Dear CR

We refer to your request, received by the Department of Employment and
Workplace Relations (department) on 1 October 2024, for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the following documents:

“1. The most recent 30 notices of charges issued to FOI applicants.

For each of these 30 requests, if applicable, please also provide:

2. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following applicant
contention.

3. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following internal or
external review.

Please exclude the following information:

i) Personal information of FOI applicants.”

On 8 October 2024, you revised your request as follows:

                “1. The most recent 30 notices of charges issued to FOI
applicants.

                For each of these 30 requests, if applicable, please also
provide:

                2. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following
applicant contention.

                3. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following
internal or external review.

                The time period for my request is from 1 July 2022 to 1
October 2024.

                Please exclude the following information:

                i) Personal information of FOI applicants, including
supporting evidence or details of personal circumstances in a financial
hardship contention.

                ii) Emails that attached the charges notices/decision
letters.”

Your reference number for this request is LEX 1204. Please include this
reference number in all correspondence relating to your request.

Timeframe

The 30-day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the
day after the department received your request. You should therefore
expect to receive a decision from us by 31 October 2024. The 30-day
timeframe may be extended with your agreement or where otherwise permitted
under the FOI Act (for example, if the department is required to undertake
third party consultation). We will notify you if this happens.

Charges

The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your
request and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable.

Your address

The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address that we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[1][FOI #12116 email]. Unless you tell us
otherwise, we will send all notices and correspondence to this address.

Disclosure log

Information released under the FOI Act may be published on a disclosure
log on our website, subject to certain exceptions. These exceptions
include where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.

Proposed irrelevant material (such as staff details) and material that is
out of scope

The department will treat the following as irrelevant under section
22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act unless you tell us otherwise by the timeframe
outlined below:

•   the names, signatures, identification numbers and direct contact
details of Commonwealth staff.

The department will treat any duplicate documents, drafts where there is a
final version available, and documents that are publicly available as out
of scope of your request.

The department will take the above approach when processing your request
unless you tell us otherwise by 3pm on 18 Friday October 2024.

Further assistance

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

Yours sincerely

Trudi

Information Law Team

Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

dewr.gov.au

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Dear CR

We refer to your email below.

We consider this is a new freedom of information request and invite you to
submit a new request.

Yours sincerely

Trudi

Information Law Team

Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

[1]dewr.gov.au

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations acknowledges the
traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and
their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and Elders past, present and
emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Our reference: 1204

I refer to your request, received by the Department of Employment and
Workplace Relations (department) on 1 October 2024 and revised on 8
October 2024, for access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) to the following documents:

1.           The most recent 30 notices of charges issued to FOI
applicants.

For each of these 30 requests, if applicable, please also provide:

2.           Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following
applicant contention.

3.           Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following internal
or external review.

The time period for my request is from 1 July 2022 to 1 October 2024.

Please exclude the following information:

i) Personal information of FOI applicants, including supporting evidence
or details of personal circumstances in a financial hardship contention.

ii) Emails that attached the charges notices/decision letters.

Your request covers documents containing information of an organisation’s
business and commercial affairs. As such, the department is required to
consult with an affected third party concerned (under section 27 of the
FOI Act) before making a decision on the release of their information.

Affected third party consultation

The affected third party will be asked if they object to the disclosure
and invited to provide reasons and evidence for their submissions. While
any comments made by the affected third party will be taken into account,
the department is obliged to form its own views in making a decision about
whether to grant you access to the documents you requested.

Extended timeframe

The period for processing your request has been extended by 30 days in
order to allow the department sufficient time to consult with the affected
third party in accordance with section 15(6) of the FOI Act.

The new decision date for your request is 2 December 2024.

Your 23 October 2024 correspondence

We also refer to your email on 23 October 2024 which stated: If a
preliminary charge notice or decision of a charge is sent via the body of
an email (as opposed to an email attachment) I wish to access a copy of
that email, as well as the applicant's contention reasons.

For completeness, we confirm that the department’s Information Law Team
does not send out preliminary assessment of charge notices or charge
decisions in the body of an email. The relevant notices and decisions are
contained in a separate letter sent as attachments to emails. We also note
that where, after receiving a preliminary assessment of charge notice, an
applicant contends that the charge should be reduced or not imposed, the
department’s charge decision will contain an outline or extract of the
applicant’s contentions in the statement of reasons. As such, the charge
decisions within the scope of your revised request contain an outline or
extract of the applicants’ contentions regarding the reduction or
non-imposition of the charge for processing their FOI requests.

Further assistance

If you have any questions about your request, please email
[1][email address].

Yours sincerely

Trudi

Information Law Team

Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

[2]dewr.gov.au

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations acknowledges the
traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and
their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and Elders past, present and
emerging.

show quoted sections