Mr Oliver Smith  
by email :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx 
 
 
FOI Reference: FA24/02/01276  
 
Dear Mr Smith  
  
I  refer to your email received by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) on 18 March 
2024 in which you requested an internal review in relation to your Freedom of Information request 
received on 20 February 2024. 
 
On 19 March 2024 the Department advised you that it had registered your request for internal 
review and wil  be processing it. However, after reviewing your original request for access, we have 
determined that your request for internal review is invalid and therefore cannot be progressed any 
further by the Department. 
 
Whether internal review request valid 
The right for an applicant to seek internal review is specified in Part VI of the FOI Act, which 
provides that an applicant may request an internal review of an ‘access refusal decision’ made by 
an agency. The types of decisions that are reviewable access refusal decisions are specified in 
section 53A of the FOI Act. 
 
Unfortunately, as the Department deemed your request to have been withdrawn and finalised it 
without making an access decision, the Department has not made a decision that meets the 
requirements of a reviewable access refusal decision as defined in section 53A of the FOI Act. 
Consequently your internal review request is invalid and we cannot review the decision.  
 
Kind Regards 
 
Mary 
Freedom of Information Reviews Team  
Privacy, FOI and Records Management Branch, Legal Group 
Department of Home Affairs 
 
Email:  xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx 
www.homeaffairs.gov.au 
 
   
 
808 Bourke Street DOCKLANDS  VIC 3008 
GPO  Box 241 Melbourne VIC 3000 • www.homeaffairs.gov.au 
 
 

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