Ministerial Briefing for Alan Tudge interview with Triple J Hack 21 February 2017
Dear Department of Human Services,
I write to you today under the Freedom of Information Act requesting any briefing materials prepared for the Minister's interview on Triple J's Hack program on February 21 2017.
A transcript of the interview can be found on the Minister's own website. https://www.mhs.gov.au/transcripts/2017-...
As this particular request scope is narrowly focused and of the highest public interest I ask that the Department waives any associated processing fees that may apply.
I also wish to state that I do not request any personal private information in this request as publishing such information publicly would be highly unethical.
Yours faithfully,
CD
8 March 2017
Our reference: LEX 28022
CD
Right to Know
By email: [1][FOI #3182 email]
Dear CD
Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). I have taken your request to be for:
'I write to you today under the Freedom of Information Act requesting any
briefing materials prepared for the Minister's interview on Triple J's
Hack program on February 21 2017.'
Your request was received by the department on 2 March 2017 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 3 April
2017.The period of 30 days may be extended if we need to consult third
parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your
request and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable.
Your Address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[2][FOI #3182 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as possible
if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your
address changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address,
correspondence and notices will continue to be sent to the address
specified above.
Administrative Release of Documents
A number of the documents you are seeking may be generally available to
you without the need for a formal FOI request and can be released through
the department's administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements').
Unless you advise us otherwise, in processing your request we may provide
you with documents under these arrangements where appropriate. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
Where documents are released to you under the arrangements we will advise
you in our decision letter.
Disclosure Log
Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a
disclosure log on the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act
requires this publication, however it is subject to certain exceptions,
including where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.
Exclusion of junior department employee details
The department is working towards ensuring that all employees have a
choice about whether they provide their full name, personal logon
identifiers and direct contact details in response to public enquiries.
Where such details are included in the scope of a request, this may add to
processing time and applicable charges as it may be necessary to consider
whether the details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless
you tell us otherwise, we will assume that these details are out of scope
of your request and they will be redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please email
[3][email address].
Yours sincerely
FOI Registration Officer
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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Dear CD,
Please see attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards,
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [1][email address]
[2]cid:image002.png@01CE578F.EEB98AC0
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Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
I agree to pay the fee associated with this request and have submitted a money order as of 29/3/2017.
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
Can you please provide an update on the status of this request? Has the Department received the money order for the fees associated with this request? Can you provide an estimate for the release of this document?
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
Can the Department please confirm that they have received this money order and that it has been cashed?
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
I write to you once again asking if the Department has received and cashed the money order associated with this FOI request? Can you advise as to when the document may be released to the public?
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear CD,
We confirm that your money order has been received by the department.
Kind regards,
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
* [1][email address]
[2]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
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This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
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and permanently delete this email.
-----Original Message-----
From: CD [mailto:[FOI #3182 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 6 April 2017 4:27 PM
To: FOI.LEGAL.TEAM <[email address]>
Subject: Re: LEX 28022 - Your Freedom of Information Request -
Communication
Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
Can the Department please confirm that they have received this money order
and that it has been cashed?
Yours sincerely,
CD
-----Original Message-----
Dear CD,
Please see attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of
information request.
Kind regards,
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division Department of Human
Services
Email: [1][email address]
[2][3]cid:image002.png@01CE578F.EEB98AC0
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Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
Thank you for confirming that the money order has been received. Can you advise when the documents will be released?
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear CD,
Please find attached our decision regarding your recent FOI request. As
noted in our decision, the document requested will be released to you on
26 April 2017.
Kind regards,
Sally
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
* [1][email address]
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IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
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Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
Thanks for letting me know that the Department has deleted staff details under section 22(1) of the Act and also confirming that the Department
has decided to release the document in full.
As it appears the Document has now been processed under the Act can you advise why there is now a delay in its release until April 26 2017?
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,
I look forward to the release of this document today, April 26, 2017 as advised by the Department on April 18, 2017.
Yours sincerely,
CD
Dear CD,
Please find attached the document relating to your recent FOI request.
Kind regards,
Sally
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
* [1][email address]
[2]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
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IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
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JS left an annotation ()
The disclosure log indicates access was given on 18 April;
OAIC Guidelines Part 14
14.22 Agencies and ministers must publish information in a disclosure log within ten working days after the FOI applicant was ‘given access’ to a document (s 11C(6)).
14.23 The date on which an FOI applicant is given access may be later than the date of the decision to grant access (see Part 3 of these Guidelines). Before giving access, an agency or minister can require that a charge be paid (s 11A(1)(b) and Charges Regulations reg 11(1)). The agency or minister must also be satisfied that all opportunities for review by third parties have run out and that the decision to grant access still stands or was confirmed (ss 26A(4), 26AA(4), 27(7) and 27A(6)).......
Human Services Disclosure Log
The Freedom of Information Disclosure Log publishes non-personal information released after an FOI request through the Department of Human Services, including Centrelink, Medicare, Child Support, CRS Australia and Australian Hearing.
Date Detail
18 April 2017 Briefing document for the Minister's interview on Triple J's Hack program 21 February 2017. 1 document released in full. The documents is available upon request.
Sections of the Act: 22
Exemptions: None
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
In my opinion, the response to this application merits a complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner. My reason is that the release of the document was deliberately delayed and no explanation was given to the applicant. The Freedom of Information Act allows, in s 21 ("Deferrment of access"), that an agency can defer access to a document. The section gives various reasons that are allowed why the agency can defer access, and s 21(2) says, " ...the agency or Minister shall, in informing the applicant of the reasons for the decision, indicate, as far as practicable, the period for which the deferment will operate." It is correct that the agency told the applicant, in the decision letter of 18.04.2017, that the document would be released on 26.04.2017 but in my opinion, this is not the thing that is required to satisfy the demand of s 22(2).
The Information Commissioner has issued guidelines to agencies about how they should process requests. In guideline number 3.92 (https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor... ) the Commissioner explains what is required if an agency defers access: "The agency or minister must inform the applicant of the reasons for deferring access and, as far as practicable, indicate how long the deferment period will be (s 21(2)). A decision to defer access is an access refusal decision that is reviewable by the Information Commissioner (other than where a minister considers that Parliament should first be informed of the contents of the document) (s 53A(d))." It is obvious that the agency did not do what was required by the guidelines. They issued the decision notice; then they waited 8 days to release the documents. They probably thought that they were being clever by delaying the release until the end of the original decision period ... but it was not clever. The behaviour gives rise to the apprehension that it was intended to take the ground from under s 22. I think that a complaint is deserved.
Another topic that surprised me about the decision was the determination by the agency to charge $14.95 for search and retrieval time. I have never seen any other request on Right to Know where the retrieval time is so short and an agency has decided to charge for it. Also, because the $14.95 is not cost-recovery, the process that is required to make the charge will cost the agency much more than $14.95. Yes, the agency is permitted to do this but that is not the real question. The question is "Why would they want to charge such a small amount?" In my opinion, the answer is probably (i) mostly to delay the request by the time it takes to issue the charge notice and confirm the payment, (ii) to discourage the applicant from prosecuting the request.
Note to the applicant: You cannot make a complaint to the Information Commissioner through Right to Know. If you make a complaint, you must do it another way, so maybe with a private email. If you do this, I would be very interested to know. Maybe you could add an annotation to this request to say what you have done.