Documents not available for download from your FOI log or reasoning

Posty made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Home Affairs as part of a batch sent to 5 authorities

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

2 followers

The request is waiting for clarification. If you are Posty, please sign in to send a follow up message.

Dear FOI Department,

It has been noticed, that in some occasions, there are documents on your Freedom Of Information Disclosure Log where you have put the most redundant text next to FOI disclosures—the equivalent of “if you would like access to these documents, please email/contact us for access”.

Any person reviewing the information on that site would of course be after the documents. It is puzzling that, on some occasions, you have made the documents available and others not.

I believe this is not in the spirit of the FOI act section 11C, and thus I request—under the Freedom of Information Act 1982—copies of the following documents:

All documents as is (that is, redacted or unredacted) from all previously made decisions on your department's FOI log that are currently not available for download direct from the website.

My preferred method of delivery for this information is for it to be placed on your department's Freedom of Information disclosure log web page as per part A) of 11C of the FOI Act.

Should this request be successful you can put a simple list of the documents that were made available from the request, or whatever is most expedient, on the log.

I apologise for my pessimism, but past FOI experiences have led me to believe this request may elicit a response similar to “this request would divert too many resources of your department to complete”. Should you be thinking this, you have nobody to blame but yourselves—your department made this metaphorical bed.

Should you be seriously considering a practical refusal, my alternative request is for any documents that your department holds relating to the decision to include text on your freedom of information disclosure log similar to "contact us for access to this document".

In addition I request the total of the number of times any member of the public has asked for access to each said non-website published successful for documents on the FOI disclosure log other than the original successful applicant.

I do accept there is a very remote possibility there is a “Good Reason” for these not being available, and I hope these are contained within the documents provided as I cannot foresee any.

In the interests of expediency, I am willing to consider Administrative Access to said documents, should the document be provided within 30 days ( plus any public holidays in-between) of the sending of this email. After this time - the FOI Act applies as normal in all instances and any requests for extension will be denied without a supplied very good reason.

Regards,

Posty

** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

***Please note that from 24 December 2018 to 2 January 2019 the FOI
Section will be operating with a skeleton staff.

Any requests for access to or amendments of documents received after 5pm
on 24 December 2018 will be deemed to have been received by the Department
on the next business day, being 28 December 2018, and will be registered
accordingly.

Your email has been received by the Department of Home Affairs Freedom of
Information (FOI) Section. Please note that we will only action and
respond to FOI requests and other matters relating to the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

If your email is a valid FOI request, the Department will contact you
shortly to acknowledge your request. Please do not send duplicate emails
as this may cause delays in processing times.

For matters not relating to the Freedom of Information Act 1982, please
refer to the information below to assist in the resolution of your
enquiry.

General information regarding travelling to Australia

Information for visitors to Australia can be found [1]here.

Information regarding potential visa options can be found [2]here.

Updating your details once a visa has been granted, including minor
corrections to date of birth and name

The Department has an administrative process for minor corrections to date
of birth or name due to client error (such an a typographical error in an
online application) where the visa application has already been finalised.

You can update your details online if your application is available in
ImmiAccount. Go to the Department’s website [3]here.
Alternatively, you can complete a form 929, which can be found [4]here.
The completed form and attachments should be sent by email to
[5][email address]. This form will not be actioned by the FOI
Section.

Request for a copy of your Visa Refusal or Visa Grant letter

If you have lost or misplaced correspondence regarding your Visa Refusal
or Visa Grant, or you wish to confirm the authenticity of your Visa
Refusal or Visa Grant, you should contact the office where you lodged your
visa application.

Details of our offices located around the world can be found [6]here.

Queries regarding your current Visa status

You can check your visa details and conditions on the Department’s Visa
Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) portal. If you do not have the
necessary reference numbers to access the VEVO portal, you should contact
the office where you lodged your visa application for further information.

Refund of Visa fees

If you are seeking a refund of fees associated with your Visa, you should
contact the office where you lodged your visa application. Details of our
offices located around the world can be found [7]here.

Making a Visa application

Registered migration agents are authorised to provide immigration advice
or assistance, including advice regarding the lodgement of visa
applications. Further information on migration agents may be found
[8]here. Please note that the Department is unable to assist you in this
regard.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties in lodging your visa
application through ImmiAccount, you should submit your concerns through
the ImmiAccount Technical Support Form, which is accessible [9]here.

Australian Citizenship

If you are seeking evidence of your Australian Citizenship, you should
complete Form 119, which can be found [10]here. Details on where to send
your completed form may be found on page 8 of the Form. This form will
not be actioned by the FOI Section.

Information on how to apply for Australian citizenship, information for
Australian citizens and Australian Citizenship Day can be found [11]here.

Movement Records/Travel History

If you are seeking evidence of your own travel movements/history you
should complete Form 1359, which can be found [12]here. Details on where
to send your request may be found on page 1 and 2 of the Form. This
request will not be actioned by the FOI Section.

Superannuation – Evidence of Immigration Status

If you are seeking evidence of your own immigration status for
superannuation purposes, you should complete Form 1194, which can be found
[13]here. Details on where to send your completed form may be found on
page 1 of the Form. This request will not be actioned by the FOI Section.

Update Passport Details

Information on how to update your address or passport details can be found
[14]here.

Notification of Change in Circumstances

If you have lodged a visa application and your circumstances have changed,
you should submit [15]Form 1022 to the office where you lodged your visa
application. Details of our offices located around the world can be found
[16]here. The FOI Section does not process these forms.

Notification of incorrect answers

If you wish to correct answers that you have provided to the Department
either:

· in a visa application

· on a passenger card or

· in response to a notice given to you by the Department inviting
you to comment on possible non-compliance with an obligation to correct
incorrect information

You should submit [17]Form 1023 to the Department. Details of our offices
located around the world can be found [18]here. The FOI Section does not
process these forms.

Duty Free concessions

Information relating to duty free concessions can be found [19]here.

General Enquiries

If you have a question, which has not been answered above, and which is
about visa, citizenship, travel or trade, including bringing goods in and
out of Australia, please refer to our general enquiries web form [20]here.

Thank you

Information updated 13 November 2018

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately. This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.
The Department of Home Affairs and ABF respect your privacy and have
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Asher Hirsch left an annotation (January 01, 2019)

Well done. Thank you.

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Posty

Thank you for your inquiry.

The documents listed on the Disclosure log can be accessed administratively and where possible the Department has included a link to those records. There are some cases where this has not been possible and the Department has provided advice on how those documents can be accessed.

If you can advise the Department which specific matters you are interested in we can send you those documents. You may wish to provide the list of documents you seek in the first instance and the Department will confirm if they can be sent via email.

In most cases a link has not been provided due the size of the documents. To provide you with a copy of those documents the Department will require a postal address to send those document to you via CD. For privacy reasons you may wish to write directly to the FOI Section at [email address] if providing a postal address.

Kind Regards

FOI Officer
Freedom of Information (FOI) Section | FOI and Records Management Branch
Productivity and Compliance Division | Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs
Email: [DIBP request email]

UNCLASSIFIED

show quoted sections

JS left an annotation (January 14, 2019)

In evidence to the Senate (albeit not about FOI legislation ) the Secretary of Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo stated : “You set the laws. The laws that you set will be the rules that we follow”.

FOI Act: Section 11C Publication of information in accessed documents :

(3) The agency, or the Minister, must publish the information to members of the public generally on a website by:
(a) making the information available for downloading from the website; or
(b) publishing on the website a link to another website, from which the information can be downloaded; or
(c) publishing on the website other details of how the information may be obtained.

(6) The agency or Minister must comply with this section within 10 working days after the day the person is given access to the document.

Despite being fully funded to meet the obligation to publish within ten working days , Home Affairs is a serial offender.

Between June 2018 and 10 Oct 2018 Home Affairs did not comply on about 30 occasions with the legal requirement to publish within ten working days. All entries in the disclosure log from 8 Jun to 28 Sept 2018 were not published until early October.

The Dept did not comply with the legal obligation in respect of the disclosure log entries from 3 Oct to 16 October and in respect of all entries from 8 Nov to 28 Nov. No information has been published since 28 Nov. The next publication dump will no doubt reveal further contraventions of the obligation.

Dear FOI,

The scope that I wrote prior is exactly the scope I requested. All that aren’t on your disclosure log.

A compact disc’s standard capacity is 700MB 💿

In 2019 this is a relatively trivial file size to deliver on any website - the phone I’m typing you on this now has to download larger software updates on a regular basis and has been so for nearly a decade.

Wastage of government physician resources such as a CD and postage is not required- if you truly cannot make the files available on your website, the federal government has already provided you a resource to collaborate with external parties for free - govteams.gov.au.

If you truly cannot make them available on your website and require to deliver them in a non standard way please advise and I can supply you with an alternate email to invite collaboration to.

Yours sincerely,

Posty

** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

If your email is a valid FOI request, the Department will contact you
shortly to acknowledge your request. Please do not send duplicate emails
as this may cause delays in processing times.

For matters not relating to the Freedom of Information Act 1982, please
refer to the information below to assist in the resolution of your
enquiry.

General information regarding travelling to Australia

Information for visitors to Australia can be found [1]here.

Information regarding potential visa options can be found [2]here.

Updating your details once a visa has been granted, including minor
corrections to date of birth and name

Request for a copy of your Visa Refusal or Visa Grant letter

Details of our offices located around the world can be found [6]here.

Queries regarding your current Visa status

Refund of Visa fees

Making a Visa application

Australian Citizenship

Information on how to apply for Australian citizenship, information for
Australian citizens and Australian Citizenship Day can be found [11]here.

Movement Records/Travel History

Superannuation – Evidence of Immigration Status

Update Passport Details

Information on how to update your address or passport details can be found
[14]here.

Notification of Change in Circumstances

Notification of incorrect answers

If you wish to correct answers that you have provided to the Department
either:

· in a visa application

· on a passenger card or

· in response to a notice given to you by the Department inviting
you to comment on possible non-compliance with an obligation to correct
incorrect information

You should submit [17]Form 1023 to the Department. Details of our offices
located around the world can be found [18]here. The FOI Section does not
process these forms.

Duty Free concessions

Information relating to duty free concessions can be found [19]here.

General Enquiries

Thank you

Information updated 13 November 2018

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

UNCLASSIFIED
Good morning

Thank you for your request for copies of all documents referenced but not published on the Department of Home Affairs FOI disclosure log.

In the first instance, the Department considers that the work required to produce all the documents you have requested to be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the resources of the Department. I note that prior to 1 July 2015, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) were two distinct and separate agencies for the purposes of the FOI Act. There are therefore two separate agency disclosure logs that are at issue.

Whilst the ACBPS published all documents that were subject to section 11C of the FOI Act, we are aware that a number of links have broken as a result of a number of changes that have occurred to the website following multiple machinery of government changes since 2015..

In addition, during 2001-2013 inclusive, DIBP did not publish, as a matter of course, the documents that were released, but rather published a statement of the request, and indicated that an individual was able to obtain access to those documents by providing the reference number to the FOI Section. It was not anticipated that one individual would ask for access to all documents released, as you have.

I note that in the DIPB disclosure log, 2011 has 52 records, 2012 has 88 and 2013 has 141 that would need to be produced. I consider that for the Department to have to search and retrieve 201 records and provide these to you, noting the current number of requests for access and amendment that the Department is processing, this would result in a substantial diversion of the resources of the FOI Section, and would result in an unreasonable diversion of those resources from our business as usual, which would impact on the operations of the FOI Section and the Department as a whole.

If you are able to provide the Department with a specified set of documents that you would like to receive, limited to a reasonable number, the Department can arrange for these documents to be made available to you.

If you wish to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With kind regards
Freedom of Information Section
FOI, Privacy and Records Management Branch
Productivity and Compliance Division | Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs
E: [DIBP request email]

UNCLASSIFIED

show quoted sections

2 followers

Right to Know

Documents not available for download from your FOI log or reasoning

Asher Hirsch left an annotation (January 01, 2019)

JS left an annotation (January 14, 2019)

Want to know something?

Act on what you've learnt

More requests in this batch

Requests like this

Operational Information Staff FOI guide

Commissioner Briefs

Copy of Commissioner Briefs

Freedom of Information Act complaints received in June 2022

Optical Surveillance

Compliments of FOI disclosure log

Documents not available for download from your FOI disclosure log / reasoning

Documents not available for download from your FOI disclosure log / reasoning

Documents not available for download from your FOI disclosure log / reasoning

EIC online compliance interventions 110-13090000 and Check and update past income (CUPI) service 110-18100129

Right to Know