Request for information relating to redaction of historical documents
Dear WA Department of the Attorney General,
I refer to the following section of the Births Deaths and Marriages Act
57. Issue of certificate (1) On completing a search of the Register the Registrar may issue a certificate — (a) certifying particulars contained in an entry; or Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 Part 8 The Register Division 4 Access to, and certification of, Register entries s. 58 page 32 Reprint 1 (b) certifying that no entry was located in the Register about the relevant registrable event. (2) If, in the Registrar’s opinion, a word or expression appearing on an entry in the Register is, or may be regarded as, offensive, the Registrar may issue a certificate under subsection (1)(a) without including the word or expression. (3) A certificate under subsection (1)(a) is admissible in legal proceedings as evidence of — (a) the entry to which the certificate relates; and (b) the facts recorded in the entry.
I would like evidence in the form of examples of the words found on historical documents that are deemed offensive. This will include copies of the letters requesting the removal of offensive words with the details of the requester removed of course.
I would like the details of the process that the requests for words that are deemed offensive and to be removed, outlined.
I would like details of how a word is deemed offensive. Is the person making the request the only authority for the decision that a word is offensive.
If one person deems that a word is offensive, does that person's opinion then apply to every certificate on which that word appears?
I would like details of the position that oversees this process.
I would like details of how this section of the act is protected in terms of the potential for it to be abused.
I would like exact numbers of how many certificates have been redacted for each offensive word.
I would like a list of all the words that are deemed offensive.
This request for information does of course only apply to historical documents as outlined on the Births Deaths and Marriages website.
Yours faithfully,
Aileen Walsh
Dear Aileen,
The Department of the Attorney General has received your request for
information regarding the Births, Deaths And Marriages Act 27.
Requests of this nature will need to be directed to the FOI and Records
Management Officer:
FOI and Records Management Officer
Knowledge Management and Compliance Branch
Department of the Attorney General
Level 24, David Malcolm Justice Centre
28 Barrack Street
PERTH WA 6000
Further information regarding the Department’s Freedom of Information
provisions can be found on the website at [1]Freedom of Information
Kind regards
Customer Feedback Officer
Department of the Attorney General
Tel | 9264 6270 or 13 67 57 (local call rate)
Email | [2][email address]
Web | [3]www.dotag.wa.gov.au
[4]Link to information on fines and infringements [5]Link to Handbook and
Services Guide 2017 [6]Link to feedback [7]Link to the 2015/2016 Annual
Report
-----Original Message-----
From: Aileen Walsh [mailto:[FOI #3564 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 24 May 2017 11:08 PM
To: CFMS
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for information relating
to redaction of historical documents
Dear WA Department of the Attorney General, I refer to the following
section of the Births Deaths and Marriages Act 57. Issue of certificate
(1) On completing a search of the Register the Registrar may issue a
certificate — (a) certifying particulars contained in an entry; or Births,
Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 Part 8 The Register Division 4
Access to, and certification of, Register entries s. 58 page 32 Reprint 1
(b) certifying that no entry was located in the Register about the
relevant registrable event. (2) If, in the Registrar’s opinion, a word or
expression appearing on an entry in the Register is, or may be regarded
as, offensive, the Registrar may issue a certificate under subsection
(1)(a) without including the word or expression. (3) A certificate under
subsection (1)(a) is admissible in legal proceedings as evidence of — (a)
the entry to which the certificate relates; and (b) the facts recorded in
the entry.
I would like evidence in the form of examples of the words found on
historical documents that are deemed offensive. This will include copies
of the letters requesting the removal of offensive words with the details
of the requester removed of course.
I would like the details of the process that the requests for words that
are deemed offensive and to be removed, outlined.
I would like details of how a word is deemed offensive. Is the person
making the request the only authority for the decision that a word is
offensive.
If one person deems that a word is offensive, does that person's opinion
then apply to every certificate on which that word appears?
I would like details of the position that oversees this process.
I would like details of how this section of the act is protected in terms
of the potential for it to be abused.
I would like exact numbers of how many certificates have been redacted for
each offensive word.
I would like a list of all the words that are deemed offensive.
This request for information does of course only apply to historical
documents as outlined on the Births Deaths and Marriages website.
Yours faithfully,
Aileen Walsh
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Sent request to WA Department of the Attorney General again, using a new contact address.
Good afternoon Aileen,
I have forwarded your request to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) as it relates more closely to that business area. Mr Brett Burns, Registrar of RBDM has been notified of your request.
This request cannot be addressed under Freedom of Information (FOI) as we do not have any documents as such to provide you and will have to request the same from the business areas that they relate to.
FOI applications must be for documents, not for general “information”, and must provide sufficient detail to enable an agency to identify the documents sought.
You have made the request under FOI for the below to be answered. They are all questions which cannot be answered under the FOI.
Thank you,
Kind Regards,
Esther Dcruz
FOI & RM Officer
Knowledge Management & Compliance Branch
Department of the Attorney General
PO Box F317, Perth WA 6001
Phone: (08) 9264 1124 | Fax: (08) 9264 1155
Email: [email address]
BORN DIGITAL – STAY DIGITAL – ASK US HOW
-----Original Message-----
From: Aileen Walsh [mailto:[FOI #3564 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 June 2017 10:37 AM
To: FOI DotAG
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for information relating to redaction of historical documents
Dear WA Department of the Attorney General,
I refer to the following section of the Births Deaths and Marriages Act
57. Issue of certificate (1) On completing a search of the Register the Registrar may issue a certificate — (a) certifying particulars contained in an entry; or Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 Part 8 The Register Division 4 Access to, and certification of, Register entries s. 58 page 32 Reprint 1 (b) certifying that no entry was located in the Register about the relevant registrable event. (2) If, in the Registrar’s opinion, a word or expression appearing on an entry in the Register is, or may be regarded as, offensive, the Registrar may issue a certificate under subsection (1)(a) without including the word or expression. (3) A certificate under subsection (1)(a) is admissible in legal proceedings as evidence of — (a) the entry to which the certificate relates; and (b) the facts recorded in the entry.
I would like evidence in the form of examples of the words found on historical documents that are deemed offensive. This will include copies of the letters requesting the removal of offensive words with the details of the requester removed of course.
I would like the details of the process that the requests for words that are deemed offensive and to be removed, outlined.
I would like details of how a word is deemed offensive. Is the person making the request the only authority for the decision that a word is offensive.
If one person deems that a word is offensive, does that person's opinion then apply to every certificate on which that word appears?
I would like details of the position that oversees this process.
I would like details of how this section of the act is protected in terms of the potential for it to be abused.
I would like exact numbers of how many certificates have been redacted for each offensive word.
I would like a list of all the words that are deemed offensive.
This request for information does of course only apply to historical documents as outlined on the Births Deaths and Marriages website.
Yours faithfully,
Aileen Walsh
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #3564 email]
Is [WA Department of the Attorney General request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to WA Department of the Attorney General? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: The information contained in this e-mail may be private and
personal or otherwise confidential. If you are not the intended
recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of any part of the
information is unauthorised. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please inform the sender and delete the document.
Henare Degan left an annotation ()
A Right To Know community member marked this request as having a delivery error.
The initial reply from the authority suggests we had the wrong email address (and doesn't bother to pass on the request to the right person in their organisation). We've updated the authority's address to this new one and resent this request.
Cheers,
Henare
Right To Know administrator