Ref: LEX-76742
Oliver Smith
Via emai
l: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Smith
Your Freedom of Information request – Charges
I refer to your revised request dated and received by the Department of Climate Change, Energy,
the Environment and Water (
department) on 22 April 2024 for access under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act) to the following documents:
‘Under the FOI Act, I seek all ministerial briefs provided to the office of the Minister [
for
Climate Change and Energy]* from 1 June, 2023 to present in relation to the
PORTLAND DECLARATION AREA AND SOUTHERN OCEAN DECLARATION AREA in
relation to advice about the negative impact on native birds and/or whales.’
* In line with your scope clarification dated 8 April 2024, I have made the assumption that the
revised scope of your application also relates to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.
Preliminary assessment of the Charge
In accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a charge
for the processing of your request. My preliminary assessment of that charge is $313.30
calculated as follows:
Search and retrieval time: 8 hours at $15.00 per hour
$120.00
Decision-making time: $20.00 per hour
Examining pages, redacting and scheduling documents
$93.30
Consultation with 7 third parties at 1 hour per party
$140.00
Writing statement of reasons
$60.00
Deduction of 5 hours decision-making time*
-$100.00
TOTAL
$313.30
*The FOI Act provides that the first five hours of decision-making time are free of charge and this is reflected in the
calculation.
I am advised that the department has in its possession six documents with 96 pages relevant to
your request.
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
Required action
If you would like the department to continue processing your request, you must notify the
department in writing within 30 days of receiving this notice that you:
• agree to pay the charge;
• wish to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced or not
imposed or both; or
• withdraw your request.
If you do not provide a written response in accordance with one of the above options within 30
days of receiving this notification, your request will be taken to have been withdrawn under
section 29(2) of the FOI Act.
Alternatively, you may wish to revise the scope of your request. If you would like to discuss this,
please contac
t xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx for assistance.
Option – pay the charge
As the charge exceeds $100, you are required to pay a deposit of $78.33. You may, of course,
elect to pay the charge in full at this point.
Payment can be made by direct deposit to:
A/C Name:
DCCEEW Departmental Account
Branch:
London Circuit, Canberra
Bank:
Reserve Bank
BSB:
092 009
A/C No.
147762
ABN No: 63 573 932 849
Please include the FOI reference number (LEX-76741) in the description/reference field when
making payment, and send an email with notification of payment
to xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx as soon
as it has been made. If you are not able to pay by direct deposit, please contact the department
for assistance.
Option – seek reduction or non-imposition of the charge
You may contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not
imposed. Section 29(5) of the FOI Act provides that, in deciding whether to reduce or not to
impose a charge, the decision-maker must take into account any relevant reasons, including
whether payment of the charge, or part of it, would cause you financial hardship, and whether
the giving of access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the interest of a
substantial section of the public.
If you wish to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced or not
imposed, please set out your reasons and the evidence in support of your reasons as clearly as
possible. If you believe that payment of the charge would cause you financial hardship, please
provide sufficient details of your financial circumstances to enable the decision-maker to make a
well-informed decision in this regard.
Option – withdraw your request
If you wish to withdraw your request you may do so in writing.
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Time limits for processing your request
Section 31 of the FOI Act provides that where a notice is sent to an applicant regarding the
payment of a charge in respect of a request, the time limit for processing the request is
suspended from the date the notice is received until either:
(a) the day following payment of the charge (in full or the required deposit); or
(b) if applicable, the day following the notification to the applicant of a decision not to
impose the charge.
Address for correspondence
Please send all correspondence regarding your FOI request to the following address:
FOI Coordinator
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
GPO Box 3090
Canberra ACT 2601
Or by emai
l to xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Publication of information in the FOI disclosure log Information released under the FOI Act may be published in a disclosure log on the department's
website. Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication, subject to certain exceptions,
including where publication of personal, business, professional or commercial information
would be unreasonable.
Third party consultation
The relevant documents contain information about the business affairs of an organisation and
information received from a State or a State authority.
To inform the decision on release of documents, the FOI Act requires that the above third parties
are consulted and provides a further time period for the consultation process. Subsection 15(6)
of the FOI Act extends the standard statutory 30-day time limit for processing requests by
another 30 calendar days. Accordingly, this will give the department 60 calendar days within
which to notify you of its decision on access to the documents.
Further assistance
If you have any questions, please emai
l xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Paul Murphy
Branch Head
Offshore Renewables Branch
Net Zero Industries Division
1 May 2024
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