Dear Allan

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the department)
has received your Freedom of Information request of 6 December 2020
(attached).

This correspondence is to acknowledge receipt of your request. Currently a
decision is due to you by 5 January 2020. However, this timeline may be
effected by the requirement to undertake consultation with affected third
parties or if the department determines you are liable to pay a charge in
relation to your request. You will be notified by the department if
charges are liable or if third party consultation is required.

Personal information

For documents that fall within the scope of the request, it is the
practice of the department to withhold:

·       the names, signatures and contact details of junior staff; That
is:

o   Commonwealth staff who are not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);
and

o   Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff; and

·       the mobile phone numbers of SES officers.

The names and other details of SES officers will be released unless the
information is exempt from disclosure.

Confirmation from you that you are not seeking ‘personal information’ (ie.
the names and contact details of any individuals, or any information that
could reasonably identify an individual) may enable a more timely and cost
effective processing of your request.

Therefore, could you please clarify if you a seeking access to personal
information in the documents relating to:

·       third parties; and

·       Commonwealth staff.

If you are not seeking access to any personal information, you can simply
reply to this email with ‘no personal information requested’.

If you are seeking access to specific types of personal information, could
you please specify.

Request for extension of time

Please note that the department shuts down from 25 December 2020 to 4
January 2021.

To assist in the processing your request, we seek your agreement to a 10
day extension under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the department will notify the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner of the extension of time, and the decision on
your request would then be due to you on or before  15 January 2020.

Could you please confirm your agreement to this extension at your earliest
convenience but no later than 18 December 2020.

If you have any questions, please contact the FOI team.

Regards

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

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Dear Allan

Please find attached correspondence in relation to your Freedom of
Information request received on 6 December 2020.  

Should you have any queries in relation to this matter, please contact the
FOI team.

Regards

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance Branch | Corporate Division

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

Legal In Confidence - This transmission is intended only for the use of
the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged
information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that
any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately
by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

OFFICIAL

Dear Allan

I refer to your correspondence of 23 December 2020 (attached).

Your revised scope has been forwarded to the line area for consideration.
I anticipate I will have more information for you by the end of this week.

Optional:

Please be advised the FOI team is currently experiencing a high volume of
requests and is presently operating with limited resources. Your patience
during this time is appreciated.

In accordance with section 24AB(5) of the FOI Act, with your agreement the
consultation period is extended until such time that both parties have
reach an agreement on the revised scope.

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance Branch | Corporate Division

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

Legal In Confidence - This transmission is intended only for the use of
the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged
information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that
any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately
by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

OFFICIAL

Dear Allan

I refer to your email of 23 December 2020 in which you submitted a revised
scope as follows:

‘…all regional incubator facilitator (RIF) disclosures [NEI grant
applications] and relevant decisions in entrepreneur programme committee
(EPC) meetings [from April 2018 to February 2020] and the ad-hoc minute
approved by the incubator support initiative manager on 20/6/18.”

I confirm your revised scope is acceptable to process. Currently, an FOI
decision is due to you on or before 17 January 2021. However, this
timeframe may be affected by the requirement to undertake consultation
with effected third parties and if the agency determines you are liable to
pay a charge in relation to your request.

You will be notified by the department if charges are liable or if third
party consultation is required.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Team.

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance Branch | Corporate Division

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

Legal In Confidence - This transmission is intended only for the use of
the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged
information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that
any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately
by telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

OFFICIAL

Our reference: RQ21/00220

Agency reference: LEX 67668

Mr Allan Phu

Sent by email: [1][FOI #6952 email]

Extension of time application by the Department of Industry, Science,
Energy and Resources

Dear Mr Phu

I write to advise that on 25 January 2021, the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (the OAIC) received an application from Ms Emily
Hill of Minter Ellison Lawyers on behalf of the Department of Industry,
Science, Energy and Resources (the Department) for an extension of time,
to process your FOI request.

The Department has applied for an extension of time under s 15AC of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) because it has been unable to
finalise your request within the initial decision period.

The Department has advised the OAIC that:

·         On 6 December 2020, the Department received your request

·         On 7 December 2020, searches commenced and identified the work
involved in processing the request would substantially and unreasonably
divert resources of the Department

·         on 15 December 2020, the Department requested a 15AA extension
of time from you, however a response was not received

·         on 23 December 2020, the Department sent you a notice of
intention to refuse your request under s 24AB of the FOI Act, you
responded with a revised scope however it was received after 5pm when the
Christmas/New Year shut down period commenced

·         on 4 January 2021, a revised search minute was sent to the line
area

·         on 18 January 2021, searches were completed by the line area

·         the Department advised that you have made two separate FOI
requests relating to similar subject matter, to which the Department has
also received a large volume of requests since June 2020

·         due the large volume of requests, significant amount of
resources has been devoted to processing these requests, and

·         the Department advise due to the Christmas/New Year shutdown
period, this caused a delay in processing your request, and additional
time is required to finalise the request.

The Department has requested an extension to 24 February 2021. I will take
any comments you may have to make into account when deciding the
application.

Please respond to this email by close of business 29 January 2021. If I do
not hear from you by this date, the decision maker will make a decision on
the basis of the information provided to me by the Department.

You will be notified of the decision once the matter has been finalised.

Further information about extension of time requests may be found on our
website at [2]Extensions of time.

Contact

If you have any questions regarding this email please contact me on (02)
9284 9847 or via email [3][email address]. Please quote OAIC
reference number at the top of this email in all correspondence.

Yours sincerely

[4][IMG]   Jasmin Clarke  |  Assistant
Review and Investigation
Advisor

Freedom of information

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [5]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9847  | 
[6][email address]
[10]Subscribe [11]Subscribe to
[7]Facebook | [8]LinkedIn | [9]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #6952 email]
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
5. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
6. mailto:[email address]
7. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
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9. https://twitter.com/OAICgov
11. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

Our reference: RQ21/00220

Agency reference: LEX 67668

Mr Allan Phu

Sent by email: [1][FOI #6952 email]

Extension of time under s 15AC

Dear Mr Phu

Please find attached a decision of today’s date for an extension of time
from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

Sincerely

[2][IMG]   Jasmin Clarke  |  Assistant
Review and Investigation
Advisor

Freedom of information

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [3]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9847  | 
[4][email address]
[8]Subscribe [9]Subscribe to
[5]Facebook | [6]LinkedIn | [7]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #6952 email]
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
6. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
7. https://twitter.com/OAICgov
9. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

Dear Allan

Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request of 6
December 2020.

Should you have any queries regarding this matter, please contact the FOI
team.

Regards

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [1][Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]

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