Documents relating to OAIC position paper relating to "disclosure of public servants names and contact details in response to FOI requests"
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I am making a request under applicable FOI legislation. I request disclosure of correspondence, meeting notes, and decision / approval papers relating to the the OAICs guidance and advice "Disclosure of public servant's names adn contact details in response to FoI requests.
I do not request copies of documents relating to drafts of the guidelines, only those in respect of the published guideline
Yours faithfully,
John Doe
Our reference: FOIREQ21/00028
Dear John Doe,
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 23 February 2021.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
“…I request disclosure of correspondence, meeting notes, and
decision / approval papers relating to the the OAICs guidance and advice
"Disclosure of public servant's names adn contact details in response to
FoI requests.
I do not request copies of documents relating to drafts of the guidelines,
only those in respect of the published guideline.”
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy. We will notify
you separately if we need to consult a third party.
As we received your request on 23 February 2021, we must process your
request by 25 March 2021.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss this matter, please contact me on my contact
details set out below.
Yours sincerely
Joseph Gouvatsos | Lawyer
Legal Services
[1][IMG] Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
02 8231 4259 | [3][email address]
Dear John Doe,
Thank you for correspondence of 23 February 2021. I am writing to seek
clarification on the scope of your FOI request.
In your request you seek access to:
“…I request disclosure of correspondence, meeting notes, and decision /
approval papers relating to the the OAICs guidance and advice "Disclosure
of public servant's names adn contact details in response to FoI requests.
I do not request copies of documents relating to drafts of the guidelines,
only those in respect of the published guideline.”
From the scope of your request, it appears that you are seeking access to
documents relating to the OAIC’s position paper - Disclosure of public
servants’ name and contact details in response to FOI requests. However,
the second part of your request says you are not seeking copies of
documents ‘relating to drafts of the guidelines, only those in respect of
the published guideline.’
The OAIC has power under the FOI Act to issue Guidelines – the OAIC’s
position paper is not a Guideline. As noted at the end of the Executive
Summary in the position paper, the OAIC is in the process of updating
parts 3 and 6 of the FOI Guidelines to reflect the position expressed in
the position paper. The OAIC has not yet published Guidelines in response
to the position paper.
As a result, I have interpreted your request to be for access to documents
relating only to the position paper; and only to the published [1]position
paper.
You also say you are not seeking documents relating to drafts of the
‘guidelines’. I interpret your use of the word ‘guideline’ to be a
reference to the OAIC’s position paper. However, until the position paper
was published, it was a draft. Therefore, all documents generated before
the position paper was published necessarily ‘relate to drafts’. If your
request is interpreted in this way, there will be no documents within the
scope of your request.
The OAIC has published 49 consultation responses from Australian
Government agencies and members of the public. They can be accessed at the
following links:
o [2]https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
o [3]https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
In order for the OAIC to efficiently process your request, can you please
clarify the following:
Whether the OAIC has correctly interpreted the scope of your request
above. That is, that you are only seeking access to documents relating to
the published position paper, and that you are not seeking access to
documents regarding the draft versions of the OAIC’s position paper. For
clarity, this will likely result in no documents being found.
I would be grateful to receive your response by 8 March 2021.
Kind regards
[4][IMG] Joseph Gouvatsos | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [5]oaic.gov.au
02 8231 4259 | [6][email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. mailto:[email address]
Dear John Doe,
I refer to my correspondence sent to you on 4 March 2021 regarding the
scope of your FOI request- FOIREQ21/00028
In my correspondence, I advised you of the OAIC’s interpretation of your
request and I asked you to confirm that the OAIC has correctly interpreted
the scope of your request by 8 March 2021. I note that I have not received
a response from you to date.
Unless the OAIC receive a response from you, we will interpret the scope
of your request as outlined in my correspondence of 4 March 2021. Please
note, this may result in no documents being found for the reasons I have
mentioned in my previous correspondence of 4 March 2021.
If you wish to provide further clarification in relation to the OAIC’s
interpretation on the scope of your FOI request, please do so in writing
by return email to this address.
Kind regards,
[1][IMG] Joseph Gouvatsos | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
02 8231 4259 | [3][email address]
From: Legal
Sent: Thursday, 4 March 2021 5:33 PM
To: 'John Doe' <[FOI #7103 email]>
Subject: Your request to the OAIC- Our reference: FOIREQ21/00028
[SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear John Doe,
Thank you for correspondence of 23 February 2021. I am writing to seek
clarification on the scope of your FOI request.
In your request you seek access to:
“…I request disclosure of correspondence, meeting notes, and decision /
approval papers relating to the the OAICs guidance and advice "Disclosure
of public servant's names adn contact details in response to FoI requests.
I do not request copies of documents relating to drafts of the guidelines,
only those in respect of the published guideline.”
From the scope of your request, it appears that you are seeking access to
documents relating to the OAIC’s position paper - Disclosure of public
servants’ name and contact details in response to FOI requests. However,
the second part of your request says you are not seeking copies of
documents ‘relating to drafts of the guidelines, only those in respect of
the published guideline.’
The OAIC has power under the FOI Act to issue Guidelines – the OAIC’s
position paper is not a Guideline. As noted at the end of the Executive
Summary in the position paper, the OAIC is in the process of updating
parts 3 and 6 of the FOI Guidelines to reflect the position expressed in
the position paper. The OAIC has not yet published Guidelines in response
to the position paper.
As a result, I have interpreted your request to be for access to documents
relating only to the position paper; and only to the published [4]position
paper.
You also say you are not seeking documents relating to drafts of the
‘guidelines’. I interpret your use of the word ‘guideline’ to be a
reference to the OAIC’s position paper. However, until the position paper
was published, it was a draft. Therefore, all documents generated before
the position paper was published necessarily ‘relate to drafts’. If your
request is interpreted in this way, there will be no documents within the
scope of your request.
The OAIC has published 49 consultation responses from Australian
Government agencies and members of the public. They can be accessed at the
following links:
o [5]https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
o [6]https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
In order for the OAIC to efficiently process your request, can you please
clarify the following:
Whether the OAIC has correctly interpreted the scope of your request
above. That is, that you are only seeking access to documents relating to
the published position paper, and that you are not seeking access to
documents regarding the draft versions of the OAIC’s position paper. For
clarity, this will likely result in no documents being found.
I would be grateful to receive your response by 8 March 2021.
Kind regards
[7][IMG] Joseph Gouvatsos | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [8]oaic.gov.au
02 8231 4259 | [9][email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
5. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
6. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/c...
7. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
9. mailto:[email address]
Dear John Doe,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Joseph Gouvatsos | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
02 8231 4259 | [3][email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. mailto:[email address]