On 15 September 2020 in an email response to Mr Menzies with respect to his 13 September 2020 FOI request for a report, Mr [Officer of the Department] (senior legal counsel) advised that the request is invalid since it would entail the creation of 'new documents'.

On 1 October 2020 in an email response to myself with respect to his 15 September 2020 advice, Mr [Officer of the Department] elaborated as to his reasoning, advising that the request is invalid since the department lacks a dataset from which it can create a report (alas, to create a special-purpose dataset would constitute the creation of a new document).

During a teleconference with myself on 2 October 2020 at 2:30PM, Mr [Officer of the Department] alleged that he knows the dataset doesn't exist since he had "called the line area" with respect to the FOI request to speak to "subject matter experts" who advised him that no such dataset exists.

You may verify Mr [Officer of the Department]'s statement from the full teleconference transcript furnished on 5 October 2020 for his perusal and upon his request. For reference, his allegations are found under paras 117-120.

I REQUEST documents containing the telephone record(s) of the call(s) Mr [Officer of the Department] purports to have made to the line area, with the date(s), time(s) and length(s) of the call(s), including the destination telephone number(s) and the name(s) of the subject matter expert(s) if available.

Faithfully,
Ellie

I require the names of all APS staff - below, at, and above SES level.

In relation to personal information, I require the names of APS staff, however, I don't require any contact details.

I don't require any details that would identify third parties (names or otherwise).

Faithfully,
Ellie

I am writing to request an internal review of the Department's handling of my FOI request "Record of alleged telephone call from Mr [Officer of the Department] to Entrepreneurs' Programme subject matter expert".

I object to the decision since it's within means of the Department to identify specific telephone records by liaising with Mr [Officer of the Department] who personally managed the relevant FOI request and clarifying:
(1) whether he had used his landline telephone (number ending with 397) when he made the alleged call; and/or
(2) the Department telephone number he had dialled when he made the alleged call; and/or
(3) the names of 'subject matter experts' in the Entrepreneurs' Programme he had purportedly dialled.

Since the alleged phonecall had to have been made between 13 Sep 2020 11:21 AM (FOI request by Mr Menzies) and 15 Sep 2020 12:16 PM (FOI refusal by Mr [Officer of the Department]):
- in case of (1) above, you will be able to identify outgoing calls from a specific landline over a 48-hour time-period;
- In case of (2) above, you will be able to identify incoming calls to a specific landline over a 48-hour time-period; and
- in case of (3) above, you will be able to complete this process by liaising with the 'subject matter experts' instead.

Please rely on (2) in a scenario where Mr [Officer of the Department] claims to have ducked out to use a nearby telephone booth.

Finally, please rely on (3) in a scenario where Mr [Officer of the Department] declines to 'use his eyes and brains' as was the case in his objection to Mr Menzies FOI request.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/r...

Faithfully,
Ellie