UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 13/08/01040; ADF2013/27523

 

To – Mr Ben B

via email - [FOI #362 email]

 

 

Dear Mr B

 

I am writing to you in response to your email of 24 August 2013,
purportedly under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) and asking
that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship provide you with the
following:

 

‘…documents concerning violations of law related to the operation of Serco
run detention facilities. I am also requesting documents related to
breaches of contract by Serco at these detention facilities.’

 

The purpose of this email is to advise you that I currently consider the
request to be invalid under the Act. I will explain my reasons in full
below.

 

Requirements of the FOI Act

 

The requirements for a valid FOI request are set out in s.15(2) of the
Act, which provides that:

 

The request must:

 

(a)   be in writing; and

 

(aa) state that the request is an application for the purposes of this
Act; and

 

(b) provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably
necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister,
to identify it; and

 

(c) give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the
applicant (for example, by providing an electronic address to which
notices may be sent by electronic communication).

 

Issue regarding your request

 

I am not satisfied that the scope of the request meets the requirement of
s.15(2)(b). The reason is that terms, ‘concerning violations’, ‘law’, and
‘breaches of contract’ are very broad terms. They do not provide such
information concerning the documents you require as is reasonably
necessary to enable a Departmental officer to identify the documents in
scope.

 

I note that there are various arms of the ‘law’ that may apply to Serco
operations, such as contract, administrative, tort, criminal, industrial
relations and workplace health and safety law. You have not identified
which area of the ‘law’ you are referring to. Similarly, the phrase
‘concerning violations’ is open to an equally broad range of
interpretations which will depend on the area of law that has been
‘violated’. Finally, the phrase ‘documents relating to breaches of
contract by Serco’ is too vague and broad for the Department to commence
processing this arm of the request. The term ‘breach of contract’ would
cover all breaches of any and all clauses in the contract. In addition,
this element would cover documents from internal emails through to
Ministerial briefs. It would assist a responsible officer to identify
relevant documents if you could specify a specific clause of the contract
and a specific type of document.

 

Way forward

 

At this point, I have not accepted this as a valid request. Please provide
a revised scope by close of business Friday 30 August 2013. If I have not
received a response by that time, I will close this request as invalid.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Angela O'Neil
Assistant Director

FOI & Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1382
Email: [1][email address]

 

show quoted sections

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 13/08/01040; ADF2013/27523

 

To – Mr Ben B

via email - [1][FOI #362 email]

 

 

Dear Mr B

 

I am writing to advise you that I have closed your request as invalid
under s.15(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth). This
provision requires the applicant to provide such information as to enable
a responsible officer of the agency to identify the requested document.

 

I am satisfied that the scope of your request does not allow a responsible
officer of the Department to identify the documents you are seeking.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Angela O'Neil
Assistant Director

FOI & Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1382
Email: [2][email address]

 

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

From: Angela O'NEIL On Behalf Of FOI
Sent: Wednesday, 28 August 2013 4:25 PM
To: Ben B
Cc: Linda ROSSITER
Subject: TRIM: Re - FA 13/08/01040 - Documents relating to violations of
law and breaches of contract at Serco run detention facilities
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 13/08/01040; ADF2013/27523

 

To – Mr Ben B

via email - [3][FOI #362 email]

 

 

Dear Mr B

 

I am writing to you in response to your email of 24 August 2013,
purportedly under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) and asking
that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship provide you with the
following:

 

‘…documents concerning violations of law related to the operation of Serco
run detention facilities. I am also requesting documents related to
breaches of contract by Serco at these detention facilities.’

 

The purpose of this email is to advise you that I currently consider the
request to be invalid under the Act. I will explain my reasons in full
below.

 

Requirements of the FOI Act

 

The requirements for a valid FOI request are set out in s.15(2) of the
Act, which provides that:

 

The request must:

 

(a)   be in writing; and

 

(aa) state that the request is an application for the purposes of this
Act; and

 

(b) provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably
necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister,
to identify it; and

 

(c) give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the
applicant (for example, by providing an electronic address to which
notices may be sent by electronic communication).

 

Issue regarding your request

 

I am not satisfied that the scope of the request meets the requirement of
s.15(2)(b). The reason is that terms, ‘concerning violations’, ‘law’, and
‘breaches of contract’ are very broad terms. They do not provide such
information concerning the documents you require as is reasonably
necessary to enable a Departmental officer to identify the documents in
scope.

 

I note that there are various arms of the ‘law’ that may apply to Serco
operations, such as contract, administrative, tort, criminal, industrial
relations and workplace health and safety law. You have not identified
which area of the ‘law’ you are referring to. Similarly, the phrase
‘concerning violations’ is open to an equally broad range of
interpretations which will depend on the area of law that has been
‘violated’. Finally, the phrase ‘documents relating to breaches of
contract by Serco’ is too vague and broad for the Department to commence
processing this arm of the request. The term ‘breach of contract’ would
cover all breaches of any and all clauses in the contract. In addition,
this element would cover documents from internal emails through to
Ministerial briefs. It would assist a responsible officer to identify
relevant documents if you could specify a specific clause of the contract
and a specific type of document.

 

Way forward

 

At this point, I have not accepted this as a valid request. Please provide
a revised scope by close of business Friday 30 August 2013. If I have not
received a response by that time, I will close this request as invalid.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Angela O'Neil
Assistant Director

FOI & Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1382
Email: [4][email address]

 

show quoted sections