OFFICIAL

FOI Request: LEX 11949

Dear Semsuri

Thank you for your email received by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the department) on 19 January 2025 seeking access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

This email sets out some information about your request.

Please note that the information you have requested is available in DFAT's country briefs, which can be found at https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/country-briefs. Rather than engaging with the FOI process, it is simpler if you access this publicly available information in the first instance.

Scope of request:

You have sought access to:

I seek the dates for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and the following countries:

"Belgium,
Benin,
Brazil,
Comoros,
Cook Islands,
Cyprus,
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Denmark,
Djibouti,
Dominica,
Egypt,
Ecuador,
Eritrea,
Eswatini,
Ethiopia,
Gabon,
Gambia,
Ghana,
Greece,
Guinea,
Haiti,
India,
Iran,
Ireland,
Italy,
Ivory Coast,
Kiribati,
Lebanon,
Lesotho,
Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg,
Madagascar,
Malawi,
Mali,
Mozambique,
Namibia,
New Zealand,
Pakistan,
Paraguay,
Rwanda,
Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia,
Senegal,
Sierra Leone,
South Africa,
Sweden,
Tanzania,
Tuvalu,
United Kingdom,
Zambia,"

Your request is not valid

Having reviewed your email, we do not consider that it currently meets the requirements of a valid FOI request under the FOI Act. This is because the right of access under the FOI Act provides for access to documents, not information. Your enquiry does not identify the documents you are seeking. Rather than requesting access to documents held by the department, you have requested information. As such, the purpose of this email is to assist you in making a valid FOI request.

How to make a valid request

To be considered valid, your request must provide such information concerning the documents you are requesting, as is reasonably necessary to enable a reasonable officer of the department to identify the documents requested.

In drafting the scope of your request, you may wish to consider specifying the type of documents you are seeking, for example, documents which contain the date of establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and the listed countries. Note, however, that it is possible that no documents exist which concisely capture the information you have requested, so it will be easier for you to refer to the publicly available information linked above.

If you would like to make a valid FOI request, you can reply by return email to [DFAT request email].

Further information about how to lodge a valid request under the FOI Act can be found at http://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/corporat....

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team
_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

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© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

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