Request for List of Standard Operating Procedures used by Cardinia Shire
Dear Cardinia Shire Council,
I request the release of Cardinia Shires Standard Operating Procedures Index, which lists by name, the Standard Operating Procedures staff should follow whislt conducting work on behalf of Cardinia Shire.
Example titles may be, but are not limited to:
- Freedom of Information Request SOP
- Conflict/Dispute Resolution SOP
- Professional Communication SOP
- Complaint Escalation SOP
- Conducting Meeting SOP
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Cinter
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Cardinia Shire Council
Ms Cinter,
The Freedom of Information Act requires that an application fee of $28.40 accompanies a request for access.
Such a fee did not accompany your request. Accordingly, Council cannot process your request until you pay this fee.
You may care to visit the Council’s Freedom of Information page on our website to make such arrangements, https://www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/info/200...
regards
Doug Evans| Manager Governance | Cardinia Shire Council
Phone: +61 3 5945 4216 | Web: www.cardinia.vic.gov.au
PO Box 7 Pakenham 3810 | Customer Service: 1300 787 624
We value: Teamwork | Respect | Accountability | Communication | Customer focus
Dear Doug Evans,
Thank you for your response on March 05, 2018.
My request is for a document that I believe meets the Freedom of Information Commissioners non-levied application charge:
"In accordance with the Act, charges ... shall not be made if the applicant’s intended use is of general public interest or benefit..."
I suggest my application meets this in the following ways;
- My application is made through the non-for-profit righttoknow.org.au
- My application, and your response, are publicly viewable
- The requested documents existence, or lack thereof, is of public interest
I thank you again for your time, and look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm Cinter
Mr Cinter,
There is no provision for an application fee to be waived, other than by means of financial hardship.
The provision to which you refer is contained in Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act and that section refers to charges detailed in the Freedom of Information (Access Charges) Regulations such as search time, photocopying charges and supervision charges being waived, not the application fee.
As mentioned in my previous email, Council cannot process your request until you pay the application fee of $28.40.
regards
Doug Evans| Manager Governance | Cardinia Shire Council
Phone: +61 3 5945 4216 | Web: www.cardinia.vic.gov.au
PO Box 7 Pakenham 3810 | Customer Service: 1300 787 624
We value: Teamwork | Respect | Accountability | Communication | Customer focus
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Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
The applicant has not told Right to Know the status of this request and I have been asked to update the status.
Note 1: Mostly I classify a response like this one to say "clarification requested" because the agency has told the applicant that some more information (or money!) is needed before the request will be processed. With this request, I have put the response in the category of "refused" because it is some time since the agency responded and the applicant does not appear to have made a follow-up. It is possible that a follow-up has been made by the ordinary post or by private email but Right to Know has not heard anything about this. Even if the applicant did not follow-up agency questions, it does not mean that the agency will refuse the request when an application is made in the correct (required) manner.
Note 2: Although an application under the Freedom of Information Act 1983 of the Commonwealth of Australia does not require an application fee, this is not the case with applications in the states and territories of Australia. Then an applicant must usually pay a fee, or the request is not valid. Also, the Commonwealth agencies might demand payment of a fee to cover extra processing costs. If the fee is not paid, the request will not be processed.
In this case the applicant wanted the authority to waive the application fee and argued that the application was "in the public interest". The authority explained that the law does not allow an application fee to be waived except in cases of hardship. What the authority did not say was that it is always possible for them to provide the applicant with information outside the FOI framework and without charge!