Emails sent by Daniel Keys following the meeting with Apple on the 21st of May 2020
Dear Department of Health,
According to this document from your disclosure log* Daniel Keys was present at a meeting between the then Minister for Health and Apple.
Could you please provide any emails sent by Daniel Keys about COVIDSafe, Bluetooth, contact tracing, exposure notifications or anything else discussed at the meeting following this meeting?
I am happy for you to remove any personal information from the emails.
Yours faithfully,
Concerned Citizen
Good afternoon,
I am writing to notify you that on 12 December 2022 the Department of
Health and Aged Care (the department) received your request for access to
documents. You have requested:
Could you please provide any emails sent by Daniel Keys about COVIDSafe,
Bluetooth, contact tracing, exposure notifications or anything else
discussed at the meeting following this meeting?
Section 15(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act)
provides that a request for access to documents must provide sufficient
information as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer in
the department to identify the document requested.
Where a request does not satisfy the validity requirements of the FOI Act,
the department must undertake a request consultation process with you.
Request consultation process
You have not provided sufficient information for a responsible officer in
the department to identify the documents you are seeking access to and as
such, your request is not currently a valid FOI request.
The Department is providing you with a reasonable opportunity to take
steps to provide sufficient information that would enable the department
to identify the documents you are seeking access to, and to submit a
request that is valid for the purposes of section 15 of the FOI Act.
Refining the scope of your request
The scope of your request is broad and unrestricted. The phrase “or
anything else discussed at the meeting following this meeting” does not
clearly identify the subject matter of the documents you are seeking. The
effect is that it would not be possible for the FOI decision maker to make
a decision confirming that reasonable searches had been completed to
identify documents potentially falling within scope of your request.
In addition, the timeframe of your request itself is quite broad, with an
interpreted timeframe of 21 May 2020 to 12 December 2022.
You may wish to remove the phrase “or anything else discussed at the
meeting following this meeting” from your request; provide a description
of the meeting you are referring to (participants, subject and/or date
range); and/or provide a timeframe sufficiently restricted to exclude
matters that could not reasonably be considered to be a product of any
such meeting.
Your request for example may look like:
o Could you please provide any emails sent by Daniel Keys about
COVIDSafe, Bluetooth, contact tracing, exposure notifications from 21
May 2020 to XX Month YYYY
Timeframes
As this is not currently a valid request, the statutory processing
timeframes have not commenced.
The consultation period during which you may revise the scope of your
request is 14 days from the date of this email. If the department does not
hear from you before the end of the 14-day consultation period, your
request will be regarded as an invalid request and no further action will
be taken on it by the department.
If you require assistance to modify your request to ensure that is a valid
request, you may contact the FOI team on (02) 6289 1666 or by email at
[1][Health request email].
Kind regards,
Daniel
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [2][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners
of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land,
sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to
elders both past and present
Dear FOI,
Thank you for your email. I am interested in any emails Daniel Keys sent immediately following the meeting with Apple about what was discussed during the meeting. Perhaps the easiest way to progress this would be for me to specifically request:
Any emails sent by Daniel Keys from the 21st of May 2020 to the 28th of May 2020 containing any of the following terms (ignoring any differences in capitalisation):
Apple,
Google,
Bluetooth,
COVIDSafe,
Exposure Notifications,
ENF,
EN,
GAEN,
iOS,
Android,
Contact tracing
Again, I am happy for any personal information to be removed prior to you making this information available.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
Dear Concerned Citizen,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – NOTIFICATION OF RECEIPT AND REQUEST FOR
AN EXTENSION OF TIME
Acknowledgement of receipt
I am writing to notify you that the Department of Health (department)
received your valid FOI request on 14 December 2022 for access to the
following documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI
Act):
Any emails sent by Daniel Keys from the 21st of May 2020 to the 28th of
May 2020 containing any of the following terms (ignoring any differences
in capitalisation):
Apple,
Google,
Bluetooth,
COVIDSafe,
Exposure Notifications,
ENF,
EN,
GAEN,
iOS,
Android,
Contact tracing
Request for 14 day extension
The FOI Act requires the department to provide you with an access decision
by 13 January 2023 (30 days).
Many areas of the department, including the FOI Section, will be closed
from 24 December 2022 to 2 January 2023.
To ensure the department has sufficient time to process your request and
provide access to all relevant documents, we are seeking your agreement to
extend the period for completing your FOI request by 10 days under
section 15AA of the FOI Act). If you agree to this extension, the
department would be required to provide you with an access decision by 23
January 2023.
If you agree to this extension, could let us know by return email to
[1][Health request email].
FOI processing charge
The department may impose a charge for the work involved in providing
access to documents. The amount of the charge depends on how many
documents are relevant to your FOI request and the amount of work involved
in processing your request.
If the department decides to impose a charge for this FOI request, we will
notify you in writing and you will have an opportunity to ask for the
charge to be reduced or waived.
Draft and duplicate documents
The department considers draft and duplicate documents are generally
irrelevant to FOI requests under section 22 of the FOI Act.
Unless you advise us otherwise, the department will not process draft and
duplicate documents when processing your FOI request.
Departmental staff names and contact details
Names and other personal information about employees may also be subject
to protection under the Privacy Act 1988.
In addition, the department considers the names and contact details of
junior Commonwealth employee (below Senior Executive Service level) and
the mobile telephone numbers of all employees are generally irrelevant
under section 22 of the FOI Act.
Unless you advise us otherwise, those details will be excluded from any
documents provided to you in response to your FOI request.
Contact
You can contact the FOI Unit via email at [2][email address], should you
have any questions.
Kind regards
Daniel
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [3][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners
of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land,
sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to
elders both past and present
Dear FOI,
Thank you for your email. I am happy to agree to an extension of time given many people will be away.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
Dear Concerned Citizen,
I refer to your FOI 4145.
I confirm the department is processing your FOI request.
Further Clarification of Scope
We note the keywords provided within your request may identify a broad
range of documents, a number of which may be outside the intent of your
request, and as such the department wishes to consult with you informally
on the scope for your request.
It would assist the department if you could indicate the intended subject
matter your request, for example, if you are seeking access to emails in
relation to COVID-19 and the COVIDSafe application?
Can you please confirm the above by close of business Friday 13 January
2023.
We look forward to your response.
Kind regards,
Daniel
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [1][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners
of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land,
sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to
elders both past and present
Dear FOI,
I am interested to understand the Department’s reasons for failing to adopt Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification system in the COVIDSafe app. Soon after the initial release of the COVIDSafe app Daniel Keys (in his capacity as First Assistant Secretary, Information Technology Division) attended a meeting with the then Minister for Health and representatives from Apple where the Exposure Notification system was discussed. See:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/8...
I am now requesting emails that Daniel Keys sent in the week following this meeting that may relate to the information discussed at the meeting and which may shed some light on why the Department failed to adopt the approach recommended by Apple and Google.
I have selected my search terms carefully. You’ve indicated that you fear the terms I’ve selected “may identify a broad range of documents, a number of which may be outside the intent of [my] request” but you haven’t indicated whether this is actually the case.
Could you please search using the terms I’ve provided and let me know if that results in an unmanageable number of documents? I don’t want to narrow the scope of my search at this stage if it isn’t necessary to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
Dear Concerned Citizen,
Thank you for your email below and providing the clarification on the
scope of your request.
I confirm that the Department of Health and Aged Care (the department) has
located relevant documents to your request.
Request for extension of time
The documents located contain information relating to other government
agencies and the department will need to consult with those agencies as
part of the FOI assessment process. The Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) does not afford extensions of time regarding these
consultations.
Section 15AA of the FOI Act permits the department to extend the statutory
processing timeframe, with your agreement, for a period of up to 30
calendar days.
To ensure that department has undertaken all reasonable steps to identify
all documents relevant to your request, consult with other government
agencies, and for the decision maker to make a well-balanced decision on
access to any such documents identified, the department is seeking your
agreement to an extension of 15 calendar days.
If you agree to this extension, the statutory due date will then be 07
February 2023. The department will however continue to process your
request as quickly as possible.
It would assist if you could please advise by close of business Wednesday
18 January 2023 if you agree to this extension of time. If we do not hear
from you by this date or if you do not agree to the extension, the
department may consider seeking an extension of time from the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) under section 15AB of the
FOI Act.
We thank you for your ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to
process your request.
If you have any questions regarding any of the matters discussed in this
email, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section at
[1][email address].
Kind regards,
Daniel
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [2][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners
of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land,
sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to
elders both past and present
Dear FOI,
Thank you for your email. I am happy to agree to an extension of time.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
Dear Concerned Citizen,
I refer to your FOI 4145.
I confirm the department is processing your FOI request.
Request for further extension of time
The documents located contain information relating to other government
agencies and the department will need to consult with those agencies as
part of the FOI assessment process. The Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) does not afford extensions of time regarding these
consultations.
Section 15AA of the FOI Act permits the department to extend the
statutory processing timeframe, with your agreement, for a period of up
to 30 calendar days.
To ensure that department has undertaken all reasonable steps to identify
all documents relevant to your request, consult with other government
agencies, and for the decision maker to make a well-balanced decision on
access to any such documents identified, the department is seeking your
agreement to an extension of 5 calendar days.
If you agree to this extension, the statutory due date will then be 12
February 2023. The department will however continue to process your
request as quickly as possible.
Please advise by close of business Wednesday 01 February 2023 if you agree
to this extension of time.
If we do not hear from you by this date or if you do not agree to the
extension, the department may consider seeking an extension of time from
the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) under section
15AB of the FOI Act.
We thank you for your ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to
process your request.
If you have any questions regarding any of the matters discussed in this
email, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section at
[1][email address]
We look forward to your response.
Kind regards,
Joanne
FOI Officer – Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [2][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners
of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land,
sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to
elders both past and present
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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
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Dear FOI,
Thank you for your email. I have already agreed to two requests to extend the timeframe for processing my request and I am not inclined to agree to a third request.
Please respond by the 7th of February as previously agreed.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
Dear FOI,
Let me get this straight? You asked for an extension till the 7th of February. I agreed. You then asked for an extension till the 12th of February. I didn’t agree and indicated I expected a response by the 7th as previously agreed. You didn’t respond by the 7th. Nor did you respond by the 12th. Is that right?
Why bother asking for an extension if you’re going to ignore my response? And fail to provide a response by either the date we agreed or the later date that you asked for an extension for?
What are the consequences for your failure to comply with the timeframes required by the FOI Act?
Given that you have failed to respond within the statutory timeframes you are deemed to have refused access to the documents and as such I will be requesting an Information Commissioner Review of your deemed refusal.
This does not absolve you of your responsibility to continue to process my request. The FOI act requires you to continue to do so and as such I expect a response now.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
Our reference: RQ23/00510
Agency reference: FOI 4145
Concerned Citizen
By email: [1][FOI #9690 email]
CC: [2][Health request email]
Extension of time under s 15AB
Dear Concerned Citizen
Please find attached an extension of time decision relating to your FOI
request with the Department of Health (the Department). A copy of this
decision has been provided to the Department today.
Kind regards
Avanithah Selvarajah
[3][IMG] Intake and Early Resolution Team
Freedom of Information Regulatory Group
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[4]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 [5][email address]
[6][IMG] | [7][IMG] | [8][IMG] | [9]Subscribe to OAICnet newsletter
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Dear Concerned Citizen
We refer to your FOI request received on 12 December 2023.
Please find attached a decision on access together with the documents
referred to in that decision.
If you have any queries in relation to this decision, please contact the
FOI Section on the details below.
Yours sincerely
Guy
Freedom of Information Section
Legal Advice and Legislation Branch
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government, Department of Health and Aged Care
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [1][email address]
PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional
custodians of Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and
community. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
"Important: 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
receive this transmission in error please notify the author immediately
and delete all copies of this transmission."
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]