here.
Should you have any questions relating to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact the FOI Section via email to
[2][email address]
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
Freedom of Information Section • People, Culture and Change Division
P 02 6274 6294
E [3][Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
GPO Box 594 Canberra, ACT 2601
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts
CONNECTING AUSTRALIANS • ENRICHING COMMUNITIES • EMPOWERING REGIONS
[4]infrastructure.gov.au [5][IMG]
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on
which we meet, work and live.
I recognise and respect their continuing connection to the land, waters
and communities.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to all Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders.
OFFICIAL
References
Visible links
1. https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/about-...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
4. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/
5. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/departm...
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon
I refer to your request for access to documents held by the Department of
Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the
Arts (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
As the processing period for your request overlaps within the Department’s
holiday shutdown period, we are seeking your agreement to a 10-day
extension of time to reflect this period. Section 15AA of the FOI Act
enables the Department to seek your agreement to an extension of up to 30
days.
If you agree to this 10-day extension, the due date for a decision to be
provided to you will become Friday, 17 January 2025.
To assist us with the management of your request, we are requesting a
response from you by close of business Friday, 20 December 2024.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us via
email at [1][email address].
Kind regards
Jasper
FOI Coordinator
Freedom of Information Section • People, Culture and Change Division
[2][Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
P +61 2 6136 8114
GPO Box 594 Canberra, ACT 2601
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts
CONNECTING AUSTRALIANS • ENRICHING COMMUNITIES • EMPOWERING REGIONS
[3]infrastructure.gov.au [4]cid:image001.png@01DAA578.8E656840
I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which we meet,
work and live.
I recognise and respect their continuing connection to the land, waters
and communities.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to all Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people.
OFFICIAL
From: FOI <[email address]>
Sent: Monday, 11 November 2024 10:46 AM
To: [FOI #12309 email]
Subject: FOI 25-176 – Acknowledgement of Request [SEC=OFFICIAL]
OFFICIAL
Dear Applicant
Thank you for your email of 8 November 2024 requesting access to documents
held by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts (the Department) under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
You have requested access to:
Seeking briefing notes and other briefing materials (such as emails or
presentations prepared by the Department) to the Secretary, eSafety
Commissioner, or to the Minister/Minister's office on the proposed age
restrictions or under-age access ban to be imposed on social media
platforms.
I am seeking the materials that were sent/received between 1 September
2024 and 7 November 2024.
Please exclude personal information of individual staff, documents that
are explicitly prepared for submission to Cabinet or National Cabinet, and
drafting instructions for legislation. For clarity, I am also not seeking
correspondence received or sent to stakeholders external to government, or
briefings prepared by external parties to government.
I am only seeking final versions, not drafts.
Your request has been allocated the reference number FOI 25-176. Could you
please ensure that you quote this reference number in all future
correspondence with the Department.
Timeframes
The statutory due date for you to receive a decision on your request is 9
November 2024. This date may be extended in certain circumstances, and in
the event that this occurs, the Department will notify you. Where the due
date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the timeframe will
expire on the next working day.
Other information
Please note that the Department considers the following information
outside the scope of your request unless you specifically request it:
o personal information of third-party individuals; including public
servants below the SES level and all email addresses, signatures and
direct telephone numbers
o any duplicates and drafts of final versions of documents captured by
your request
o any correspondence sent directly to or from you.
The Department may impose a charge for the work involved in providing
access to the documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information
(Charges) Regulations. You will be notified separately if the Department
decides to impose a charge. There is no charge for documents that contain
your own personal information.
Where documents are released to you under the FOI Act in response to your
request, the Department must publish those documents on its FOI Disclosure
Log within 10 business days of their release to you, unless they contain
personal information or business affairs information that would be
unreasonable to publish. Further information regarding the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log can be found [5]here.
Should you have any questions relating to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact the FOI Section via email to
[6][email address]
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
Freedom of Information Section • People, Culture and Change Division
P 02 6274 6294
E [7][Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
GPO Box 594 Canberra, ACT 2601
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts
CONNECTING AUSTRALIANS • ENRICHING COMMUNITIES • EMPOWERING REGIONS
[8]infrastructure.gov.au [9][IMG]
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on
which we meet, work and live.
I recognise and respect their continuing connection to the land, waters
and communities.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to all Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders.
OFFICIAL
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
3. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/
4. https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/depart...
5. https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/about-...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. mailto:[Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
8. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/
9. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/departm...
OFFICIAL
Good morning
On 8 November 2024, you requested access to documents held by the
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts (the Department) under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
Request for further extension of time
The Department requires additional time to be able to complete the
processing of your FOI request to ensure that it is as fulfilled and well
informed as possible.
I acknowledge you have previously agreed to a 10-day extension of time to
account for the Department's holiday shutdown period. Section 15AA of the
FOI Act enables the Department to seek your agreement to extensions of up
to a total of 30 days. At this point, we are requesting a further 11-day
extension.
If you agree to this extension, the due date for a decision to be provided
to you will become Tuesday, 28 January 2025.
If you do not agree, we will need to consider seeking an extension from
the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
To assist us with the management of your request, we are requesting a
response from you by close of business today, 17 January 2025.
History of timeframes on this request
Your request was received on 8 November 2024, and as such the original
deadline to process your request was 8 December 2024. This was initially
incorrectly specified in our acknowledgement to you.
On 6 December 2024, we identified the need to consult multiple third
parties in relation to personal information within the documents captured
by the scope of your request. Under section 27A of the FOI Act, the
Department is required to consult with the affected individuals before
making a decision on access to those documents. For this reason, the
period for processing your request was extended by 30 days under section
15(6) of the FOI Act in order to allow the Department time to consult with
the relevant person. As such, the statutory due date for your request
became 7 January 2025.
Although we advised you of this extension of time on your other related
request capturing similar material, MO 25-175, we did not advise you of
this specifically in relation to this request. I apologise for the
oversight.
On 20 December 2025, you additionally agreed to a 10-day extension of time
until the current deadline, 17 January 2025.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us via
email at [1][email address].
Jasper
FOI Coordinator
Freedom of Information and Ministerial Liaison Section • People, Culture
and Change Division
[2][Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications request email]
P +61 2 6136 8114
GPO Box 594 Canberra, ACT 2601
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development,
Communications and the Arts
CONNECTING AUSTRALIANS • ENRICHING COMMUNITIES • EMPOWERING REGIONS
[3]infrastructure.gov.au [4]cid:image001.png@01DAA578.8E656840
I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which we meet,
work and live.
I recognise and respect their continuing connection to the land, waters
and communities.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to all Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people.
OFFICIAL