Dear Brandon,

Thank you for your FOI request. We will consider your request and respond
as soon as possible.

FOI requests are required to be processed within 30 days from the date we
receive an application. While we aim to achieve this timeframe, certain
requests that are large or involve complex issues may take longer. If this
is the case we will contact you to discuss when the material can be made
available. Further, unless your request is for personal information,
charges may apply depending on the size and complexity of your case.

We will notify you if there are charges and what those charges will be. We
will obtain your consent to any additional charges before processing the
request.

Regards,

   
Melissa Tonglee

Lawyer | General Counsel
Australian Taxation Office
P 08 820 81955

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Dear Brandon,
 
I refer to your request made under the FOI Act on 29 February 2016, and I
apologise for the delay in responding.
 
You have asked for ‘any document . . . regarding the proposed construction
of the new Taxation Office on the site of the former Gosford Public
School’. Since receiving your request I have ascertained that thousands of
documents will meet this description. Processing your request would
therefore be very time consuming and costly.
 
Having said that, it is my understanding that there are publically
available documents which may contain the information you are interested
in.
 
There is some information on the ‘Austender’ website,
[1]www.tenders.gov.au (search for ‘Gosford’).
 
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works (the Committee) has
also advised that it is conducting an inquiry into the ‘need, scope and
value-for-money of the proposed fit-out of the building’. This inquiry is
still in progress, and submissions were due by 10 March 2016.
 
The following link takes you to the Committee’s web page for its inquiry. 
On the right of the screen in the section ‘about this inquiry’, you can
access links to media releases and submissions. The ATO’s submission is
available to download.
 
[2]http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...
 
On 25 November 2015 Senator Deborah O’Neill moved a motion that the then
Acting Assistant Treasurer table all documents recording contacts between:
a) the Commonwealth and New South Wales Government relating to the
purchase or lease of the old Gosford Public School site on the Gosford
waterfront; and
b) the Commonwealth and the New South Wales State Government, Gosford City
Council, the Central Coast Regional Development Corporation, the Doma
Group and other tenderers relating to the proposed Australian Taxation
Office building development in Gosford.
 
The ATO provided documents to the Acting Assistant Treasurer, and the
Assistant Treasurer provided documents to the Committee on 3 December
2015. These are now publically available from the following link.
 
[3]http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...
 
It may be that the information already available from the Austender, the
Parliament’s and the Committee’s websites satisfies your request for
documents. If so, I ask whether you will withdraw your request.
 
If not, please contact me so that we can discuss exactly what aspects of
the proposed building you are interested in. Given that your request is
likely to cover thousands of documents, it is unlikely that we will agree
to process it in its current form. Moreover, many documents about certain
aspects of the building are likely to be exempt from disclosure under the
FOI Act (for instance, documents subject to cabinet confidentiality, or
documents subject to confidence due to their commercial nature), and many
documents on certain aspects of the building we are unlikely to have
(because we were not responsible for that aspect).
 
It would therefore be preferable if you could give me a call so that we
can discuss what information you are seeking which might be available, and
what costs may be involved.
 
I add that if you do not wish to withdraw your request at this time, we
will need further time to process it. The current due date is 30 March
2016. Could you please advise if you will agree to a further 30 days under
section 15AA of the FOI Act.
 
Kind regards
 

Chad Reich
Senior Lawyer, General Counsel
Australian Taxation Office
P 08 8208 1794     F 08 8208 1094

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1. http://www.tenders.gov.au/
2. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...
3. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...

Dear Brandon,
 
Thank you for your email dated 25 April 2016.
 
On 24 March 2016 I wrote to you and advised that thousands of documents
will meet the description of the request, and therefore it would be very
time consuming and costly to process. I advised that a considerable amount
of information relevant to your request and which might interest you is
already publically available. I therefore asked whether you would withdraw
your request, or alternatively contact me to discuss exactly what aspects
of the proposed building you are interested in. In the event that you did
not wish to withdraw your request, I also asked whether you would agree to
a 30 day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act, which at the
time of my correspondence would have made the due date for processing your
request 30 April 2016.
 
Whilst in your 25 April 2016 response you indicated that you are happy to
allow additional time for processing your request in order to receive
information, you did not address the aspects of the proposed building you
are interested in, nor have you contacted me again to discuss your current
request as I invited you to. As such, please find attached a notice
pursuant to section 24AB of the FOI Act.
 
 
Kind regards,
 
 
 

Chad Reich
Senior Lawyer, General Counsel
Australian Taxation Office
P 08 8208 1794     F 08 8208 1094

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Dear Brandon,
 
I refer to my email to you on 28 April 2016, as well as my notice under
section 24AB of the FOI Act.
 
As you have not responded, your request is taken to be withdrawn under
section 24AB(7).
 
 
Please do not hesitate to give me a call if you would like to discuss the
matter.
 
Kind regards
 
 

Chad Reich
Senior Lawyer, General Counsel
Australian Taxation Office
P 08 8208 1794     F 08 8208 1094

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