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Our ref: T24/33
Alex Pentland
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Pentland
Freedom of information request no. 14-2024
1
I refer to your request for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI
Act) to:
•
all of the responses received by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for their
contentious redesign of the Federal Register of Legislation unveiled in 2024,
dated from then until today (19 February 2024);
2
I, Stephen Campbell, am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to
make decisions in relation to FOI requests.
3
The work involved in processing your request in its current form would substantially
and unreasonably divert the resources of this agency from its other operations. This is called a
‘practical refusal reason’ (section 24AA).
4
On this basis, I intend to refuse access to the documents you requested. However,
before I make a final decision to do this, you have an opportunity to revise your request. This
is called a ‘request consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You
have 14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Why I intend to refuse your request
5
I decided that a practical refusal reason exists because the work involved in
processing this request, in its present broad terms, would substantially and unreasonably
divert the resources of OPC from its other operations.
6
A preliminary search of OPC’s holdings indicates that there were over 1000 email
correspondence received in the feedback inbox during the time period specified. It would be
resource intensive for OPC to search all correspondence to identify records that fall within
the scope of your request. We anticipate the broad scope of this request has the potential to
produce a large number of documents to be assessed to determine whether access can be
granted in part or in full.
Request consultation process
7
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
28 Sydney Avenue Forrest ACT 2603
Locked Bag 30 Kingston ACT 2604 • Telephone (02) 6120 1400 • Fax (02) 6120 1403 • ABN 41 425 630 817
www.opc.gov.au
m24qs112.docx
OFFICIAL
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8
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more
manageable or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by
providing more specific information about exactly what documents you are interested in, our
agency will be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive
resources to process documents you are not interested in.
9
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in
writing:
(a)
withdraw your request;
(b)
make a revised request;
(c)
tell us that you do not wish to revise your request.
10
The consultation period runs for 14 days and starts on the day after you receive this
notice.
11
During this period, you are welcome to seek assistance from the contact person I have
listed below to revise your request. If you revise your request in a way that adequately
addresses the practical refusal grounds outlined above, we will recommence processing it.
(Please note that the time taken to consult you regarding the scope of your request is not
taken into account for the purposes of the 30 day time limit for processing your request.)
12
If you do not wish to proceed with your FOI request, you may either withdraw your
request or advise OPC that you do not wish to revise your request. You request will be
withdrawn if you do not contact us or provide written notice of the revised scope of your
request within 14 days from receipt of this notice.
Contact officer
13
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOI case officer for this matter is Kathleen,
who can be reached on (02) 6120 1400 or by email to xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Stephen Campbell
General Manager Corporate Services
8 March 2024
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Attachment A
Section 24AA of the FOI Act: When does a practical refusal reason exist?
(1) For the purposes of section 24, a
practical refusal reason exists in relation to a
request for
a
document if either (or both) of the following applies:
(a) the work involved in processing the
request:
(i)
in the case of an
agency--would substantially and unreasonably divert the
resources of the
agency from its other operations; or
(ii) in the case of a Minister--would substantially and unreasonably interfere with
the performance of the Minister's functions;
(b) the
request does not satisfy the requirement in
paragraph 15(2)(b) (identification
of documents).
(2) Subject to
subsection (3), but without limiting the matters to which the
agency or Minister
may have regard, in deciding whether a
practical refusal reason exists, the
agency or
Minister must have regard to the resources that would have to be used for the following:
(a) identifying, locating or collating th
e documents within the filing system of
the
agency, or the office of the Minister;
(b) deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to
a document to which
the
request relates, or to grant access to an
edited copy of such a
document,
including resources that would have to be used for:
(i) examining the
document; or
(ii) consulting with any person or body in relation to the
request;
(c) making a copy, or an
edited copy, of th
e document;
(d) notifying any interim or final decision on
the request.
(3) In deciding whether a
practical refusal reason exists, an
agency or Minister must not have
regard to:
(a) any reasons that the
applicant gives for
requesting access; or
(b) the
agency's or Minister's belief as to what the
applicant's reasons are
fo
r requesting access; or
(c) any maximum amount, specified in the regulations, payable as a charge for
processing a
request of that kind.
Section 24AB of the FOI Act: What is a request consultation process?
Scope
(1) This section sets out what is a
request consultation process for the purposes of section 24.
Requirement to notify
(2)
The agency or Minister must give
the applicant a written notice stating the following:
(a) an intention to refuse access to
a document in accordance with a
request;
(b) the
practical refusal reason;
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(c)
the name of an
officer of the
agency or member of staff of the Minister (the contact
person ) with whom
the applicant may consult during a period;
(d) details of how the
applicant may contact the contact person;
(e) that the period (the consultation period ) during which the
applicant may consult
with the contact person is 14 days after the day the
applicant is given the notice.
Assistance to revise request
(3)
If the applicant contacts the contact person during the consultation period in accordance
with the notice, the
agency or Minister must take reasonable steps to assist
the
applicant to revise the
request so that th
e practical refusal reason no longer exists.
(4) For the purposes o
f subsection (3), reasonable steps includes the following:
(a) giving the
applicant a reasonable opportunity to consult with the contact person;
(b) providing the
applicant with any information that would assist th
e applicant to revise
the
request.
Extension of consultation period
(5) The contact person may, with the
applicant's agreement, extend the consultation period by
written notice to
the applicant.
Outcome of request consultation process
(6)
The applicant must, before the end of the consultation period, do one of the following, by
written notice to
the agency or Minister:
(a) withdraw
the request;
(b) make a revis
ed request;
(c) indicate that th
e applicant does not wish to revise the
request.
(7)
The request is taken to have been withdrawn und
er subsection (6) at the end of the
consultation period if:
(a) the
applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice; or
(b) the
applicant does not do one of the things mention
ed in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
Consultation period to be disregarded in calculating processing period
(8) The period starting on the day
an applicant is given a notice und
er subsection (2) and
ending on the day the
applicant does one of the things mentioned in
paragraph (6)(b) or (c)
is to be disregarded in working out the 30 day period mentioned in
paragraph 15(5)(b).
Note:
Paragraph 15(5)(b) requires that an
agency or Minister take all reasonable steps to
notify
an applicant of a decision on th
e applicant's request within 30 days after
the
request is made.
No more than one request consultation process required
(9) To avoid doubt, this section only obliges
the agency or Minister to undertake a
request
consultation process once for any particular
request.
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