Dear AIMVIA,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of the following FOI request, made to
the Department of Infrastructure & Regional Development on 12 September
2017.

Minister Paul Fletcher recently announced proposed changes to the
Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme (SEVS), scheduled to come into
effect on 1 January 2019. The Motor Vehicle Standards Act review team
subsequently released the revised SEVS criteria, along with proposed
thresholds for each criterion. AIMVIA requests all supporting research
data collected by the Department (including its own data and data supplied
to the Department by third parties), which the MVSA review team has
subsequently used to formulate the proposed SEVS criteria and thresholds.

I have begun processing your request, and will be in touch when I’ve
established the next steps. If you have any questions in the meantime,
please feel free to email.

Regards,

Freedom of Information Officer | Governance Section

Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development

GPO Box 594, Canberra ACT 2601

e [1][Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development request email] | w [2]www.infrastructure.gov.au

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Dear AIMVIA,

I’m writing regarding your FOI request to the Department of Infrastructure
& Regional Development, for documents containing research data used to
formulate the proposed SEVS criteria and thresholds.

The relevant area of the Department has advised that a preliminary search
for relevant documents has identified 1699 documents in the relevant time
frame containing the search terms “SEV” and “criteria”, which constitute
more than 500,000 pages (based on a sample examination). The business area
has also advised that as much of the proposed revised critera and
threshholds were based on qualitative data (such as stakeholder
submissions), not just quantitative data, then all of the documents are
potentially within the scope of your request. In addition, this
preliminary search does not contain emails, which would also contribute a
significant number to the total document count. While many of the pages
would be duplicates, and would be removed in the final assessment, this
wouldn’t sufficiently reduce the page count.

Given 5 minutes per page, the FOI unit has calculated that it would take
approximately 21 years to process your request in its current state, which
the Department considers to be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of
the Department’s resources. This is a practical refusal reason pursuant to
section 24AB of the FOI Act.

In order for your request to proceed you must reduce the size of your
request and remove the practical refusal reason. While no guarantee is
given that one or all of the below suggestions would sufficiently reduce
the size of your request, you may wish to consider the following
suggestions:

·        Reduce the time frame (which is currently almost four years-worth
of documents)

·        Providing keywords to narrow the search parameters, such as “data
used in assessing changes in vehicle numbers” or “industry viability”

·        By reducing the classifications of documents (such as by
excluding emails).

Please note that your request is currently on hold until you revise your
scope or indicate that you don’t wish to revise it, otherwise your request
will be deemed withdrawn at close of business on 20 October 2017 (14 days
from today). I am available to assist you during this period.

Regards,

Freedom of Information Officer | Governance Section

Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development

GPO Box 594, Canberra ACT 2601

e [1][Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development request email] | w [2]www.infrastructure.gov.au

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Disclaimer

This message has been issued by the Department of Infrastructure and
Regional Development.
The information transmitted is for the use of the intended recipient only
and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material.
Any review, re-transmission, disclosure, dissemination or other use of, or
taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons
or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result
in severe penalties.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the Department on
(02) 6274-7111
and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development request email]
2. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/

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Dear Australian Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association,

Notification of decision - FOI 18-027 – Motor Vehicle Standards Act review data

I refer to your revised request for access to documents in the possession of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (the Department) in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the FOI Act), received by the Department on 20 October 2017.

Please see the attached decision on your request for access.

Kind regards

FOI Officer | Governance and Performance
Governance Unit | Corporate Services
Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development
GPO Box 594, Canberra ACT 2601
t 02 6274 6495 |
e [email address] | w www.infrastructure.gov.au

-----Original Message-----
From: Australian Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association [mailto:[FOI #4085 email]]
Sent: Friday, 20 October 2017 3:54 PM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: HPRM: Re: FOI 18-027 - practical refusal notice [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Dear FOI,

In light of your response, we would like to narrow our request to any correspondence between any member (past or current) of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act Review team and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and its representatives during the review period. Correspondence that is already in the public domain (such as submissions already publicly available on the MVSA webpage) can be excluded from the search.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Australian Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association

-----Original Message-----

Dear AIMVIA,

I’m writing regarding your FOI request to the Department of Infrastructure & Regional Development, for documents containing research data used to formulate the proposed SEVS criteria and thresholds.

The relevant area of the Department has advised that a preliminary search for relevant documents has identified 1699 documents in the relevant time frame containing the search terms “SEV” and “criteria”, which constitute more than 500,000 pages (based on a sample examination). The business area has also advised that as much of the proposed revised critera and threshholds were based on qualitative data (such as stakeholder submissions), not just quantitative data, then all of the documents are potentially within the scope of your request. In addition, this preliminary search does not contain emails, which would also contribute a significant number to the total document count. While many of the pages would be duplicates, and would be removed in the final assessment, this wouldn’t sufficiently reduce the page count.

Given 5 minutes per page, the FOI unit has calculated that it would take approximately 21 years to process your request in its current state, which the Department considers to be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources. This is a practical refusal reason pursuant to section 24AB of the FOI Act.

In order for your request to proceed you must reduce the size of your request and remove the practical refusal reason. While no guarantee is given that one or all of the below suggestions would sufficiently reduce the size of your request, you may wish to consider the following
suggestions:

·        Reduce the time frame (which is currently almost four years-worth of documents)

·        Providing keywords to narrow the search parameters, such as “data used in assessing changes in vehicle numbers” or “industry viability”

·        By reducing the classifications of documents (such as by excluding emails).

Please note that your request is currently on hold until you revise your scope or indicate that you don’t wish to revise it, otherwise your request will be deemed withdrawn at close of business on 20 October 2017 (14 days from today). I am available to assist you during this period.

Regards,

Freedom of Information Officer | Governance Section

Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development

GPO Box 594, Canberra ACT 2601

e [1][Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development request email] | w [2]www.infrastructure.gov.au

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development request email] 2. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/

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Disclaimer

This message has been issued by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.
The information transmitted is for the use of the intended recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material.
Any review, re-transmission, disclosure, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons
or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in severe penalties.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the Department on (02) 6274-7111
and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
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