Postal address
GPO Box 2702
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
Physical address
11 Lancaster Place, 2nd Floor
Majura Park
Canberra Airport ACT 2609
Australia
T + 61 2 6287 6600
www.arc.gov.au
F + 61 2 6287 6601
29 August 2023
Alex Pentland
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Alex,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOI) REQUEST – RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS
The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about access to documents that you
requested under the
Freedom of information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act).
Summary
I, Dr Richard Johnson, am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to
make decisions in relation to FOI requests.
You requested access to documents relating to the Australian Research Council (
ARC)
Style Guide on 3 August 2023, which the ARC received on 4 August 2023. Specifically,
you sought access to:
‘….Dear Australian Research Council,
This is a Freedom of Information Request for the purposes of the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
I request access to the Style Guide for the Australian Research Council.’
Background
Background information relevant to your request is your email dated 3 August 2023
(
original request) and the Australian Research Council (
ARC) response dated 7 August
2023. Relevantly, the ARC in responding to you on 7 August 2023 said:
‘Thank you for your email, seeking access to information about the Style Guide
for the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
The ARC can give you administrative access to the requested information, i.e.,
outside of the FOI Act process. Administrative access arrangements coexist, but
operate independently of the FOI Act, and provide a less formal mechanism for
accessing information. You can read more about the advantages of administrative
access in the OAIC FOI Guidelines at paragraphs 3.2 to 3.5 FOI Guidelines
(oaic.gov.au). These advantages may include cost benefits and potentially quicker
processing times. Importantly, gaining administrative access to information does
not prevent you from making FOI Act requests for additional information in the
future.
If you agree to receive the requested information through administrative access,
please let us know as soon as possible by replying to this email. In your
response, please also confirm that you agree to withdraw your FOI request, as
the FOI legislation does not contemplate the two processes running concurrently.
Once the ARC receives confirmation of your FOI request withdrawal, we wil
provide you with administrative access to the requested information.
Please note, if we do not hear from you by 11 August, we wil proceed on the
basis that you wish to continue with your FOI request and wil continue to process
it under the legislation, in accordance with statutory timeframes.
If you have any questions, please contact me to discuss.’
Where the ARC did not receive a response from you by 11 August, this letter is now in
response to your email dated 3 August 2023.
Decision
My decision in relation to the documents listed
above is at
Attachment A to this letter; a
‘Schedule of Documents’ concerning documents that fall within the scope of your request
is at
Attachment B; together with the
ARC’s guidelines for rights of review at
Attachment C.
If you have any questions in relation to your FOI request, I can be contacted via email at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Dr Richard Johnson
Deputy Chief Executive Of icer
Australian Research Council
Attachments:
A. Decision relating to FOI request
B. Schedule of Documents
C. Your Review Rights
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Attachment A: Decision relating to FOI request by Alex Pentland
I, Dr Richard Johnson, Deputy Chief Executive Of icer, Australian Research Council, am
an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to
access to documents. What follows is my decision and the reasons for that decision.
BACKGROUND
The decision relates to a request you made to the ARC for access under FOI to the ARC
Style Guide (as outlined in the covering letter).
DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION
I have identified one (1) document which falls within the scope of your request, together
with guidance that is publicly accessible.
The ‘Schedule of Documents’ concerning the document that falls within the scope of your
request is at
Attachment B. This Schedule of Documents
provides a description of the
document that falls within the scope of your request and the access decision for the
document.
I have decided to:
• grant you full access to document numbered one (1).
More information, including my reasons for my decision, is set out
below.
The ARC does not apply a charge to this request.
MATERIAL CONSIDERED
I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
• the content of the document that falls within the scope of your request, together with
the publicly accessible guidance.
• details of relevant correspondence entered by you and the ARC dated 3 August 2023
and 7 August 2023.
• the FOI Act
• the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act, and
• previous FOI decisions.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The Schedule of Documents at
Attachment B indicates each document to which access
is granted and refused. I have decided to grant you access to document one (1) in full.
My reasons for providing access are given
below.
(a) The Australian Research Council (
ARC) uses the
ARC Style Guidelines, which
is an
online resource consistent with the
Australian Government Style Manual, publicly
accessible at
Australian Government Style Manual (stylemanual.gov.au).
(b) The Australian Government Style Manual (
Style Manual) was updated and released
in 2020.
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(c) The ARC approach to almost all the guidance in the Style Manual is digital first. This
reflects the Australian Government's vision under the
Data and Digital Government
Strategy | Digital Transformation Agency (dta.gov.au).
(d) The ARC also has some exceptions to the Style Manual due to the scope of ARC’s
responsibility.
Below are ARC preferences which are not referenced in the Style
Manual (not exhaustive, and this list may be updated):
•
Italics – When referring to a funding scheme, the ARC preference is to always
italicise the actual scheme name, not the word 'scheme' and the names of ARC
Centres of Excellence. For example: the
ARC Discovery Projects scheme
and
ARC Centre of Excel ence for Electromaterial Science (ACES). For all other
matters the advice is to limit the use of
Italics | Style Manual.
•
Font –
The ARC’s preferred style for formal writing, such as contracts and policy
documents, or printed publications such as the Annual Report and promotional
brochures (particularly if they are to be published online),
is sans serif font Arial
size 11 or serif font Times New Roman size 12.
(e) The Style Manual does not necessarily provide advice for the purposes of writing:
• Briefs and Ministerials
• Legislative instruments
• Legal documents, and
• Content for the ARC website.
(f) This is because the
ARC has its own specific set of guidelines or templates that may
slightly differ from Style Manual
guidance.
Document one (1) is the ARC Style Placement, which is the ARC Style Guide Tips and
Tricks. This is based on the (
above) online resource material, is in line with the ARC
Style Guidelines (as consistent with the Australian Government Style Manual) and,
assists ARC staff in preparing professional documents and material for the ARC to a
standard expected of an Australian Government agency.
Attachment B:
Schedule of Documents
Document Date
Description
Decision
No
1.
N/A
ARC Style
Access is granted in full.
Placement -
ARC Style
Guide Tips and
Tricks
Attachment C: Your Review Rights
If you do not agree with my decision, then you may apply to the Information
Commissioner.
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Australian Research
Council for an internal review of my decision. An internal review application must be
made within 30 days of the date of this letter to:
email:
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
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post: GPO Box 2702 Canberra ACT 2601
Please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The internal
review wil be carried out by another officer within 30 days.
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information
Commissioner (
Information Commissioner) to review my decision.
An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be made in writing
within 60 days of the date of this letter, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
online:
https:/ forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR_
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email: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
You wil also find useful information on the Office of Australian Information
Commissioner’s (
OAIC’s) website:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/information-
commissioner-review/.
You can contact the OAIC on 1300 363 992.
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Document Outline