Dear Mr Varley

 

We are writing in relation to your application made under the Freedom of
Information Act, 1982 (the FOI Act), which we formally acknowledge. 

 

Application

1.       Your application states:

 

“I wish to know the exact distance and route to my NBN Node from 2/64
Amanda Crescent Forster NSW 2428”

 

2.       Under section 3(1)(b) of the FOI Act, the public has a right to
seek access to “documents” rather than to discrete bits of information.
However, section 17 of the FOI Act enables nbn to provide applicants with
information where such information is not available in a discrete written
form but it is “ordinarily available to the agency for retrieving or
collating stored information”.  In that regard, it would be possible to
create a document containing the information within the scope of the
current request (“Relevant Information”).

 

Access Decision

3.       In making this decision, nbn took into account relevant parts of
the FOI Act and related legislation, the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (OAIC) [1]FOI Guidelines, relevant case law and
other sources. 

 

4.       It is our view, having regard to the nature and subject matter of
the request and the relevant provisions of the FOI Act, that one or more
exemptions to release are applicable, as outlined below.

 

nbn’s Commercial Activities Exemption

5.       Information relating to nbn’s commercial activities is exempt, or
carved out, from the application of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (the FOI Act), per [2]section 7(3A) and [3]Part II of Schedule 2 of
the FOI Act.  The following link summarises and provides [4]General
Background Information concerning nbn’s commercial activities exemption
(the CAE) or carve-out from the application of the FOI Act.  That
background document references two Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner reviews that considered nbn’s CAE in January 2012 (the
[5]Internode Decision) and again in July 2013 (the [6]Battersby
Decision). 

 

6.       nbn has previously made FOI decisions refusing access to requests
for documents and information that relate to its network infrastructure,
such as the distances and routes between nodes and residences. These
decisions were made on the basis of nbn’s CAE, and for security reasons,
among other grounds.

 

7.       Accordingly, we find that nbn’s Commercial Activities Exemption
(CAE), under section 7(3A) of the FOI Act, is applicable in respect of
this application.  The Relevant Information relates to nbn’s commercial
activities and is not subject to application of the FOI Act.

 

Decision-making Time and Fees

8.       The time for consideration and decision-making involved in this
application has been less than five hours.  No fees are levied for the
first five hours of FOI decision-making time and accordingly no fees are
payable in respect of the decision making time in this instance.

 

9.       This FOI decision is subject to review under sections 53A and 54
of the FOI Act. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s
“FOI Fact Sheet 12 – Your review rights” may be found at the following
[7]link. 

 

***

In light of the above decision, we suggest that you call our Contact
Centre which should be able to give you general information about the
location and siting criteria for nbn’s FTTN nodes.

 

FOI Officer

nbn co ltd

 

 

 

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