Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.  
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u...
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may: 
* seek further information from you to help us process your request, 
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or 
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored business hours Monday to Friday, excluding
public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you. 
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.

Dear applicant

We refer to your email dated 27 March 2024 and note that it has been addressed to the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) and received by the Attorney-General's Department.

In order for the department to process your email as a valid FOI request, we require the following information from you:

• Please confirm in writing that your request is an application for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and confirm whether you intended for the request to be processed by the Attorney-General's department.

Please note, the department is unable to take further action in response to your email of 27 March 2024 until the additional information requested above has been received.

Regards

Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
A Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | |  Email: [AGS request email]

show quoted sections

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.  
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u...
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may: 
* seek further information from you to help us process your request, 
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or 
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored business hours Monday to Friday, excluding
public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you. 
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.

Dear Jillian

Thank you for your response. We will now process your request for documents to the Attorney-General’s Department (the department), which incorporates the Australian Government Solicitor. The department will manage this process.

Please be advised that requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 enable access to existing documents held by government agencies, rather than providing a means of requesting answers to questions. In order to assist you, we propose that you consider revising your request to specify the document being requested. For example:

I request the instrument that provided for the Head of Power that empowered the Parliament of the Australian Government to enact the Digital ID Bill 2023.

We seek your agreement to process your request in the above revised terms. Alternatively, if we have not interpreted your request correctly, please advise the terms that more accurately describe the specific documents to which you seek access.

We look forward to your response.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [AGS request email]

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OFFICIAL

Dear Jillian

Thank you for revising your request and our apologies for the delay in our
reply. We understand your request to now be as follows:

I request the instrument pursuant to, and not repugnant to, the
Commonwealth of Australia Constitution that provided for the Head of Power
that empowered the Parliament of the Australian Government to enact the
Digital ID Bill 2023.

We write to advise that pursuing the request in its current form is likely
to result in a refusal under s 24A of the [1]FOI Act (which relates to
documents lost or non-existent). This is because the only document we
consider within scope of your request to which we can facilitate access is
the Constitution itself.

We are unable to provide advice or analysis about the relationship between
the Constitution and enactment of the Digital ID Bill. However, if you
wish to further revise the scope of your request to request documents that
discuss both the Constitution and the Digital ID Bill, we will undertake
searches to that effect in order to assist you.

Please let us know how you would like to proceed. Please note, as outlined
further above, if we do not hear from you we will process your request as
it currently reads, which may result in a s 24A refusal.

Kind regards   

Freedom of Information & Privacy

Attorney-General’s Department

Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [AGS request email]

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL

Dear Jillian

Freedom of Information Request FOI24/171

We refer to your request to the Attorney-General's Department (the
department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) for access
to documents. 

The purpose of this email is to provide you with a decision in response to
that request. 

Please find attached your decision letter, including your review rights.

If you have any questions, please contact us by telephone on (02) 6141
6666 or by email to [1][AGS request email].

Kind regards,

Freedom of Information & Privacy

Attorney-General’s Department

Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [2][AGS request email]

OFFICIAL

The Attorney-General’s Department may collect your personal information
where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our
functions, including those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) and the Privacy Act 1988. We may collect your name, email address and
telephone number so that we can contact you about your request or privacy
complaint. If your request concerns accessing or correcting your personal
information, we will collect the minimum amount of evidence necessary to
verify your identity. We hold personal information in accordance with the
Privacy Act and our privacy policy. If you have an enquiry or complaint
about your privacy, please contact the Privacy Officer on 02 6141 6666 or
via e-mail [email address]. 
If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by
return email and delete all copies. If this email or any attachments have
been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute waiver of any
confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of information in the
email or attachments.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[AGS request email]
2. mailto:[AGS request email]