FOI References: LEX 9207, 9269, 9295, 9321, 9322, 9326, 9346,
9358, 9366, 9368, 9373, 9419 and 9428
File No: 23/27688
14 November 2023
CR
Right to Know
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear CR
Thank you for your FOI request dated 22 October 2023 (LEX 9321) in which you sought
access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to:
1. All internal briefings, memorandums, emails, reports or other documents that were
consulted by or provided to Foreign Minister Penny Wong which informed her
determination regarding responsibility for the hospital explosion in Gaza.
2. Any documents, including diplomatic cables, intel igence reports, meeting notes or
other correspondence within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or
exchanged with other government departments/agencies relating to, mentioning,
referencing or analysing the hospital explosion in Gaza.
Notice of intended practical refusal and notice that your requests have been combined
In accordance with section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act, I am providing you notice of my intention
to refuse to grant access to the documents captured by your request.
Under section 24AA(a)(i) of the FOI Act, for the purposes of section 24 of the FOI Act, a
practical refusal reason exists in relation to a request for a document if the work involved in
processing the request, in the case of the agency, would substantial y and unreasonably
divert the resources of an agency from its other operations.
Under section 24(2)(b) of the FOI Act, the agency may treat two or more requests as a single
request if satisfied that the request relates to documents, the subject matter of which is
substantial y the same.
R G Casey Building John McEwen Cres Barton 0221
DFAT.GOV.AU
T +61 2 6261 1111
@DFAT
Combining your request
Between 9 October 2023 and 3 November 2023, the department received 13 FOI requests
relating to the Hamas-Israel Conflict, seeking documents within the date range of
1 October 2023 to 3 November 2023.
Paragraph 3.123 of the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under
section 93A of the FOI Act provides:
“The most common circumstance in which requests may be combined under s 24(2) is
likely to be multiple requests from a single applicant. However, s 24(2) can also apply
to two or more requests from different applicants… Multiple requests can only be
combined as a single request under s 24(2) if there is a clear connection between the
subject matter of the requested documents.”
I have considered the scope and date range of al 13 requests received by the department
and have decided to treat the requests as a single request. In accordance with
section 24(2)(b) of the FOI Act, I am satisfied that the requests relate to documents, the
subject matter of which is substantially the same, being the Hamas-Israel Conflict.
Further, I am of the view that processing the request, would constitute a substantial and
unreasonable diversion of the department's resources, for the reasons set out below.
However, you are welcome to revise the scope of your request in line with
section 24AB(2)(e) of the FOI Act so that your request might be processed.
Notice of intended practical refusal
In accordance with section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act, I am providing you notice of my intention
to refuse to grant access to the documents captured by your request.
The reason for the proposed practical refusal is that the department currently holds
thousands of documents that are potential y relevant to your request and the work involved
in processing the request, as it currently stands, would substantial y and unreasonably
divert the department’s resources from its other operations.
In making this assessment, I have considered how the department could process your
request and the time and resources that would be involved in doing so. To date, over ten
percent of the workforce has been diverted to respond to the Hamas-Israel Conflict, with
shifts operating 24/7. Relevant officers working within the department’s crisis response
centre have been unable to undertake searches or provide advice on sensitivities as a
priority.
Accordingly, I engaged and have been assisted in this request by in the Business Solutions
Branch (BSB) who have assisted in estimating resource demands of your request.
Searches for potentially relevant documents have been undertaken by BSB. BSB were
engaged to undertake searches for emails and were provided with the following search
parameters:
• a date range of 1 October 2023 to 3 November 2023,
• 14 key word search combinations, being:
1. “Aid” and “Gaza”
2. “Gaza”
3. “Col ective punishment”
4. “Ceasefire”
5. “Hospital explosion”/”hospital bombing”
6. “Al-Ahli” and “Hospital”
7. “Baptist”
8. “De-escalation”
9. “War crimes”
10. “UNGA vote”/”UNGA abstention”/”A/ES-10/L.25”
11. “Ed Husic”, “Anne Aly” and “Tony Burke”
12. “US assessment”
13. “intelligence”
14. “export permits” and “Israel”
• 77 email addresses that had been identified as holding documents.
o This included officers working in the department’s Crisis Centre,
Humanitarian Division and a group inbox administered by the Media and
Communications Delivery Branch.
Searches completed by BSB have identified 72,367 items. This estimate is considered to be
conservative as the searches were confined to the 77 email addresses and do not capture
multiple areas within the department, both in Australia and overseas, that have been
identified as potential y holding relevant documents.
BSB were also engaged to undertake searches for cables and were provided with the
following search parameters:
• 8 key word search combinations, being:
1. “Gaza”
2. “Col ective punishment”
3. “Ceasefire”
4. “Hospital explosion”/”hospital bombing”
5. “Al-Ahli hospital”
6. “De-escalation”
7. “War crimes”
8. “UNGA vote”/”UNGA abstention”/”A/ES-10/L.25”
• 10 potential to/from locations, including:
1. Canberra
2. Tel Aviv
3. Ramallah
4. Beirut
5. Cairo
6. Amman
7. Kuwait City
8. New York UN
9. Geneva UN
10. Vienna UN
The results returned 494 cables within the date range 7 October 2023 to 3 November 2023.
I have considered the factors outlined in paragraph 3.116 and 3.117 of the FOI Guidelines
including, but not limited to:
• Identifying, locating or collating documents.
• Examining the documents, deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access.
• Consulting with other parties.
• Redacting exempt material from the document, making copies of documents.
• Notifying an interim or final decision to applicants.
• The staffing resources available to an agency for FOI processing.
• The impact that processing the request may have on other work in the agency,
including FOI.
• The significant public interest in the documents requested.
I am of the opinion that processing your request in its current form would be a substantial
and unreasonable diversion of the department’s resources under section 24AA(1) of the FOI
Act.
Consultation to revise the scope of the request
In accordance with paragraph 3.125 of the FOI Guidelines, agencies are obliged to deal
individual y with each request that is not withdrawn or revised before the end of the
consultation period.
Pursuant to section 24AB(2)(e) of the FOI Act, each applicant has fourteen days from the
date of receipt of this notice to:
(a) withdraw your request;
(b) revise the scope of your request; or
(c) notify the department that you do not wish to revise the scope of your request.
I invite you to contact me by email to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, should you wish to revise the request
in order that it can be processed.
To support your consideration of a revised scope, it may be useful to:
• limit the type of documents sought, and
• reduce the date range for your request.
Please note that under section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act, if you do not take an opportunity to
consult with the department within 14 days, your request wil be considered to have been
withdrawn.
Please also be aware that during this period of consultation, the statutory timeframe under
section 15(5) of the Act for the processing of your request is on hold (see section 24AB(8) of
the FOI Act for details).
Where I refer to sections of the FOI Act, these are available at www.legislation.gov.au. Parts
of the FOI Guidelines referenced can be found online at www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-
information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-government-agencies/foi-guidelines.
Yours sincerely
Brooke King
Brooke King
A/g Director
Freedom of Information Section
