3 June 2025
Mr Bill Knight
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Knight
STATEMENT OF REASONS – ABC FOI 202324-061
I refer to your 4 emails sent Thursday 18 January 2024 seeking access under the
Freedom of Information Act (Cth) 1982 (the
FOI Act) to (my numbering in brackets):
…[1] I request under the Freedom Of Ifnormation [sic] Act screenshots of the list of
managing director David Anderson's incoming and outgoing Whatsapp call logs
between 18 December and 22 December 2023. To create these screenshots open
Whatsapp and then click the 'calls' button and scroll down to the relevant date range.
[2] All email, text, Whatsapp or Signal correspondence between managing director
David Anderson and Chris Oliver Taylor from 18 December 2023 and 22 December 2023.
[3] All incoming and outgoing call records to and from the phone of Chris Oliver Taylor
from 19 December to 22 December 2023. Please list the date and time of the calls and
the sender/recipient numbers.
This information should be readily available from telephone billing services.
[4] All incoming and outgoing call records to the phone of Managing Director David
Anderson between 19 December and 22 December. Please provide the date and time of
the calls as well as the sender/recipient numbers
These records should be easily available from the telephone billing section.
On Thursday 25 January and 13 February 2024, the ABC emailed to acknowledge your 4
requests and ask if you were available to discuss the scope. As these emails covered
related topics and were received minutes part, the ABC advised you by letter of 13
February 2024 that that we had combined your emailed requests to be processed as a
single request under s 24(2) of the FOI Act. We asked whether you may grant an
extension of time for processing and you did not respond.
On Monday 19 February and Tuesday 9 April 2024, the ABC emailed to follow up and
noted that you had not replied so we were closing our file until you responded further.
The ABC has not heard from you since (from any email address, as we note you have
several online email addresses).
Legal ABC Ultimo Centre, 700 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007
GPO Box 9994 Sydney NSW 2001 |
Email: xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Authorisation
I am authorised by the Managing Director of the ABC to make decisions about FOI
requests under s 23 of the FOI Act.
Reasons
As a formal decision was not made by the statutory due date, under s 15AC of the FOI
Act, the request became a deemed access refusal decision on the last day of the
processing period.
The ABC understood at the time you did not want to pursue the request as we did not
hear from you after receiving your initial emails sent on Thursday 18 January 2024.
If you wish to pursue access to documents, you may:
1. Lodge a new FOI Request by email to
: xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
2. Seek approval to lodge a belated review of the deemed refusal decision by
contacting the Office of the Australian Commissioner (OAIC). Usually, this
process step is required to be actioned within 60 days of the deemed refusal
decision, so the OAIC may or may not agree to undertake the review. However,
as a show of good faith, the ABC would not oppose you seeking an extension of
time to make an Information Commissioner review application.
Review rights
Your review rights are set out in
Annexure A.
These rights attach to the deemed refusal
decision of Monday 19 February 2024.
Yours sincerely
Ali Edwards
Head of Rights Management & FOI Decision Maker
xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
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Annexure A – Your Review Rights
APPLICATION FOR INFORMATION COMMISSIONER (IC) REVIEW
Following a deemed refusal decision, you have the right to apply to the Information
Commissioner (OAIC) for a review of the deemed decision. You do not have a right to seek
internal review of a deemed refusal decision.
Noting this decision became a deemed refusal in 2024 your review rights have likely been
exhausted.
You may apply to the Information Commissioner for an extension of time to make an
application for IC review, noting the date this statement of reasons was issued to you. The
ABC will not oppose you seeking an extension of time.
Your application must:
• be in writing;
• be made
within 60 days of a deemed refusal decision;
• give details of how notices may be sent to you (eg. an email address); and
• include a copy of this Statement of Reasons.
Please refer to the OAIC website the IC review process page for further information
including the online form for applying for IC review:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-
rights/freedom-of-information-reviews
Alternatively, an application for IC Review can be emailed to:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or
posted to:
Director of FOI Dispute Resolution
OAIC
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
The Information Commissioner has a discretion
not to undertake a review.
COMPLAINTS TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
You may complain to the Information Commissioner about action taken by the ABC in the
performance of functions, or exercise of powers, under the FOI Act. The Information
Commissioner may make inquiries for the purpose of determining whether or not to
investigate a complaint.
Complaints can be made in writing to:
OAIC - GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
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