The study into Light Rail for Canberra
Dear Infrastructure Australia,
Many letters to the paper in Canberra make reference to a study by Infrastructure Australia on Light Rail from Gunghalin to Civic. I have been unable to find this online. Can you help?
Yours faithfully,
Kevin Cox
Dear Infrastructure Australia,
My request to get the "The study into Light Rail for Canberra" has been delayed. By law you should have responded by November 4th, 2015
Yours faithfully,
Kevin Cox
Dear Kevin,
Your first email was not received as an FOI request. I have reviewed your request and respond as follows:
1. Your email is not a valid FOI request as it does not state that it is a request for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, 1982; or give details of how notices under the Act may be sent to you. Further, it is framed as a request for assistance to locate documents.
2. IA has not conducted a study on Light Rail from Gungahlin to Civic, so there is no utility in reformatting your email as a compliant FOI request.
3. IA has not completed an evaluation of the business case for the ACT Light rail in its current form. The 2013 Infrastructure Priority list – published in the 2013 Report to COAG – included the Canberra Transit Corridor. Please note this report was published by IA in its previous capacity (prior to 1 September 2014) and is available as an archive on our website: http://infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/po...
If you require any further assistance with your enquiry you can contact IA's communications team or if you require assistance in making an FOI request, contact IA's FOI co-ordinator, both on (02) 8114 1900.
Regards,
Infrastructure Australia
www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au
GPO Box 5417 | Sydney NSW 2001
Dear Infrastructure Australia,
You say
"Your email is not a valid FOI request as it does not state that it is a request for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, 1982; or give details of how notices under the Act may be sent to you. Further, it is framed as a request for assistance to locate documents."
You know it was a request for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 otherwise you could not tell me it was not. You are also able to tell me so you do know how to send me notices.
Of course it is framed as a request for assistance to locate documents because you do not publish a list of documents that are available under the Freedom of Information Act.
You published a press release saying you had completed a study and gave your conclusions. I would like to know the name of the study and then I will be able to make a request to see the study.
So in line with your response.
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Please respond to the request by replying to this email.
Please supply me with the name of the study conducted by Infrastructure Australia into Light Rail in Canberra.
I will then put in another request for you to supply me with the study(s) or you could short circuit the request by supplying me with study in response to this email
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Cox
Dear Kevin,
As stated below, the only evaluation conducted by IA that relates to ACT Light Rail is contained in the 2013 Infrastructure Priority list – published in the 2013 Report to COAG – noted as the Canberra Transit Corridor. The 2013 priority list is available on our website: http://infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/po.... An evaluation/assessment of the Canberra Transit Corridor is considered supporting documentation to its inclusion on the 2013 Infrastructure Priority List and you may wish to make a FOI request for this evaluation/assessment.
I re-state there has been no detailed study undertaken by IA on light rail in the ACT nor have we undertaken assessment of the ACT light rail business case in the projects current form.
I would be very pleased to discuss your enquiry further in order to resolve your request satisfactorilly - to this end I ask you to either provide a contact number for IA to call you or please call IA's FOI coordinator on (02) 8114 1900 at your convenience.
As it appears these responses are published directly onto a publically available site - if you do not wish to provide your contact details via this method please email them to [email address] and we will be in touch with you asap.
Regards,
Infrastructure Australia
Dear Infrastructure Australia,
Thank you very much for your response. It has answered my question.
I asked the question because of letters to the Editor to the Canberra Times. Correspondents claimed an Infrastructure Australia report said that Light Rail was not a sensible option for the ACT. I could not find any such report and hence my request. As I now understand it in 2013 Infrastructure Australia said that ACT Light Rail was not high on the nation's priority list.
The letter writers misrepresented Infrastructure Australia's position.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Cox
Dear Infrastructure Australia,
Thank you for your response. I understand what is available and what isn't.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Cox
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
I do not think that this is a fair response to the agency. It is definitely not certain that the first email is an FOI request. In any case, the law says that it is for you to say exactly that it is an FOI request. It is not enough for the Department to imagine that they know it is an FOI request. Section 15(2)(aa) says that for a request to be a valid FOI application it MUST "state that the request is an application for the purposes of this Act." It might be awkward, or inconvenient, or a problem but it is the law.
Also, many times an applicant deliberately does not mention the FOI Act because they wish the Department first to see if they can release the documents under administrative arrangements. Only if it is not possible with this method does an applicant sometimes at a second step say that they wish to make an FOI request.
For a different point, it is also clear that the department had a look for the documents that you asked for and it does not exist in the form that you appear to want. If you send your request as an FOI request then it will be refused. The reason for refusal will be one of two reasons. It will either be s 24A (documents do not exist) or it will be refused because the documents are publicly available and maintained for reference purposes.