FOI charges letters
Dear Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
I request access to the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982:
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.
Yours faithfully,
CR
OFFICIAL
FOI Request: LEX 11622
Dear CR
Thank you for your email dated 1 October 2024 seeking access to documents
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
This email sets out some information about how your request will be
processed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the department).
Scope of request:
You have sought access to:
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.
Request for assistance
Publicly available information
All agencies are required to report quarterly on their statistics,
including charges, to the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC). These reports are subsequently published, with the
latest available being the [1]2022-23 financial year. You can access this
data via data.gov.au. If you open the excel spreadsheet, at the very
bottom there are a number of different tabs. You will need to navigate
across to the tab ‘Charges’, and then you will locate the departments
statistics on row 134.
We seek your assistance in clarifying whether you are specifically seeking
the documents the subject of your request, or whether you are really after
the information. We note that the department does not issue charges
notices very often.
If you are seeking the information, we would be grateful if you could
review the publicly available information and tell us whether you would be
willing to amend your request to the time period that is not yet published
– 1 July 2023 to 1 October 2024.
General FOI matters
Timeframe for receiving our decision:
We received your request on 1 October 2024, and the 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date.
A decision is currently due to you by 31 October 2024. The period of 30
days may be extended in certain circumstances.
Charges:
Please note that the department may issue charges for processing FOI
requests. If applicable, we will advise you of any relevant charges when
we are in a position to estimate the resources required to process your
request.
Disclosure log:
Please note that, with some exceptions (such as personal information),
documents released under the FOI Act may later be published on the
department’s [2]disclosure log.
Exclusion of officials’ names and contact details:
It is the department’s policy to withhold the personal information of
junior staff from ministerial offices and government officials not in the
Senior Executive Service (SES) or equivalent, including their email
addresses and contact numbers, together with all signatures, mobile phone
numbers, departmental inboxes and technical transmission details including
reference numbers.
Duplicate documents and incomplete email chains:
Your request will be processed on the basis that you did not intend to
capture duplicate documents or duplicate emails within email chains.
If you require the excluded information or documents, please let us know
at [3][DFAT request email] so the decision-maker may consider; otherwise, we
will take it that you agree to the information and documents being
excluded from the scope of your request.
Personal Information:
If we need to consult with other people or organisations regarding your
FOI request, we may need to disclose your personal information (e.g. your
name). When we consult it may be apparent that you have made a request,
even if we do not disclose your identity. Please let us know if you have
any concerns in this regard. Further information on the way the department
handles personal information is accessible via our [4]privacy policy.
Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact us by reply email.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[5]dfat.gov.au | [6]X | [7]Facebook | [8]Instagram | [9]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for your email.
To clarify, I seek to review the documents related to your charges decisions, not just the publicly available information. Therefore, I would like to proceed with my request for the documents.
However, I am open to refining the scope of my request. Could you please inform me how many charge notices the department has issued between 1 July 2023 and 1 October 2024?
Yours sincerely,
CR
OFFICIAL
FOI request: LEX 11622
Dear CR
Thank you for confirming that you are seeking the documents and not just
the charging information.
In relation to your question, in the period 1 July 2023 to 1 October 2024
(inclusive), we have issued 4 charges notices, with no notices issued in
2024.
Would you like to amended your request to only include those 4 matters,
proceed with your original request (last 30), or some other amended scope?
We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]X | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram | [5]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for your response.
Would it be feasible for your department to process a reduced scope of 14 letters—comprising the 10 identified in the 2022-23 FOI statistics dataset, along with the 4 charge notices issued since then?
Yours sincerely,
CR
OFFICIAL
FOI request: LEX 11622
Dear CR
It should be feasible to process the last 14 charges notices issued by the
department, but we will not be in a position to confirm until we have
located the documents.
We seek to confirm that:
o you are only seeking the departmental notices/letters and not the
emails that would have attached the letters.
o any reasons provided by an applicant in contesting a charges notice or
decision, together with any references in the department’s
notices/letters directly citing the reasons, are to be removed as
irrelevant from the scope.
To that end, can you please confirm that the below amended scope
accurately reflects the documents that you are seeking (or otherwise
please amend):
1. The most recent 14 notices of charges issued to FOI applicants.
For each of these 14 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, including
any reasons they have provided for contesting the charges/decision.
ii) Emails that attached the charges notices/decision
letters
We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]X | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram | [5]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
Dear Jonathan,
I confirm that emails attaching the charges notice/decision letters can be excluded from the scope of the request.
However, I would like the reasons for the applicant's contention to remain within the scope. That said, any personal information, such as supporting evidence or details of personal circumstances in a financial hardship claim can be excluded as irrelevant.
Unless further clarification is needed, I confirm the revised scope as follows:
1. The most recent 14 notices of charges issued to FOI applicants.
For each of these 14 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, including supporting evidence or details of personal circumstances in a financial hardship contention.
ii) Emails that attached the charges notices/decision letters.
I trust this clarifies the scope, and I look forward to your confirmation.
Yours sincerely,
CR
OFFICIAL
FOI request: LEX 11622
Dear CR
We will now process your request with the below scope and will be in touch
in due course.
We appreciate your assistance in amending the scope.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]X | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram | [5]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
OFFICIAL
FOI Reference: LEX 11622
Dear CR
We are writing to you to seek your agreement to providing the department
with an extension of 7 calendar days to process your FOI request in
accordance with section 15AA of the FOI Act. This would mean that a
decision would then be due to you by Thursday 7 November 2024.
Background
The FOI Team have identified the documents in scope of your request and
have prepared a decision pack for the department’s decision maker.
The department is responding to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East
and are currently fully engaged on responding to developments in the
region.
The additional time will enable the department to finalise its processes
and provide you with an outcome.
Please be assured that we will continue to process your request as quickly
as possible and will provide an outcome to you as soon as it is available.
Timeframe
We would be grateful if you could please reply to our request by COB
Friday 25 October 2024.
If we do not hear from you, we may apply to the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner for an extension to the statutory timeframe.
Should you have any questions, please to contact us by reply email.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]X | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram | [5]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
From: FOI FOI
Sent: Wednesday, October 2, 2024 5:22 PM
To: CR <[FOI #12117 email]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Your FOI request - thank you (LEX 11622)
[SEC=OFFICIAL]
OFFICIAL
FOI request: LEX 11622
Dear CR
We will now process your request with the below scope and will be in touch
in due course.
We appreciate your assistance in amending the scope.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[6]dfat.gov.au | [7]X | [8]Facebook | [9]Instagram | [10]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
OFFICIAL
FOI Reference: LEX 11622
Dear CR
Thank you for your quick response and consenting to providing the
department with an additional 7 calendar days to process your FOI request.
We will continue processing your request and will be in touch in due
course.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]X | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram | [5]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.
Dear FOI Team,
I wish to provide clarification as to the scope of my request.
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.
Yours sincerely,
CR
OFFICIAL
FOI request: LEX 11622
Dear CR
Thank you for your question regarding the interpretation of the scope of
your request.
Any information provided by the applicant of relevance to a charges
decision would be included in the decision letter.
The department’s decision and reasons for the decision are included in the
charges notices and decision letters. The emails effectively say ‘see
attached’.
This is why we sought your agreement to remove the emails from scope as we
considered that they would not contain the information that you are
seeking.
Kind regards
Jonathan | DFAT FOI Team
_____________________________________________________
Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]X | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram | [5]LinkedIn
© Brooke Rigney-Lively (2024)
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our
respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders,
past, present and emerging.