Dear Mr Blue

 

The Department of the Environment and Energy received the below request
from you on 11 October 2017.

 

You submitted that you wanted to  "inquire about the costs associated with
the recent Finkel review. Could you please provide me with the financial
data that details the total cost of the exercise from beginning to end if
possible or if not, point me in the direction where I can obtain this."

 

Unfortunately we cannot accept your request as a FOI request in its
current form because it are not valid for the purposes of the Freedom of
Information Act 1982. To be a valid FOI request the request  must:

•             be in writing;

•             state that the request is an application for the purposes of
the FOI Act;

•             provide information about the document(s) to assist us to
identify the documents; and

•             provide an address for reply.

 

Your request does not satisfy the third dot point. This is because the
second part of your request seeks information. Under section 15(2)(b) of
the FOI Act, a request must “provide such information concerning the
document as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the
agency, or the Minister, to identify it”. In effect, an FOI request needs
to request a document.

 

We understand that the Department was in the process of gathering the
requested information in response to a previous email from you when you
submitted your request. Although your FOI request is not valid, the
Department provides you the following information:

 

The Department hosted a Taskforce to support the Finkel Review. The
expenditure for the Taskforce was approximately $1.7 million.

 

Could you please advise if this satisfies the information you are seeking.
 

 

If you would like to submit a FOI request, you might like to contact the
FOI team on (02) 6274 2098 or by email on [1][email address] for
guidance.

 

Regards

 

FOI Contact Officer |General Counsel Branch
Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: (02) 6274 2098 
e: [2][email address]

 

 

 

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