Thank you for your email. This is an automatically generated reply to
advise you that your email has arrived and will be processed as quickly as
possible.

As you will appreciate, I receive a large volume of emails each day, and
while each one is important, we cannot always reply immediately.

If your email is part of an automatically generated campaign, I will note
your views, but you will not receive an individual response. 

To stay in touch with my activities as Assistant Minister for Immigration
and Border Protection, I invite you to visit my website: 
[1]www.minister.immi.gov.au/michaeliacash.

Kind regards

Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash

Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women

Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please
advise
the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This
email,
including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
privileged
and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination
or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.  DIBP respects your privacy and has
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  The official departmental privacy
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.minister.immi.gov.au/michaeli...

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 15/02/01261; ADF2015/6887

Dear Mr Davies

Please find attached the acknowledgement of receipt for your recent FOI
Request. 

Yours sincerely

Penelope Robb
FOI Helpdesk

Freedom of Information Section

Immigration and Border Protection Portfolio

E: [1][email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please
advise
the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This
email,
including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
privileged
and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination
or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.  DIBP respects your privacy and has
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  The official departmental privacy
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. mailto:[email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 15/02/01261; ADF2015/6887

Dear Mr Davies

Please be advised that the acknowledgement letter provided earlier today
has an error in relation to the received date. The department considers
the request received date for FA 15/02/01261 is 14 February 2015  rather
than 16 February 2015 as indicated on the acknowledgement letter.

Yours sincerely

Penelope Robb
FOI Helpdesk

Freedom of Information Section

Immigration and Border Protection Portfolio

E: [1][email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please
advise
the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This
email,
including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
privileged
and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination
or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.  DIBP respects your privacy and has
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  The official departmental privacy
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. mailto:[email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: SCR ; FA 15/02/01261 ; ADF2015/6887

Dear Mr Davies

I refer to your FOI request of 14 February 2015 to the Assistant Minister
for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator Michaelia Cash, seeking
access to:

1. All Ministerial correspondence and briefs prepared for and signed by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Julia Bishop MP in relation to
asylum seekers between 1st January 2014 to 30th November 2014.

2. Any documents or reports, regarding to the living conditions and care
of asylum seekers in Australia between 1st of January 2014 to 30th
November 2014.    

We believe that you are seeking documents held by the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP or her department (Foreign Affairs and
Trade (DFAT).

Given this, could you please advise whether you would consider withdrawing
your request to the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border
Protection, and re-submitting it to either the Minister for Foreign
Affairs or the DFAT? Your response by COB Thursday, 5 March 2015 would be
appreciated.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection will continue to
assist the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to
process your request under the FOI Act.

Yours sincerely,

Beth Morrison

FOI Coordinator

Freedom of Information Section - Department of Immigration and Border
Protection
Email: [1][email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please
advise
the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This
email,
including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
privileged
and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination
or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.  DIBP respects your privacy and has
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  The official departmental privacy
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. mailto:[email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 15/02/01261; ADF2015/6887

Dear Mr Davies

I refer to your request for access to documents from the Assistant
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, relating to:

I am seeking the following documents under the Commonwealth Freedom of
Information Act 1982

1. All Ministerial correspondence and briefs prepared for and signed by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Julia Bishop MP in relation to
asylum seekers between 1st January 2014 to 30th November 2014.

2. Any documents or reports, regarding to the living conditions and care
of asylum seekers in Australia between 1st of January 2014 to 30th
November 2014.    

As advised in my e-mail to you of 3 March 2015, the Department of
Immigration and Border Protection (the department) is assisting the
Assistant Minister to process your request.

The current due date for your request is Wednesday, 18 March 2015.  Due to
the number of requests currently being processed by the department, we
will not be able to finalise your request by the original due date. 

The department seeks your agreement (under s.15AA of the FOI Act) to
extend the timeframe for the processing of your request by 30 days.  This
would extend the due date for your request to Friday, 17 April 2015.

It would assist the department in managing its FOI caseload if you could
provide a response to this request by close of business, Tuesday, 17 March
2015.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss.

Yours sincerely

Beth Morrison

FOI Coordinator

Freedom of Information Section - Department of Immigration and Border
Protection
Email: [1][email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please
advise
the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This
email,
including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
privileged
and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination
or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.  DIBP respects your privacy and has
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  The official departmental privacy
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. mailto:[email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 15/02/01261; ADF2015/6887

Dear Mr Davies

I am writing to you about your email of 14 February 2015 asking that the
Assistant Minister of Immigration and Border Protection provide you with a
copy of the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth). Your request is set out in full below:

‘Dear Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection,

I am seeking the following documents under the Commonwealth Freedom of
Information Act 1982

1. All Ministerial correspondence and briefs prepared for and signed by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Julia Bishop MP in relation to
asylum seekers between 1st January 2014 to 30^th November 2014.

2. Any documents or reports, regarding to the living conditions and care
of asylum seekers in Australia between 1st of January 2014 to 30th
November 2014.

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this request

Yours faithfully,

Nathan Davies’

The purpose of this email is to advise you that I consider your request
may be invalid under the FOI Act.  I will explain my reasons in full
below.

Requirements of the FOI Act

The requirements for a valid FOI request are set out in section 15(2) of
the Act, which provides that:

The request must:

(a)   be in writing; and

(aa) state that the request is an application for the purposes of this
Act; and

(b)   provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably
necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister,
to identify it; and

(c)   give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the
applicant (for example, by providing an electronic address to which
notices may be sent by electronic communication).

To be a valid request, an applicant must clearly and explicitly state what
address an agency should use to send correspondence to. If an agency sends
a notice to an address that has not been specified by the applicant, the
notice will be invalid.  The Act does not provide agencies with the power
to ‘assume’ that the email address the request has been sent from is the
address where ‘notices’ may be sent.

Reasons why s.15(2)(c) is a requirement of validity  

The Act requires that the ‘notice of decision’ be sent to the address that
has been specified by the applicant under s.15(2)(c).  This is important
because an applicant’s formal internal and external review rights are
activated by the act of ‘notifying’ the applicant of the decision. 
Further, there are a number of processes in the Act which are commenced by
the act of sending a formal legal notice to an applicant, for example,
when it is considered that it would be a substantial and unreasonable
diversion of resources to process the request or there is a decision to
charge the applicant for processing the request.

The Act therefore requires that the applicant provide an address at which
notices may be assumed to have been received.  It should be an address
through which the agency will be able to write to the applicant and
receive a response to the communication. It must also be an address
through which the agency can reasonably assume that legal notices will be
received, read and responded to by the applicant.  This requirement has
been an element of a valid FOI request since the Act was first enacted in
1982.

Issues regarding your request

I note that your original request provided automated wording that this
address was a valid address for the purposes of  s.15(2)(c).  To date,
however, you have failed to respond to correspondence that the Department
has sent to this email address.  Can you please confirm by cob Tuesday 5
May 2015 that you wish to continue to receive correspondence to this
address.  You may also provide an alternative address for correspondence.

If I do not hear from you by that date your request will be closed as
invalid.

Yours sincerely

Linda Rossiter

Department of Immigration and Border Protection

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please
advise
the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This
email,
including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
privileged
and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination
or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited.  DIBP respects your privacy and has
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  The official departmental privacy
policy can be viewed on the department's website at www.immi.gov.au.  See:
http://www.immi.gov.au/functional/privac...