Statistical data on NBN FOI teams
Dear NBN Co Limited,
I am requesting for any statistical documentation or reports relating to
- Number of FOI requests received – breakdown by year
- Number of approved FOI requests and approving officer – breakdown by year
- Number of declined FOI requests and declining officer and the clause for declining the request– breakdown by year
ie Number of FOI declined due to Commercial in confidence
Number of FOI declined based of cyber security or other threats
- Staff turnover and numbers that are responsible for FOI requests
- Revenue generated from FOI requests (both declined and approved)
Yours faithfully,
Timothy Nothdurft
Mr Nothdurft – Please find attached a letter requesting clarification
regarding your FOI request – and providing you with background and
information as to where you may find FOI data on a publicly accessible
website – data.gov.au.
David J Mesman
General Counsel │FOI, Privacy & Knowledge Management
Corporate Advisory and Systems Engineering & Operations Legal Team
E [1][email address]
Level 11, 100 Arthur Street, North Sydney NSW 2060
[2]cid:image001.png@01D4186E.FCC70E80
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References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear David Mesman,
Thankyou for your response, the objectives and motives of NBNco in regards to FOI are fairly clear at this point. Obviously any request that poses even slight risk of causing damage to NBN reputation, ability to sell, or put the key stakeholders in bad light will be withheld on commercial or security "excuses" without any risk management.
To date NBNco have failed to demonstrate BASIC ability to release information efficiently under FOI, including release of basic Metadata (page numbers, versions, dates, etc) or highly redacted versions of documents that would allow for NBN decisions to be properly scrutinised and assessed without damaging NBNco ability to deliver it's goals. I believe this information could be used to increase the value of NBN and allow better decision making and accountability moving forward. It is disappointing that NBNco fail to see this advantage.
It is also very clear on your position within the organisation.
Yours sincerely,
Timothy Nothdurft
Dear Mr Nothdurft – I noted that you or the Right-to-Know (RTK) website
incorrectly listed this matter as refused. For reference, I did not refuse
this request, but I’d requested that you clarify your application for the
reasons contained in the letter found in this RTK strand.
As outlined in my previous correspondence to you, statistical data on all
FOI entities, including nbn, are found at the following data.gov.au
[1]link.
For ease of reference, relevant spreadsheets are found here:
* [2]https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b0771...
OAIC; or
* [3]https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b0771...
OAIC
Those spreadsheets contain numbers of applications received, refusals,
exemption grounds, etc. As outlined in my previous correspondence, you may
find relevant FOI data from 2011-2018 and my understanding is that the
OAIC should publish FY19 data in due course on the same site.
Best, David Mesman
General Counsel │FOI, Privacy & Knowledge Management
Corporate Advisory and Systems Engineering & Operations Legal Team
E [4][email address]
Level 11, 100 Arthur Street, North Sydney NSW 2060
nbn acknowledges and pays respects to the traditional custodians of all
the lands upon which we work.
Notice to recipient: This e-mail is intended only to be read or used by
the addressee. It is confidential and may contain information that is
subject to legal professional privilege or protected by copyright. If you
are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for
delivery of the message to that person), you may not copy or deliver this
message to anyone, and you should destroy this message and kindly notify
the sender by reply e-mail. Copyright, confidentiality and legal
professional privilege are not waived or lost by reason of mistaken
delivery to you. Emails to/from nbn co limited ABN 86 136 533 741 may
undergo email filtering and virus scanning, including by third party
contractors, however, nbn co limited does not guarantee that any email or
any attachment is secure, error-free or free of viruses or other unwanted
or unexpected inclusions. Any views expressed in this message are those of
the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to
be the views of nbn co limited.
PLEASE CONSIDER OUR ENVIRONMENT BEFORE PRINTING
References
Visible links
1. https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b0771...
2. https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b0771...
3. https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b0771...
4. mailto:[email address]
Dear Mr Nothdurft – I’m resending my previous note, as it appears that the
RTK website still has this request listed as “refused”.
Again, I’m happy to assist in clarifying the terms of this application.
Best regards, David Mesman
Dear Mr Nothdurft – I refer Mr Fairless’ annotation in this strand,
indicating that it is the requestor who is responsible for annotating the
status of this request.
As outlined previously and included below, nbn did not refuse this request
and, in fact, released information by providing the sources where that
information may be found.
I would ask that you please change the status of this request to
“withdrawn” or “partially successful”.
Best regards, David Mesman
Timothy Nothdurft left an annotation ()
Opening statement;
It is clear, as stated, that NBN is happy to hide behind its perceived cloak of CiC with very little justification or evidence as to the real risks in doing so. Public have very little power to influence this. Therefore from the public's point of view...
I consider this a refusal to release or facilitate. And I'll leave that in the public's eye to agree or disagree, not an individual NBN employee that may or may not be working in the best interest of the Australian public (as stated in the response)
However if you would like to pursue this and clarify further;
I specifically asked for internal FOI reporting statistics, and am aware of what information is published by OAIC. Surely as the primary FOI releasing officer you would keep a spreadsheet on the amounts requested for information and total hours since 2011?
Please release any internal document or table that would capture the number of hours and fees requested from the public in relation to NBN FOI activities.
[Per its submission to the OAIC, nbn indicated that its staff members are not public servants and
there is no requirement that their details be made public as they are not performing “public
functions.”]
No personal or expectation of personal data was asked for - irrespective if NBN was really acting as a true GBE or even a typical Government department. Just the turn over as a statistical representation. This was clear IMO.
Number of staff hired vs number of staff leaving in legal and policy space.
Cyber security threats.
FOI requests that have been denied based on a risk to Australia's National security.
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
To answer the question from NBNCo, the status we display is determined by the requester. In this case, the requester has marked the request as refused.