Ref: LEX-75395
Rob Cawthorne
Via emai
l: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Cawthorne,
Your Freedom of Information request – consultation
I refer to your request dated 23 October 2023 and received by the Department of Climate
Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (
department) on the same date for access under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act) to the following documents:
I would like to request the following information:
1. The names of the organisations who were represented and attended the
roundtable (march 2023) or technical workshop (June 2023) in regard to the
Climate Active program direction consultation 2023.
2. Any invitations / requests that were sent to the attendees in relation to the round
table (march 2023) or workshop (June 2023) in regard to the Climate Active
program direction consultation 2023.
3. All other documents, presentations and any minutes that were taken during the
round table (march 2023) or workshop (June 2023) with regard to the Climate
Active program direction consultation 2023’
Your request involves significant resources for the department
Due to the amount of work involved for the department, under sections 24AA(1)(a)(i), 24 and
24AA(2) of the FOI Act, the department intends to refuse your FOI request as a 'practical refusal
reason' exists. Under the Act, the practical refusal reason is that processing your request 'would
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources' of this agency.
To process your request the department would have to do extensive searches to find and
process the documents you asked for. Preliminary searches indicate that the department may
hold around 130 documents, totalling over 300 pages, which contain information that is relevant
to 26 third parties. I estimate that it would take over 79 hours to process your request.
As you have sought a broad range of documents and information, including all invitations,
requests, attendee lists, documents, presentations and minutes relating to the Climate Active
consultation round table (March 2023) and workshop (June 2023), this has captured 26 third
parties to which the department would have to consult with before making a decision on the
release of these documents. Given the department estimates two hours to consult each third-
party, and that this request would require consultation with over 26 third parties, the
processing of this request will substantially and unreasonably divert resources of the
department from its operations.
T +61 2 6274 1111
John Gorton Building
GPO Box 3090
dcceew.gov.au
F +61 2 9094 2221
King Edward Terrace
Canberra ACT 2601
ABN 63 573 932 849
Parkes ACT 2600
If you decide not to make any revisions to your request, the department may refuse your FOI
request as a ‘practical refusal reason’ exists.
How to send us a ‘revised request’
Before a final decision is made on your request, you can submit a revised request.
Within the next 14 days (consultation period) you must do one of the following in writing:
• withdraw the request;
• make a revised request; or
• tell us that you do not want to revise your request.
If you do not contact us during the consultation period, your request will be taken as having
been withdrawn.
If you would like to make a revised request, you could consider:
• narrowing the scope of your request to a specific type of document (i.e. presentations);
or
• narrowing the consultation documents to either the Climate Active round table (March
2023) or the workshops (June 2023).
Please note that the department is compiling a summary of feedback received from public
consultation. The summary will not assign feedback to any organisation or individual. This will
be posted on the department’s public consultation website in the next few weeks.
Contact officer
During the consultation period, you are welcome to contact the department to ask for help in
revising your request. The contact officer’s details are as follows:
Marissa
FOI Contact Officer
xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx. Further assistance
If you have any questions, please emai
l xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Chris Johnston
Branch Head
Climate Active, Risk and Disclosure
Climate Change Policy, Adaptation and Risk Division
3 November 2023
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