Good afternoon

Thank you for your request, below, for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

The document you have referred to in your request is a document which originated from the Department of Home Affairs. As such, the documents you are seeking to access would be held by the Department of Home Affairs, rather than the Department of Health. This Department can only consider an FOI request to the extent that it relates to documents in the possession of the Department (section 4 of the FOI Act refers). Our Department does not have documents held by other Departments or agencies in our possession to be able to process your request. As such, your request would be better directed to the Department of Home Affairs. For your assistance, your request can be directed to [email address].

Could you please confirm that, in the circumstances, you would like to withdraw your request from the Department of Health and will be pursuing the matter to the Department of Home Affairs?

Please do not hesitate to contact us at [Health request email] should you have any queries in this regard.

With kind regards
Freedom of Information Unit

Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Australian Government Department of Health
P: 02 6289 1666 E: [Health request email]
GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to all Elders past and present. 

Please note that this email and attachments may contain confidential or legally privileged information. Please consult with Legal Division before disclosing any part of this email, or attachment, outside the Department. If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the sender immediately

show quoted sections

Good afternoon

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST - NOTIFICATION OF RECEIPT AND TRANSFER

I am writing to notify you that the Department of Health (department) received your request on 13 January 2022 for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) being:

Wherein there is an image of official document to cancel Novak's visa.
The reason stated is "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading COVID-19 to others, either of which will further burden the Australian health system."
Could you please share the necessary data & documents that lead to this conclusion?

Please clarify on how the following points were concluded?:
1) "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of contracting COVID-19."
2) "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of spreading COVID-19 to others."
3) "Either of which will further burden the Australian health system."

Technically speaking & looking at the people around, people lined up for vaccination & for testing (after the vaccination) has caused a much bigger burden on Australian health system.

The documents that would be relevant to your request would be in the possession of the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs). As such, Home Affairs have agreed to accept transfer of this request under section 16 of the FOI Act, and an officer from the Home Affairs FOI team will be in contact with you shortly.

Kind regards
FOI Officer
Freedom of Information Section

Legal & Assurance Division |  Corporate Operations Group
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Australian Government Department of Health
E: [Health request email] 
GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to all Elders past and present. 

If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the sender immediately.

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL: Sensitive
Personal-Privacy

In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 22/01/00778
File Number: OBJ2022/1662

Dear Josh V,

I refer to your email dated 13 January 2022 in which you request access to documents held by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

I am writing to advise that your request is not valid for the purposes of section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act in its current form, and to provide you with an opportunity to revise your request so that it is a valid request. This is called a ‘request consultation process’. Please respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.

Scope of Request

You have requested access to the following:

Recently, I read this article https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/n...

Wherein there is an image of official document to cancel Novak's visa.
The reason stated is "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading COVID-19 to others, either of which will further burden the Australian health system."
Could you please share the necessary data & documents that lead to this conclusion?

Please clarify on how the following points were concluded?:
1) "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of contracting COVID-19."
2) "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of spreading COVID-19 to others."
3) "Either of which will further burden the Australian health system."

Power to refuse request

Section 24 of the FOI Act provides that if the Department is satisfied that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to a request, the Department must undertake a consultation process with you, and if, after that consultation process, the Department remains satisfied that the practical refusal reason still exists, the Department may refuse to give you access to the documents subject to the request.

Practical refusal

A practical refusal reason exists if either (or both) of the following applies:

(a) the work involved in the processing of the request would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the Department from its other operations
(b) the request does not satisfy the requirement in section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act, which requires you to provide such information concerning the document you are seeking access to, to enable the Department to be able to identify it.

Reasons for practical refusal

The Department has considered the scope of this request and its capacity to conduct searches of relevance based on the current scope. It is my preliminary view that your request, in its current form, does not specify particular documents to enable the Department to identify documents in scope of your request.

In order to process your request in a timely manner, FOI require your assistance to revise the scope of your request.

You may wish to consider revising the scope of your request to:

In relation to the statement "Unvaccinated persons create a greater health risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading COVID-19 to others, either of which will further burden the Australian health system" contained in the ABF officer’s decision to cancel Novak Djokovic’s visa on 6 January 2022.

I seek under the FOI Act the particular parts of that decision, attachments to that decision and/or documents referenced in that decision, in support of the above statement.

Request Consultation Process

You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.

Your request is currently not a valid request for the purposes of section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act. As part of this practical refusal consultation, you have 14 days to do one of the following:
• make a revised request;
• indicate that you do not wish to revise your request;
• withdraw your request.

If you do not do one of the three things listed above during the consultation period (14 days) or you do not consult the contact person listed below during this period, the Department will deem your request to be withdrawn.

Contact

Should you wish to revise your request or have any questions in relation to this process, please do not hesitate to contact the decision maker at [email address]

Kind Regards,

Michael
Position number: 60028261
Authorised FOI Officer
FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division
Strategy and National Resilience Group
Department Of Home Affairs
E: [email address]

Personal-Privacy
OFFICIAL: Sensitive

show quoted sections