Dear Ms Black

 

I refer to your below email of 28 August 2020 to the Department of Health
(department).

 

The department is unable to determine what documents you are requesting as
your request in its current form appears to be a set of questions, not a
request for access to documents, and therefore is not a valid request
under section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).

 

Section 15 of the FOI Act requires that a request for access meets certain
requirements. To be valid, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request must:

 

• state that the request is an application for purposes of the FOI Act;

• provide sufficient information about the document(s) to allow us to
process the request; and

• provide an address for reply.

 

Further information about how to apply for your FOI is available on the
Health website:
[1]https://www.health.gov.au/about-us/corpo...

 

Please note that the FOI Act does not provide a mechanism to obtain
information or answers to questions. It is a mechanism to seek access to
documents held by government entities.

 

In order for your correspondence to be considered valid and processed
under the provisions of the FOI Act, further information is required to
enable the department to identify the document or documents you are
seeking.

 

Please contact the FOI Unit should you have any further questions.

 

Kind regards

 

Celeste

 

FOI Unit – FOI and Legislation Section

[2]cid:image003.png@01D51610.1D98D220

Legal & Assurance Division |  Corporate Operations Group

Legal Advice & Legislation Branch

Australian Government Department of Health

T: 02 6289 1666  | E: [3][email address] 

GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

 

The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of
Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to all Elders past and present. 

 

If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Louise Black
Sent: Friday, 28 August 2020 12:19 AM
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - States & Locations where
COVID-19 Testing Labs have been set up by BGI Group & Minderoo [SEC=No
Protective Marking]

 

 

REMINDER : Think before you click! This email originated from outside our
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Dear Department of Health,

 

On 29 April 2020, Federal Minister for Health, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, and
Minderoo Foundation Chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest AO, have announced the
ground-breaking partnership formed between the Australian Federal
Government and Minderoo Foundation to secure an abundance of COVID-19
testing kits and other equipment, in a mission to eliminate COVID-19 in
Australia.

 

In collaboration with medical diagnostics providers Sonic Healthcare
(Sonic) and Healius, and backed by the State Governments and the Federal
Government, 11 new testing labs have been set up for rapid test processing
and analysis. BGI's proprietary Huo-Yan (Fire-Eye) laboratory solution is
an emergency test lab empowered by BGI’s RT-PCR kits and automated nucleic
acid extraction systems such as MGISP-960.

 

The information I request from the department please is:

 

- In what states and locations were the 11 BGI Huo-Yan laboratories set
up?

 

- Are they all currently processing test samples?

 

- What states are using the BGI RT-PCR test kits for their covid
population testing programs?

 

- What quantities of PCR test kits and reagent were supplied to the
Australian government by BGI in partnership with Mindaroo?

 

- How many kits and reagent has been distributed to which states, if any
and how many have been added to the National Medical Stockpile for future
use?

 

- Have any of either the federal or respective states' public health
reference laboratories eg. VIDRL etc been able to succesfully integrate
BGI's Huo Yang solution into their existing lab processes? Or

- Are the BGI test labs operating as standalone laboratories specifically
for the rapid processing of test samples using the BGI test kits supplied?

 

Thank you in advance for facilitating the information I request above.
Mindaroo and BGI have not been forthcoming with answers to these questions
which is strange, thus I am making this FOI request.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Louise Black

 

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[4][FOI #6654 email]

 

Is [5][Health request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Department of Health? If so, please contact us using this
form:

[6]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:

[7]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.

 

 

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