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Our ref: T24/33
Alex Pentland
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Pentland
Freedom of information request no. 14-2014
1
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 (FOI Act).
2
You requested access to the following:
•
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);
3
On 8 March 2024 we emailed you to ask if you could narrow the scope of your
request and asked that you respond within 14 days.
4
The Office of Parliamentary Counsel has not received a response to this request.
Decision and reasons for decision
5
I, Stephen Campbell, General Manager Corporate, am an officer authorised under
subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI requests.
6
As advised in my letter dated 8 March 2024, I have previously decided that a practical
refusal reason exists in relation to your request.
7
I am now writing to advise that, as you did not revise the scope of your request, a
practical refusal reason still exists.
8
As outlined in my previous letter:
•
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.
•
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
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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
m24qs113.docx
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documents to be assessed to determine whether access can be granted in part
or in full.
9
Accordingly, I have decided to refuse access to the documents you requested pursuant
to section 24(1)(b) of the FOI Act.
10
I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
•
the FOI Act;
•
the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under
section 93A of the FOI Act.
11
In addition to the review rights outlined below, you are of course free to submit a
further FOI request.
Your review rights
12
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or
Information Commissioner review of the decision. We encourage you to seek internal review
as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
13
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply for an internal review of my
decision. Your application must be made within 30 days after the date of this letter.
14
An internal review will be conducted by a different officer. No particular form is
required to apply for review although it will assist your case to set out in the application the
grounds on which you believe that the original decision should be overturned. An application
for a review of the decision should be lodged in one of the following ways:
email:
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
post: FOI Coordinator, Locked Bag 30, Kingston ACT 2604
15
If you choose to seek an internal review, you will subsequently have a right to apply
for Information Commissioner review of the internal review decision.
Information Commissioner review
16
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information
Commissioner to review my decision. An application for review by the Information
Commissioner must be made in writing within 60 days after 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_1
0
email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
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post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
17
More information about Information Commissioner review is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/information-
commissioner-review/.
FOI Complaints
18
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your FOI request, please let us
know what we could have done better. We may be able to rectify the problem. If you are not
satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint to the Australian Information
Commissioner. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in writing.
Complaints can be lodged in one of the following ways:
online:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICCA_
1
email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney 2001
19
More information about complaints is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-
of-information/reviews-and-complaints/make-an-foi-complaint/.
20
If you are not sure whether to lodge an Information Commissioner review or an
Information Commissioner complaint, more information is available at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/.
Yours sincerely
Stephen Campbell
General Manager Corporate
4 April 2024
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Document Outline
