FOI Request for Detail Incident Report 1-58GP40
To the Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
Dear Sir/Madam,
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) I request the following document:
Incident Detail Report 1-58GP40 from the Department's Compliance, Case Management, Detention and Settlement Portal. I also request any documents attached to the detailed report.
Kind Regards,
B.J. Rossiter
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Rossiter
Please see the attached notice.
Regards
Linda Rossiter
Director
FOI and Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Dear Ms Rossiter,
Thankyou for your email. I disagree with your assertion that my request can be linked to other requests in accordance with s 24(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth). My request and the others you refer to are not requests by the same person. This is a condition precedent for the application of this section of the act.
The Office of Australian Information Commissioner Guidelines state that the section is relevant: "two or more requests from the same applicant may be treated as a single request where the agency or minister is satisfied that the requests relate to substantially the same document or documents.” (See Guidelines 3.62)
You must have regard to these guidelines in performing a function or exercising a power under the FOI Act (s 93A(2)).
In addition you wrongly conclude that the requests relate to documents the subject matter of which is substantially the same. My request and other requests relate to incident reports involving different individuals, different types of events, and events at different times and places. The subject matter in each case is likely to be unique not substantially the same.
Your reliance on these grounds for any decision to refuse access for the practical refusal reason that processing the request would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations is misplaced.
Based on this I would like to indicate that I will be declining to vary or revise my request further. You estimate that dealing with my request would take three hours and as such this would not substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations. In any event there are strong public interest factors, reflected in the objects of the act, in favour of disclosure of the requested document.
I look forward to true determination of my application.
Regards,
B.J. Rossiter
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Rossiter
Thank you for your response. I recognise that paragraph 3.62 of the FOI Guidelines refers to a single applicant. It does not, however, preclude the treatment of multiple requests from multiple individuals as the same request. As stated in my notice of 24 June, section 24 the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) does not require the requests to be made from the same applicant. It should also be noted that, even if there was an inconsistency between the FOI Guidelines and the FOI Act, the FOI Act would take precedence over the FOI Guidelines.
These are requests all from a single source, the department’s Compliance, Case Management, Detention and Settlement (CCMDS) portal, and all consist of incident reports and their attachments.
It therefore remains my view that the requests relate to subject matter that is substantially the same for each of the requests. The FOI Act does not require the subject matter to be identical, or for the documents in scope to be the same documents, rather the test employed is that the subject matter is substantially the same. Although the requests were for unique incidents the subject matter, namely ‘incidents in detention’, is substantially the same.
I note your comment that I have estimated that the time required to deal with your request would be three hours. My notice of 24 June advised that, based on the department’s previous experience, assessing incident detail reports and their attachments would take an average of three hours per report. I have not quantified the time required just for your request.
I note also your advice that you do not intend to vary or revise your request further. As stated in my notice of 24 June, I require agreement from each of the applicants in order to accept a position, including that of not wishing to revise the scope of the request. To simplify this process, you may wish to appoint (or nominate yourself as) a representative to take part in consultation with the department. I note that we require that each individual contact the department to nominate a representative rather than a representative appointing him/herself. A lack of response from any of the applicants by the required date will result in the request being deemed withdrawn under s.24AB(7) of the FOI Act.
If you are not happy with the department’s handling of the request you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Details of how to do this are in the notice you received and are also available from www.oaic.gov.au.
Regards
Linda Rossiter
Director
FOI and Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Rossiter
Please see the attached notice.
Regards
Linda Rossiter
Director
FOI and Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Our references: FA 14/08/00144; ADF2014/27517
Dear BJ Rossiter
I am writing in regards to your FOI request seeking:
Incident Detail Report 1-58GP40 from the Department's Compliance, Case
Management, Detention and Settlement Portal. I also request any documents
attached to the detailed report.
This email is to advise you of my decision that you are liable to pay a
charge in respect of the processing of your FOI request in accordance with
s 29 of the FOI Act.
Please see the attached letter for further information.
How to pay:
Include your FA Reference number and advise whether you wish to pay the
deposit or the full amount.
The deposit or full payment can be paid by cheque, money order, credit
card or Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
Cheques and money orders should be made payable to "Collector of Public
Monies" and sent to:
FOI & Privacy Policy Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2616
AUSTRALIA
Should you choose to pay by credit card, please complete the attached
credit card authorisation form (CCAF form), including your signature and
forward to FOI & Privacy Policy Section at the above address, or email to
[1][email address].
Should you choose to pay by EFT the department’s bank account details are
as follows:
• Bank: CBA
• BSB: 062987
• Account Number: 10016044
• Account Name: DIBP Official Administered
Direct Credit Receipts Account.
When making the transfer you will need to quote the number of your request
- FA 14/08/00144 - so that your payment can be identified by our Finance
area. Failure to do so may result in payments not being identified as FOI
related and could result in processing delays.
Please advise FOI when you have made the payment made by direct credit so
that we can contact the Finance area and they can issue a receipt. You
should also be aware that payments by direct credit are not processed in
real time. There is at least a one day delay between somebody paying money
into the department's account and notification of the payment via our bank
account statement.
Yours sincerely
Linda Rossiter
FOI and Privacy Policy
UNCLASSIFIED
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
Our references: FA 14/08/00144; ADF2014/27517
Dear BJ Rossiter
I am writing in regards to your FOI request seeking:
Incident Detail Report 1-58GP40 from the Department's Compliance, Case
Management, Detention and Settlement Portal. I also request any documents
attached to the detailed report.
Purpose of this email
I am writing to you about the charges notice that I sent to you on
Wednesday, 13 August 2014. The notice period under the FOI Act expired at
close of business on Friday 12 September 2014. As you did not respond to
me by the end of the notice period, your request is now deemed to have
been withdrawn by the operation of the FOI Act (s.29(2)).
No further action will be taken on this request. You may lodge a new
request for access at any time
How to make a complaint about the handling of your FOI request
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner if you have
concerns about how the department has handled your request under the FOI
Act. A complaint form is available at [1]www.oaic.gov.au
Yours sincerely
Linda Rossiter
FOI and Privacy Policy
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
UNCLASSIFIED
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policy can be viewed on the department's website at www.immi.gov.au. See:
http://www.immi.gov.au/functional/privac...
References
Visible links
1. http://www.oaic.gov.au/