FOI/2013/094

Dear Mr Priest

Thank you for your email of 10 September 2013 on behalf of the Australian Financial Review from the Right to Know site, received by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department), in which you made a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) in the following terms:

I seek copies of the incoming government briefs - "red" and "blue" books - for the Liberal and Labor parties.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

We received your request on 10 September 2013 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. You should therefore expect a decision from us by 10 October 2013. The period of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances. We will advise you if there is any extension of time.

Charges

Agencies may decide that an applicant is liable to pay a charge in respect of a request for access to documents. If the Department decides that you are liable to pay a charge, we will send you a preliminary assessment of the charge as soon as possible.

Publication of documents

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be published online on our disclosure log at http://www.dpmc.gov.au/foi/ips/disclosur..., subject to certain exceptions. If you think you might wish to raise any objections to the publication of any of the information which may be released to you please contact us by email at [DPMC request email]. If you do wish to object to the publication of information, you would need to provide supporting reasons.

Exclusion of officers’ names and contact details

It is the Department’s policy to withhold the names and contact details of officers not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) within the Department and other agencies contained within documents that fall within scope of the request. The names and details of departmental and agency SES officers will not be withheld unless there is some reason for that information to be exempt from release. If you require the names and contact details of non-SES officers please let us know at [DPMC request email] so the decision-maker may consider; otherwise we will take it that you agree to that information being excluded from the scope of your request.

We will write again when the Department has more information. Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at http://www.oaic.gov.au/foi-portal/about_....

Regards

FOI Adviser
Legal Policy Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Phone: 02 6271 5849
Email: [DPMC request email]

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Dear Mr Priest,

The Department is currently processing your FOI request seeking:

...copies of the incoming government briefs - "red" and "blue" books - for the Liberal and Labor parties.

Due to a number of factors including the following, the Department is unlikely to finalise the request by its current due date of 10 October 2013:
• the complexity of the request;
• balancing the decision-maker’s time between deciding the FOI request and being responsible for the implementation of systems for providing ministerial support to the Prime Minister and other ministers in the portfolio; and
• the decision-maker is currently unwell and out of the office.

In accordance with s15AA of the FOI Act, the Department seeks your agreement to an extension of the due date to 9 November 2013. However, the Department expects to be in a position to finalise the request prior to this date.

We kindly request you confirm consent to the extension by way of return email. If you are not agreeable to this extension of time, we would be grateful for notice as soon as possible to allow us sufficient time to seek an extension from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Regards

FOI Adviser
Legal Policy Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Phone: 02 6271 5849
Email: [DPMC request email]

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Dear Mr Priest,

As the Department had not received a response from you on the date by which we were required to notify you of a decision, we sought an extension of the due date from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OIAC). The OAIC has granted the Department an extension of 30 days. Therefore the new due date for this request is 9 November 2013.

Unfortunately, the decision-maker for your request is still unwell and has not been in the office this week. We expect to be in a position to notify you of a decision prior to the new due date but this may be affected if the decision-maker’s unexpected leave is extensive. Nevertheless, we will keep you appraised of our progress towards making a decision and if it is likely that the decision-maker will be absent for an extended period, we will explore the appointment of a new decision-maker.

Regards

FOI Adviser
Legal Policy Branch
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Phone: 02 6271 5849
Email: [DPMC request email]

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Dear Mr Priest,

Please see the attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request to
the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (reference FOI/2013/094).

Regards

FOI Adviser

Legal Policy Branch

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Phone: 02 6271 5849

Email: [1][DPMC request email]

[2]Description: Description: Description: FOI design element

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[DPMC request email]