OFFICIAL

Good afternoon Mr Squiggle,

   

 I refer to your request dated 25 March 2025, seeking access to documents
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) as follows:

 

Request:

I request the following documents:

 

1. The email from Rebel News dated 20 March 2025 with subject heading
'Media Request: AFP Investigation into eSafety Commissioner's WhatsApp
Practices

 

2. All documents created as a result of the email in point 1 above

 

3. Any documents that detail complaints or concerns regarding the use of
disappearing message by the eSafety Commissioner

 

4. The AFP's internal policy regarding its employees' use of disappearing
messages 

 

 

Timeframe

 

Upon consideration of your request, the AFP is of the view that your
request will take longer than 30 days to process. The delay is
regrettable, however, due to excessive number of requests that have come
through our office it will not be possible to advise you of a decision by
24 April 2025.

 

Accordingly, pursuant to section 15AA of the Act, I seek your agreement to
extend the period by 30 days to notify you of a decision to 26 May 2025.

 

I would be grateful if you would advise this office in writing of your
agreement to the proposed extension of time by the close of business on
the 31 March 2025.

 

 

Information irrelevant to the scope of your request

 

The AFP, in its management of FOI requests, excludes the following
information on the basis that is irrelevant to the scope of a request:

 

o duplicate documents, including duplicate emails (the AFP will only
provide emails where they form a final email chain, and the
authors/recipients are contained within the final email); and
o information that is publicly available, for example, newspaper
articles, online publications including information available on the
AFP Information Publication Scheme and the AFP disclosure log.

  

Please advise this office whether you also consent to exclude the
following information:

 

o Names of AFP members, other than the Senior Executive;
o the telephone numbers, signatures, mobile telephone numbers and/or
images of AFP employees; and
o the names and other information identifying any third party (including
images).

 

Disclosure of your identity

 

The AFP may be required to consult with third parties in accordance with
sections 26A, 27 and 27A of the Act. Please advise us if you consent to
the AFP identifying you as the FOI applicant for the purposes of the
consultation. If we do not receive your consent, we will not disclose your
identity to third parties.

 

 

Information Publication Scheme

 

Please be advised that effective 1 May 2011 and in accordance with section
8(2) of the Act, an agency is required to publish information on the AFP
website following the notification of a decision in respect of a freedom
of information request. Details of the decision will be published in a
Disclosure Log which can be found at
[1]https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat....

 

The requirement to publish information released under FOI reinforces the
objectives of the FOI Act to promote a pro-disclosure culture across
government, and to increase recognition that information held by
government is a national resource. Exceptions to the requirement to
publish information would apply to personal information and information
concerning the business affairs of a person if it was considered
‘unreasonable’ to do so. 

 

If however, after noting the above, you wish to raise any concerns about
the publication of information concerning your request prior to the
notification of a decision, please advise the AFP in writing before 24
April 2025

 

Please note, we have recently changed our Freedom of Information
application process and are now accepting FOI applications through the
organisation’s FOI portal rather than by email correspondence.

It would be greatly appreciated when submitting requests in the future if
you could please lodge them through the portal, located here :
 [2]https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/governan...

 

 

If you have any queries in relation to this matter, please do not hesitate
to contact our team at [3][AFP request email].

 

 

Kind Regards

 

 

AFP 28349
FOI OFFICER | GENERAL COUNSEL - CORPORATE
CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL
[4]Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police acknowledges the Traditional Owners and
Custodians of Country
throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and
community. We pay
our respects to First Nations people, culture and Elders past, present and
emerging.

 

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/informat...
2. https://www.afp.gov.au/about-us/governan...
3. mailto:[AFP request email]
4. http://www.afp.gov.au/