[SEC=OFFICIAL]

Dear CR

 

Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Request No: LEX 78690

 

We refer to your request received by the Department of Climate Change,
Energy, the Environment and Water on 5 November 2024 for access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) made in the
following terms:

 

‘Please find my request below. In addition, please consider my Request for
Administrative Arrangements below.

 

I request access to the following documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982:

 

1. All notices of a charge issued to FOI applicants between 1 July 2022
and 5 November 2024.

 

For the purposes of my request, a “notice of a charge” refers to a
“written notice outlining the preliminary assessment of the charge”, as
defined by FOI Guidelines [4.9].  Other terms synonymous with this
definition include “charge notice” and “charge letter.”

 

Specifically, I request the following items from charge notices:

 

1.i - That the applicant is liable to pay a charge, the preliminary
assessment of the charge and the basis for the calculation (FOI Guidelines
[4.54a-b]),

 

1.ii - (if applicable) Any written explanation or justification as to
whether the cost of calculating and collecting the charge might exceed the
cost to the agency or the Commonwealth (FOI Guidelines [4.114(1)] and
[4.4]), and

 

1.iii - The FOI reference number and date of the letter.

 

To assist with processing, you may omit the rest of the charge notice. I
expect details such as applicant information, the scope of their request,
and employee names, signatures, and details to be excluded (s 22).

 

If multiple charge notices were issued for a single request (e.g.,
following further review or scope reduction), all charge notices are in
scope. Final charge notices (issued after a decision is provided (FOI
Guidelines [4.78])) that differ from the previous charge are also in
scope.

 

If your agency administers FOI requests on behalf of another entity (e.g.,
a minister or departmental sub-branch), such requests are included.

 

2. All notices of a charge decision issued to FOI applicants between 1
July 2022 and 5 November 2024.

 

For the purposes of my request, a “notice of a charge decision” refers to
a “written notice of decision to the applicant as to whether the charge
will be imposed, reduced or waived” as defined by FOI Guidelines [4.14].
Other terms that can be used synonymously include “charge decision notice”
and “charge decision letter.”

 

Specifically, I request the following items from charge decision letters:

 

2.i - The decision to impose, reduce or waive a charge, as well as the
charge amount,

 

2.ii - (if applicable) Any written explanation or justification as to
whether the cost of calculating and collecting the charge might exceed the
cost to the agency or the Commonwealth (FOI Guidelines [4.114(1)] and
[4.4]), and

 

2.iii - The FOI reference number and date of the letter.

 

To assist with processing, you may omit the rest of the charge decision
notice. I expect details such as applicant information, the scope of their
request, contention reasons, decision-maker explanation of reasons (except
part 2.ii), employee names, signatures, and details, or any information
derived from the above (such as details about third parties or supporting
evidence of a financial hardship contention) are to be excluded (s 22).

 

Some agencies, when deciding to waive a charge following an applicant’s
contention, may simply state that they have “decided not to impose charges
for this request”. Other agencies, in similar circumstances, provide a
formal decision notice, including a statement of reasons and review
rights. For the purposes of my request, both informal and formal decision
notices are within scope.

 

Additionally, if multiple charge decision letters have been issued for a
single request (e.g., following further review or scope changes), all such
letters are included in the scope of this request. Charge decisions made
under section 55G of the FOI Act are also included.

 

3. Any internal review decision letters regarding a charge notice or
charge decision between 1 July 2022 and 5 November 2024

 

Specifically, I request the following items from internal review decision
letters:

 

3.i - The decision to impose, reduce or waive a charge, as well as the
charge amount,

 

3.ii - (if applicable) Any written explanation or justification as to
whether the cost of calculating and collecting the charge might exceed the
cost to the agency or the Commonwealth (FOI Guidelines [4.114(1)] and
[4.4]), and

 

3.iii - The FOI reference number and date of the letter.

 

To assist with processing, you may omit the rest of the internal review
decision letter, including any background information unrelated to the
charge decision. I expect details such as applicant information, the scope
of their request, review reasons, decision-maker explanation of reasons
(except part 3.ii), employee names, signatures and details, or any
information derived from the above, are to be excluded (s 22).

 

4. Any external review decisions regarding a charge notice or charge
decision between 1 July 2022 and 5 November 2024. This includes decisions
not to undertake an IC Review.

 

I expect details such as applicant information, the scope of their
request, review reasons, employee names or details, or any information
derived from the above, are to be excluded (s 22) from the scope of my
request.

 

5. All confirmations of payment and refunds between 1 July 2022 and 5
November 2024.

 

Any document confirming receipt of payment or refund of payment is
included in the scope of my request.

 

To assist with processing, you may omit the rest of the document. Details
of the applicant and their payment details are to be excluded (s 22).

 

If you are willing, I would prefer this information to be provided
administratively, such as in an appendix to the statement of reasons or as
a note in a schedule of documents. I would like the following information:
whether any payment was made, the amount paid, whether any amount was
refunded, and the amount refunded for each request. Please let me know if
you are willing to pursue this administratively, and I will confirm
withdrawing this part (5) of my request.

 

In addition to the document-specific exclusions listed above, please
exclude the following:

 

i) Any details about FOI applicants, including, but not limited to
personal information and supporting evidence of personal circumstances in
a financial hardship contention.

 

ii) Any details about a third party, business, or organisation, including
but not limited to their personal information, business information, and
commercial affairs.

 

iii) Any information that may require third-party consultation under the
FOI Act.

 

iv) Any details about any individual, including but not limited to APS
staff and signatures.

 

v) Emails that merely attach charges notices or decision letters.

 

In many cases, agencies send charge notices and charge decision notices as
formal documents (such as PDFs or Word files) attached to an email. The
emails themselves typically contain little more than a message like "see
attached," and these are not relevant to my request and may be excluded.

 

However, if a charge notice or charge decision is provided directly in the
body of an email (without a formal attachment), the email itself would be
in scope. In such cases, the content of the email, as it serves the
function of the notice, should be included in my request.

 

vi) Duplicate documents.

 

vii) Background information unrelated to charges.

 

Request for Administrative Arrangements

 

In lieu of providing all documents requested in parts 1-3 and part 5, I
propose an administrative arrangement. I request a table summarising
charge estimates, decisions, internal review decisions#, and payment
information between 1 July 2022 and 5 November 2024. The table should
contain the following columns:

 

FOI Reference | Charge Notice Date | Notice Estimate ($) | Charge Decision
Date | Charge Decision* | Internal Review Decision Date | Internal Review
Decision* | Request Status^ | Notes&

 

# Internal Review decisions that are unrelated to a charge are irrelevant
and must not be included.

 

* Charge Decision & Internal Review Decision - These should be categorised
as:

 

(1) Waive

 

(2) Reduce – $(new charge total)

 

(3) Affirm

 

(4) Deemed Affirm

 

(5) Cannot Impose (e.g., when a decision on the request is not made in
time)

 

(6) Other (for complex cases, with notes).

 

^ Request Status - Enter as follows:

 

(1) Ongoing (still processing or within the 60-day IC Review timeframe)

 

(2) Finalised (request is no longer being processed and is outside the
60-day IC Review timeframe)

 

(3) External Review (provide OAIC/AATA/FCA/FCAFC reference number)

 

(4) Withdrawn

 

(5) Deemed Withdrawn

 

(6) Other (for complex cases, with notes).

 

& Notes - Include whether any payment was made, the amount paid, whether
any amount was refunded, and the amount refunded. Additionally, if you
would like to add any submissions regarding a request you are free to add
it here.

 

If multiple charge notices were issued for a single request (e.g., due to
scope reduction), each notice should be a new entry in the table. Please
include the reason for additional notices in the Notes section. A ‘final
charge’ notice (the actual cost of processing) that differs from the
previous charge should also be included as a new entry, with an “actual
cost” note.

 

If you agree to this administrative arrangement, I will confirm
withdrawing parts 1-3 (except parts 1.ii, 2.ii, 3.ii) and part 5 of my
request. The remaining parts of my FOI request would be:

 

(Parts 1.ii, 2.ii, 3.ii): Any written explanation or justification as to
whether the cost of calculating and collecting the charge might exceed the
cost to the agency or the Commonwealth (FOI Guidelines [4.114(1)] and
[4.4]), and

 

(Part 4): Any external review decisions regarding a charge notice or
charge decision.

 

Public Interest Factor

 

I anticipate that some agencies may impose a charge for this request. To
pre-empt this, I will provide the following public interest
considerations. I allege that some government agencies are incorrectly
imposing charges as a means to delay or discourage access to documents,
while doing so at a net cost to the Commonwealth. I intend to raise these
concerns in a complaint to the OAIC. Your assistance in providing this
information will help determine whether your agency is meeting its
statutory obligations under the FOI Act.

 

In CropLife Australia and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry (Freedom of information) [2024] AICmr 159, the Assistant FOI
Commissioner set aside a charge of $701, agreeing that access to documents
regarding the Department’s FOI processes was in the public interest, as it
would assist in assessing whether the Department was fulfilling its
obligations under the FOI Act.

 

The Assistant Commissioner, Freedom of Information, noted at [24]:

 

"where there are concerns about whether an agency is carrying out its
statutory obligations appropriately with respect to a particular process
(such as under the FOI Act), providing access to documents relating to the
conduct of those obligations would go beyond merely enhancing transparency
by assisting inquiry into whether the agency is adequately fulfilling
those obligations. Accordingly, I accept the applicant’s submission that
giving access to information that might reveal any deficiencies with
respect to the Department’s administration of FOI requests under the FOI
Act would be in the general public interest."

 

Thank you for your consideration of this request. Please let me know if
you agree to the administrative arrangement at your earliest convenience.’

 

Your address

 

The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[1][FOI #12292 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address.

 

Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish correspondence to be sent
to another address or if your address changes. If you do not advise us of
changes to your address, correspondence and notices will continue to be
sent to the address specified above.

 

Disclosure log

 

Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a
disclosure log on the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act
requires this publication, however it is subject to certain exceptions,
including where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.

 

Further assistance

 

If you have any questions, please email [2][email address].

 

Kind regards

FOI Contact Officer

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, John Gorton Building, King Edward Terrace

(GPO Box 3090) Parkes ACT 2600 Australia

T 02 6272 4704 | E [3][email address]

 

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show quoted sections

OFFICIAL

Dear CR

 

Please find attached correspondence from the Department of Climate Change,
Energy, the Environment and Water in relation to your FOI request, LEX
78690.

 

Kind regards

 

FOI Contact Officer

Legal Division | Corporate, Climate and Energy Branch | Information Law
Team

Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, John Gorton Building, King Edward Terrace,
Parkes ACT 2600

GPO Box 3090 ACT 2601

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

T 02 6272 4704 | E [1][DCCEWW request email]

 [ ]

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DCCEEW.gov.au ABN 63 573 932 849

 

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received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
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OFFICIAL

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