FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
PRINCIPAL REGISTRY
LEVEL 17
LAW COURTS BUILDING
QUEENS SQUARE
SYDNEY NSW 2000
22 May 2023
Watson Norwood
Right to Know
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Norwood,
Request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
I acknowledge receipt of your request, dated 6 May 2023 and communicated by email to
xxxxxxxx.xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx, for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act).
A preliminary assessment has been undertaken of your Freedom of Information (
FOI) request
and the Court has determined that you are liable to pay a charge.
The charges applicable to your request are set at the following rates by the
Freedom of
Information (Charges) Regulations 2019 (
Charges Regulations):
Item
Applicable charge
Search and retrieval: time spent in searching for or retrieving the $15.00 per hour
document requested
Decision-making: time spent in deciding whether to grant, refuse $20.00 for each hour
or defer access to the document or to grant access to a copy of after the first 5 hours
document with deletions, including time spent:
• In examining the document; or
• In consultation with any person or body; or
• In making a copy with deletions; or
• In notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
On the basis of the applicable charges outlined above, an estimate of your charge is set out in
the following table:
Item
Description
Estimated Estimated
hours
charge
Search and retrieval • Searches of the electronic document 15 minutes $15.00 x 0.25
& records system conducted by staff
= $3.75
of the FOI team and senior staff of
the Court.
Decision-making
• Examination of document/s retrieved 5.25 hours $20.00 x
• Consulting individuals in relation to
0.25 = $5.00
personal information
(No charge
• Deciding to grant or refuse access to
for first 5
document/s requested
hours)
• Preparing reasons for decision
TOTAL ESTIMATED CHARGE
$8.75
DEPOSIT PAYABLE
$0.00
Please be aware that the estimated charges provided in the table above are an estimate only.
Following the processing of your FOI request, the actual charge may be higher as it is not
possible to know the precise amount of time that staff of the Court will spend searching for and
retrieving documents and/or making a decision in relation to documents you have requested.
Deposit
Subsection 12(2) of the Charges Regulations only allows a deposit to be charged in
circumstances where the agency’s preliminary assessment of the charge exceeds $25.00.
Having regard to the total estimated charge for processing your FOI request, and in accordance
with the FOI Act and Charges Regulations, the Court does not require you to pay a deposit.
Right to contest charge
Under s 29(1)(f) of the FOI Act, you may make an application to contest the charge if you
believe it has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not imposed. In accordance with
s 29(1)(f), your application contesting the charge must:
• Be made in writing;
• Be made to the Court within 30 days of receiving the notice of charge; and
• Provide reasons for contending that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or should
be reduced or not imposed.
In considering whether or not to reduce, or not impose, the charge, the Court must take into
account the following factors under s 29(5) of the FOI Act:
• Whether payment of the charge would cause financial hardship to you; and
• Whether giving access to the documents requested is in the general public interest or
in the interest of a substantial section of the public.
However, the Court can also take other matters into account, in addition to financial hardship
and the public interest.
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In relation to any claim you make that the imposition of the charge will cause financial hardship
to you, you should consider providing evidence regarding the financial hardship. This will
better enable the Court to assess whether the charge will cause financial hardship to you.
Your obligations
Under s 29(1)(f) of the FOI Act, you must notify the Court in writing within 30 days of
receiving this notice of charge that you:
• agree to pay the charge; or
• wish to contest the charge; or
• withdraw your FOI request.
In accordance with s 29(1)(g) of the FOI Act, if you fail to respond to this notice of charge in
writing within 30 days, your FOI request will be taken to have been withdrawn.
You should also be aware that, under s 31(2) of the FOI Act, the processing period for your
FOI request will temporarily cease on the day you receive this notice of charge and will not
recommence until the earliest of the following occurs: you pay the charge (in the circumstances
set out in either ss 31(2)(a) or 31(2)(b)) OR following a review under the FOI Act, a decision
is made by the Court not to impose a charge.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Officer
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