s 55G substitions
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I request copy of all s 55G substituted decisions received by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner since 1 January 2020, since a request must be a request for documents.
Based on an earlier request, the OAIC states that Resolve has recorded and identified s 55G decisions since 'approximately Dec 2019'. It is unclear why the OAIC did not record such decisions in a searchable way beforehand, given the significant potential for abuse with such s 55G decisions.
It may be simpler to provide a table of the date the s 55G decision was received by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the FOI agency it was received from, and the date of the original FOI request (not the decision date) the s 55G substitution relates to (as the s 55G decision states this).
While the OAIC may not be obligated to provide such a table in lieu, agencies have produced such tables under s 17 despite some manual intervention involved (see https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/6... for example), because of the efficiency of not having to assess more information than has been requested.
FOI does stand for 'freedom of [official] information', and the object of the Act is to not unnecessarily or unethically take an artificial prescriptive stance contrary to the objects of the Act.
Ciao
Julie
Our reference: FOIREQ22/00141
Dear Julie
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 6 June 2022.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
“I request copy of all s 55G substituted decisions received by the Office
of the Australian Information Commissioner since 1 January 2020, since a
request must be a request for documents.
Based on an earlier request, the OAIC states that Resolve has recorded and
identified s 55G decisions since 'approximately Dec 2019'. It is unclear
why the OAIC did not record such decisions in a searchable way beforehand,
given the significant potential for abuse with such s 55G decisions.
It may be simpler to provide a table of the date the s 55G decision was
received by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the FOI
agency it was received from, and the date of the original FOI request (not
the decision date) the s 55G substitution relates to (as the s 55G
decision states this).
While the OAIC may not be obligated to provide such a table in lieu,
agencies have produced such tables under s 17 despite some manual
intervention involved (see
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/6...
for example), because of the efficiency of not having to assess more
information than has been requested.”
Could you please clarify the scope of your request. Would you please
kindly advise whether:
1. you are seeking copies of the actual 55G decisions, or
2. a table including the date the decision was received, the FOI agency
it was received from and the date of the original FOI request, or
3. both of the above?
We would be grateful if you can please kindly let us know by close of
business on Thursday 9 June 2022. If we do not hear from you by this date
we will assume that you would like to access both a copy of the actual 55G
decision and a table outlined in your FOI request.
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during and consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
Noting the amount of personal and business information that may be
contained in the 55G decisions, if you are indeed seeking a copy of the
actual 55G decisions, would you please kindly advise whether you are
willing to exclude personal and business information from your FOI
request? Third party consultation may not be required if you are willing
to exclude personal and business information from the scope of your
request.
As we received your request on 6 June 2022, we must process your request
by 6 July 2022.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
Next Steps
Could you please respond to this email with a clarification of the scope
of your requests, and whether you are willing to exclude personal and
business information from the scope of your request, by close of business
Thursday 9 June 2022.
If you would like to discuss this matter please contact me on my contact
details set out below.
Regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
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OAIC ref: FOIREQ22/00141
Dear Julie
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 6 June 2022.
Please find attached our letter to you of today’s date seeking your
response.
Please kindly provide your response by Wednesday 13 July 2022.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Margaret
[1]O A I C logo Margaret Sui | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4145 |
[3][email address]
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Dear Margaret Sui,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. My youngest had been in the hospital until recently so I haven't been checking my inbox until now.
I am surprised by the very high volume of s 55G decisions made over the last 18 months - that 1,123 of them have been made or intended to be made highlights widescale failures of FOI agencies to comply with statutory decision making timeframes under the Freedom of Information Act, even with the existence of third party consultation, request consultation and extension of time mechanisms to lawfully (if not always honestly) stop the clock on processing time.
Doesn't the OAIC consider that such a high volume of FOI decisions being made 'out of time' an issue of concern as the entity responsible ensuring foi agencies are complying with the purpose and objects of the Freedom of Information Act? Has the OAIC taken any action to examine or address why such a large volume of out of time decisions are being made, or is the OAIC more interested in enabling unethical FOI practice?
Your letter indicates that the OAIC has interpreted my FOI considerably more broadly than I had intended it to be, by including draft and preliminary documents (that would be exempt since they are deliberative documents given they are s 55G substitutions in draft form), and by including personal information of third parties as in scope when not expressly sought.
I therefore wish to revise the scope of my FOI.
The new scope is as follows:
Of the 1,123 documents currently identified as in scope, I exclude as irrelevant all draft and preliminary s 55G decisions as they are by definition not decisions made but proposed ones that are deliberative and therefore exempt under the FOI Act (which is why including them as in scope for calculating processing time is evidence of 'padding' by the OAIC who would be aware such documents are exempt in full and therefore not assessed for release).
I also exclude as irrelevant all third party information of private individuals and corporate entities that are not FOI agencies.
I also exclude as irrelevant the names and contact details of any Commonwealth official or contractor other than OAIC employees.
As I am only interested in the following, my view is that it would be most efficient and practicable for the OAIC to create a table under s 17 of the Freedom of Information Act (as done here https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/6... even though said s 17 document was not produced solely by computers - s 17 does not prevent an FOI agency from producing such a document, and where it is more practicable and efficient to do so, the objects of the Freedom of Information Act support such a decision being taken) to report the following:
* the date the FOI request was received by the FOI agency (or internal review request was received, where the s 55G substitution is for an internal review decision gone deemed) to which the operationalised s 55G decision relates to
* the date the FOI agency issued the s 55G substituting decision to the FOI applicant
* the name of the FOI agency who made the s 55G substituting decision
This would be the most efficient and practical method of doing this FOI as it does not require any consideration and review of any irrelevant information, and these details are obtainable from the relevant Resolve report that records the s 55G substituting decision as having been made by the FOI agency (which the FOI agency reports to the OAIC).
If, and only if, the OAIC refuses to produce such a table under s 17, then the OAIC can provide copy of:
* The first page of the operationalised (no drafts or preliminary documents) s 55G substituting decision reported to it by the foi agency that made it, with all irrelevant information as listed earlier excluded
* Copy of the Resolve report where that s 55G substituted decision is reported
for each operationalised s 55G decision.
The former (s 17 table) is less work than the latter for the OAIC, so it is recommended the table be produced even if the OAIC takes the view it is not statutorily forced to do so, because s 17 does not prevent the creation of such a summary document, especially when doing so best aligns with the objects and purpose of the Freedom of Information Act.
As I have revised the scope of my request to exclude these wide assumptions made by the OAIC this request consultation period is now concluded and 'processing time' recommences.
Yours sincerely,
Julie
OAIC ref: FOIREQ22/00141
Dear Julie
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 6 June 2022.
Please find attached our decision letter.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Toby Shanks | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
1300 363 992 |
[3][email address]
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter | [7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
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switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
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Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 's 55G substitions'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/s...
According to this OAIC practical refusal decision, the "search indicates that there were a total of 1,123 section 55G revised decisions received by the OAIC in the time period of 1 January 2020 to 10 June 2022."
This is admittedly an extremely high volume of foi decisions having been made after foi agencies have failed to comply with statutory processing time limits, even with exceedingly generous s 15AB approval rates (almost 100%) from the OAIC, and the high increase in third party and practical refusal consultations by foi agencies to extend such statutory processing time limits.
It highlights that the OAIC is failing in its duty as regulator of the FOI system to encourage foi agencies to avoid letting decisions going deemed, if in less than 6 months, over 1,100 s 55G substituting decisions have been made especially when the vast majority of these s 55G substitutions are made multiple years after the deemed date, and are used by the OAIC to justify making no Ic Review decision.
It is very unlikely Parliament intended that s 55G should be used by foi agencies to delay foi decisions by years, and as a mechanism to escape Information Commissioner Review.
Does the OAIC even keep statistics on the volume of s 55G decisions it approves? Or does the OAIC prefer to avoid scrutiny as this refusal reinforces on this particularly underhanded form of undermining of the objects of the Freedom of Information Act.
Yours faithfully,
Julie
Dear Julie,
Thank you for your correspondence. You have stated you are seeking " an internal review of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 's 55G substitions'" Can we please clarify you request, are you seeking:
- an internal review of the decision relating to your FOI request 55G substitutions; or
- to lodge a service complaint about the OAIC processing of your FOI Request 55G substitutions; or
- to lodge an FOI complaint about the OAIC under s70 of the FOI Act.
I note that your correspondence has been sent via email to the Right to Know website. Right to Know is a platform that can be used to request specific information or documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The website is not for general correspondence with agencies, including complaints. If your correspondence is seeking to lodge a complaint, please send your complaint to [email address] using an alternative email address or contact details. Please be advised that if you provide your contact details by replying to this email, they will be publicly available on the Right to Know website.
Regards,
Emily
Emily Elliott | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9852| [email address]
Dear OAIC - Legal,
Is the phrase "I am writing to request an internal review of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 's 55G substitions'" one that can be misunderstood as a request for something other than an Internal Review request as defined by the Freedom of Information Act?
The answer to that is no. Your attempt to recast that request as something else is an act undertaken in bad faith by you. I am disappointed by such unethical behaviour you have engaged in.
Ciao
Julie
Good morning Julie,
Thank you for your confirmation that you are seeking an internal review of the FOI decision relating to s 55 G substitutions.
As your request was received on 16 July 2022 a decision is due on 15 August 2022.
Regards,
Emily Elliott | Senior Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9852| [email address]
Dear Emily Elliott,
In order to avoid further gaslighting from you, to avoid all doubt, that is internal review of access refusal decision FOIREQ22/00141 https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/8...
FOIREQ22/00141 is the only foi on this Right to Know page and while I would not consider you need this reinforced to you, I must take into account that you wrote the below (querying an application clearly expressed as an internal review application, followed by a particularly condescending admonishment from you that bore no connection to reality):
You have stated you are seeking " an internal review of Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's handling of my FOI request 's 55G substitions'" Can we please clarify you request, are you seeking:
- an internal review of the decision relating to your FOI request 55G substitutions; or
- to lodge a service complaint about the OAIC processing of your FOI Request 55G substitutions; or
- to lodge an FOI complaint about the OAIC under s70 of the FOI Act.
So I regret if your game playing is forcing me to repeat what you already well know.
Ciao
Julie
Dear Julie
Please find attached a decision in relation to your request for internal review - FOIREQ22/00187.
Kind regards
Emma.
Emma Liddle | Director, Legal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4153 | [email address]
Dear OAIC - Legal,
For the purposes of the FOI Act I request a s 17 created document that lists all for all s 55G decisions received by the OAIC (excluding draft decisions) since 1 January 2020 that provides all Resolve fields able to be produced solely by Resolve's custom reporting functions (such as the agency that produced the s 55G decision, the Resolve reference number, etc).
Fields excluded from scope are the name of an Ic review applicant and those which contain personal information about an Ic review applicant.
I seek the OAIC's assistance with this request by having the OAIC specify what Resolve fields relevant to such s 55G decisions are able to be produced solely by computers so that I can inform you of those that are unnecessary to be included in such a report.
Ciao
Julie
Our reference: FOIREQ22/00240
Dear Julie
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
You FOI request was received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 23 August 2022. This means that a decision on your
FOI request is currently due on 22 September 2022.
Scope of your request
Your FOI request was made in the following terms:
For the purposes of the FOI Act I request a s 17 created document that
lists all for all s 55G decisions received by the OAIC (excluding draft
decisions) since 1 January 2020 that provides all Resolve fields able to
be produced solely by Resolve's custom reporting functions (such as the
agency that produced the s 55G decision, the Resolve reference number,
etc).
Fields excluded from scope are the name of an Ic review applicant and
those which contain personal information about an Ic review applicant.
I seek the OAIC's assistance with this request by having the OAIC specify
what Resolve fields relevant to such s 55G decisions are able to be
produced solely by computers so that I can inform you of those that are
unnecessary to be included in such a report.
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process, unless we seek your permission. However, documents that are
within the scope of your request that we may need to consult third parties
about may contain your personal information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires the OAIC to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
The current decision due date for your request is 22 September 2022. We
will advise you if this timeframe is otherwise extended.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss your FOI request, please contact me on my
contact details set out below.
Kind regards
[1]O A I C logo Molly Cooke | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4296 |
[3][email address]
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OFFICIAL: Sensitive
OAIC ref: FOIREQ22/00240
Dear Julie,
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 23 August 2022 (attached).
Please find attached decision of today’s date and documents for release.
Kind regards,
[1]O A I C logo Alessia Mercuri | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9942 4236|
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OFFICIAL: Sensitive
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