Dear Menzies

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the department)
has received your Freedom of Information request of 23 February 2021
(attached).

I am writing on behalf of the department to acknowledge receipt of your
request.

Currently, a decision is due to you by 26 March 2021. However, this
timeline may be affected 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 a third party consultation is
required.

Confirmation of Scope

Bundle B – reference to ‘FOI requests that seek names of legal counsel’

We understand you seek documents created by Erin Higuchi which relate to
the management of FOI requests received by the department. We assume that
the reference to ‘legal counsel’ in the second part of your request means
legal officers within the department. Please let us know if our
understanding is incorrect.

Personal information

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

o 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

o 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 other 'personal
information' (i.e. 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 confirm if you are happy to exclude, in
addition to names, contact details and other personal information in the
documents relating to:

o Commonwealth staff; and
o other third party individuals (including but not limited to other FOI
applicants).

If you are seeking access to specific types of personal information, could
you please specify. If you are not seeking access to any personal
information, you can simply reply to this email with 'no personal
information requested'.

Responding to this email

Could you please provide the above clarification at your earliest
convenience, but by no later than 10 March 2021.

If you have any questions, please contact the department’s FOI Team by
email at [1][email address].

Yours sincerely,

____

Christina Graves
Special Counsel
[2][email address]
MinterEllison MinterEllison Building 25 National Circuit Forrest ACT 2603
[3]minterellison.com Follow us on [4]LinkedIn and [5]Twitter
■

MinterEllison has a [6]24-hour chatbot helpline offering guidance on a
range of COVID-19 related topics and a COVID-19 Hub [7]on our website.

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Official:Sensitive

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.minterellison.com/
4. http://www.linkedin.com/company/minter-e...
5. http://twitter.com/minterellison
6. https://www.minterellison.com/covid-19-i...
7. https://www.minterellison.com/articles/c...

Dear Mr Menzies

Please find attached a notice issued by the Department of Industry,
Science, Energy and Resources pursuant to section 24AB of the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Please respond to the notice within 14 days (i.e. by 25 March 2021).

Yours sincerely,

____

Christina Graves
Special Counsel
[1][email address]
MinterEllison MinterEllison Building 25 National Circuit Forrest ACT 2603
[2]minterellison.com Follow us on [3]LinkedIn and [4]Twitter
■

MinterEllison has a [5]24-hour chatbot helpline offering guidance on a
range of COVID-19 related topics and a COVID-19 Hub [6]on our website.

show quoted sections

Official:Sensitive

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.minterellison.com/
3. http://www.linkedin.com/company/minter-e...
4. http://twitter.com/minterellison
5. https://www.minterellison.com/covid-19-i...
6. https://www.minterellison.com/articles/c...

Our reference: RQ21/00699

Agency reference: LEX68215

Menzies

Sent by email: [1][FOI #7105 email]

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

Dear Menzies

I write to advise that on 23 March 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 15AB of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) because your request is considered
to be complex.

The Department has advised the OAIC that:

·         on 23 February 2021, the Department received your request

·         on 3 March 2021, the Department commenced document searches

·         on 4 March 2021, the Department’s FOI team was advised by the
line area the request was too large to process

·         on 11 March 2021, the Department advises that a request
consultation notice was sent to you under s 24AB of the FOI Act, you
responded with a revised scope on the same day

·         on 12 March 2021, the Department has advised that the revised
scope was provided to the line area

·         on 15 March 2021, the Department has advised that the line area
confirmed the request was able to be processed

·         the Department considers your request to be complex as it
relates to subject matter which has received an unusually large volume of
requests. This has led to the Department devoting a significant amount of
resources to the processing of these requests and has caused unavoidable
delays

·         the Department advise that a decision is currently being
prepared, and

·         additional time is required to finalise the decision.

The Department has requested an extension of 7 days to 1 April 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 26 March 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 regarding this email please contact me on (02)
9284 9847 or via email [3][email address]. Please quote OAIC
reference number at the top of this email in all correspondence.

Yours sincerely

[4][IMG]   Jasmin Clarke  |  Assistant
Review and Investigation
Advisor

Freedom of information

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

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

+61 2 9284 9847  | 
[6][email address]
[10]Subscribe [11]Subscribe to
[7]Facebook | [8]LinkedIn | [9]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #7105 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: RQ21/00699

Agency reference: LEX68215

Menzies

Sent by email: [1][FOI #7105 email]

Extension of time under s 15AB

Dear Menzies

Please find attached a decision of today’s date for an extension of time
from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

Sincerely

[2][IMG]   Jasmin Clarke  |  Assistant
Review and Investigation
Advisor

Freedom of information

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

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

+61 2 9284 9847  | 
[4][email address]
[8]Subscribe [9]Subscribe to
[5]Facebook | [6]LinkedIn | [7]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #7105 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...

Our reference: RQ21/00809
Agency reference: LEX68215
Menzies

Sent by email: [FOI #7105 email]

Extension of time under s 15AB

Dear Menzies

Thank you for your email below.

Please find attached a decision to a further extension of time request under s 15AB of today's date.

Kind regards,

Avanithah Selvarajah | Review and Investigations Adviser (Legal) (A/g)
Freedom of information
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9625 | [email address]

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Subscribe to Information Matters

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Dear Menzies,
 
On 7 April 2021, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner granted
the department an extension of 14 days under section 15AB of the FOI Act
to process your request. Accordingly, the current decision due date is 15
April 2021.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
____
 
Christina Graves
Special Counsel
[1][email address]
MinterEllison Constitution Place, 1 Constitution Avenue, Canberra City ACT
2601
[2]minterellison.com Follow us on [3]LinkedIn and [4]Twitter
■
 
 

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Dear Menzies

Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request of 23
February 2021.

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

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