Dear Faye

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the department)
has received your Freedom of Information request of 13 December 2021
(attached).

This correspondence is to acknowledge receipt of your request. Currently a
decision is due to you by 12 January 2021. However, this timeline may be
effected by the requirement to undertake consultation with affected third
parties or if the department determines you are liable to pay a charge in
relation to your request. You will be notified by the department if
charges are liable or if third party consultation is required.

Personal information

For documents that fall within the scope of the request, it is the
practice of the department to withhold:

·       the names, signatures and contact details of junior staff; That
is:

o   Commonwealth staff who are not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);
and

o   Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff; and

·       the mobile phone numbers of SES officers.

The names and other details of SES officers will be released unless the
information is exempt from disclosure.

Confirmation from you that you are not seeking ‘personal information’ (ie.
the names and contact details of any individuals, or any information that
could reasonably identify an individual) may enable a more timely and cost
effective processing of your request.

Therefore, could you please clarify if you a seeking access to personal
information in the documents relating to:

·       third parties; and

·       Commonwealth staff.

If you are not seeking access to any personal information, you can simply
reply to this email with ‘no personal information requested’.

If you are seeking access to specific types of personal information, could
you please specify.

Request for extension of time

Please note that the department was closed from 25 December 2020 to 4
January 2021.

To assist in the processing your request, we seek your agreement to a 15
day extension under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the department will notify the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner of the extension of time, and the decision on
your request would then be due to you on or before  27 January 2021.

Could you please confirm your agreement to this extension at your earliest
convenience but no later than 15 January 2021.

Regards

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance Branch | Corporate Division

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

Legal In Confidence - This transmission is intended only for the use of
the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged
information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that
any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately
by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

.

If you have any questions, please contact the FOI team.

Regards

OFFICIAL

Our reference: RQ21/00224

Agency reference: LEX 67721

Ms Faye Lawson

Sent by email: [1][FOI #6974 email]

Extension of time application by the Department of Industry, Science,
Energy and Resources

Dear Ms Lawson

I write to advise that on 25 January 2021 the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (the OAIC) received an application from the
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the Department)
for an extension of time, to process your FOI request.

The Department has applied for an extension of time under s 15AC of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) because it has been unable to
finalise your request within the initial decision period.

The Department has advised the OAIC that:

o Delays have been encountered in processing your FOI request as the
Department has received multiple FOI requests relating to the same
subject matter. Due to the large volume of these requests, the
Department advises it has faced unavoidable delays in processing this
request.

o The Department was impacted by limited staff availability over the
Christmas/New Year shutdown period.

o The Department have advised significant progress has been made and it
is confident a decision is made within the requested extension.

The Department has requested an extension to 24 February 2021. I will
take any comments you may have to make into account when deciding the
application.

Please respond to this email by close of business 29 January 2021. If I do
not hear from you by this date, the decision maker will make a decision on
the basis of the information provided to me by the Department.

You will be notified of the decision once the matter has been finalised.

Further information about extension of time requests may be found on our
website at [2]Extensions of time.

Contact

If you have any questions about this letter, please contact me on 02 9284
9625 or via email [3][email address]. In all
correspondence please include OAIC reference number at the top of this
letter.

Kind regards

[4][IMG]   Avanithah Selvarajah  |  Review and
Investigations Adviser (Legal)
(A/g)

Freedom of information

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [5]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9625 | 
[6][email address]
[10]Subscribe [11]Subscribe to
[7]Facebook | [8]LinkedIn | [9]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #6974 email]
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
5. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
6. mailto:[email address]
7. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
9. https://twitter.com/OAICgov
11. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

Our reference: RQ21/00224

Agency reference: LEX 67721

Ms Faye Lawson

Sent by email: [1][FOI #6974 email]

Extension of time under s 15AC

Dear Ms Lawson

Please find attached a decision of today’s date.

Kind regards,

[2][IMG]   Avanithah Selvarajah  |  Review and
Investigations Adviser (Legal)
(A/g)

Freedom of information

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [3]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9625 | 
[4][email address]
[9]Subscribe to
[5]Facebook | [6]LinkedIn | [7]Twitter |   [8]Subscribe icon Information
Matters

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #6974 email]
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
6. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
7. https://twitter.com/OAICgov
9. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

Dear Faye

Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request of 13
December 2020.

Should you have any queries regarding this matter, please contact the FOI
team.

Regards

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

show quoted sections