Decision letter Connor Brown.pdf

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

13 June 2025

Mr Connor Brown

By email only: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Connor,
Notice of decision – request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic)
1.
This letter contains my decision on behalf of V/Line Corporation in relation to your amended
request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (FOI Act).
2.
In making my decision, I have considered the object of the FOI Act, which is to create a general
right of access to information, limited only by exceptions and exemptions necessary to protect
essential public interests, privacy, and business aﬀairs.
3.
My decision and reasons are provided below.
4.
The Schedule of Documents below outlines each exemption applied to each document.
Background
5.
On 3 November 2024, you made a request seeking access to the fol owing:
“access to documents and internal communications related to the handling of overcrowding on V/Line
services between 2022 and 2024.

The types of documents I am requesting include:

•
Any internal communications (emails, memos, reports) between V/Line staﬀ or between V/Line
and PTV regarding overcrowding issues on V/Line services.

•
Reports, studies, or analyses conducted by or for V/Line addressing the causes, frequency, and
impact of overcrowding on passenger services.

•
Plans, strategies, or actions taken or proposed to manage or al eviate overcrowding during this
period.

•
Any communications with government agencies, including brieﬁngs or updates, concerning
overcrowding on V/Line services.”
6.
On 11 December 2024, in accordance with section 25A(6), V/Line provided you with a notice
of intention to refuse access to the documents requested unless you suﬃciently narrowed the
terms of your request.
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

7.
V/line invited you to consult with us to narrow the scope of your request, so that processing it
would no longer be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of V/Line’s resources from its
operations.
8.
On 11 December 2024, you accepted the suggested terms and agreed to amend your request
to the fol owing:
"access to the fol owing documents relating to the handling of overcrowding between 2022 and
present:
•
Reports, studies, or analyses conducted by or for V/Line addressing the causes, frequency, and
impact of overcrowding on passenger services.
•
Plans, strategies, or actions taken or proposed to manage or al eviate overcrowding during this
period.”
9.
On 18 December 2024, V/Line acknowledged your acceptance of the amended FOI request
and invited you to further consult as further searches under the amended request did not
remove the grounds of refusal section 25A(1).
10.  On the same day, you further amended the scope of your amended FOI request and agreed to
the fol owing suggested terms:
"access to the fol owing documents relating to the handling of overcrowding between 2022 and
present:

•
Studies, or analyses conducted by or for V/Line addressing the causes, frequency, and impact of
overcrowding on passenger services.

•
Plans, strategies, or actions taken or proposed to manage or al eviate overcrowding during this
period.

*Excluding al  duplicate and draft documents, unless there is no ﬁnal or newer copy available."

11.  On 23 December 2024, V/Line provided conﬁrmation your “new amended FOI request” above
had removed the grounds for refusal under section 25A(1) and that V/Line would begin
processing your amended FOI request.
Delay explanation
12.  Firstly, V/Line must apologise for the delay in processing your FOI request and we appreciate
your continued patience throughout this process.

13.  The reasons for delay in processing your FOI request was due to the number of documents and
their complexity. Consultation with the relevant internal departments was required, who
provided their opinion in relation to certain information that was deemed appropriate to
release.
Scope of your FOI request
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

14.  The Applicant agreed to exclude al  duplicated and draft documents unless there is no ﬁnal
version of that document.

15.  All duplicates and draft documents have been irrelevant under section 25 of the FOI Act and
are referenced in the Schedule of Documents.
Documents relevant to your request
16.  A thorough and diligent search for documents within the terms of your request was
undertaken. The fol owing searches were conducted:
(a)  Emails sent to the fol owing internal business units to conduct search for documents
under the scope of the FOI request:
•
Customer Experience
•
Strategy & Development
•
Operational planning & Readiness
•
Operations

17. On this basis, we located 47 documents to the terms of your request, including 1 duplicate and 5
irrelevant documents.

18. These documents consist of internal reports, strategies, proposed plans, recommendations and
draft presentations.
Decision on each document
19.  I have decided to:

(a)  release 9 documents in ful

(b)  release 30 documents in part; and

(c)  refuse access to 2 documents in ful .
Reason for decision
20.  In making my decision, I applied the fol owing exemptions:
Section 30(1) – Internal working documents
21.  Section 30(1) of the Act exempts from disclosure information in the nature of opinion, advice
or recommendation prepared by an oﬃcer or Minister, or consultation or deliberation that has
taken place between oﬃcers, in the course of, or for the purpose of, the deliberative processes
involved in the functions of an agency, the Minister or government. Further, the disclosure of
this material would be contrary to the public interest and release of certain information would
compromise the integrity and outcome of an investigation.

V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

22.  V/Line considers a substantial amount of information in the documents does not amount to
opinion, advice or recommendation, rather, it is factual. This includes for example background,
methodology and general information about strategy and planning in relation to
overcrowding. It also includes any technical data recorded in excel and presented in graph
format.

23.  However, I am satisﬁed certain information in the documents contain opinions and
recommendations prepared by agency oﬃcers in relation to proposed options and
recommendations/actions in response to overcrowding on V/Line trains.

24.  This exemption has been applied to the certain information documents prepared for the
deliberative processes involved in the functions of V/Line, namely, its responsibilities in
relation to patronage and customer services on V/Line services. Disclosure of this information
would be against the public interest for the fol owing reasons:

(a)  majority of the material to which this exemption applies are current drafts and have not
been endorsed. V/Line should be judged on positions it adopts and endorses, rather
than the preliminary or superseded views and opinions of oﬃcers engaging in the
deliberative functions of the government to assist it to arrive at the ultimate position it
chooses to take. Disclosure of parts of recommendations do not disclose the ful  picture
as to the government’s overal  deliberative processes;

(b)  to preserve the ability of non-decision-making oﬃcers to openly and candidly
communicate and comment their ideas when exploring options for decision-makers, to
ensure the thoroughness and integrity of the deliberative process and to ensure the
ﬁnal decisions or outcomes are wel  informed and wel -considered. Disclosure would put
at risk this best outcome scenario;

(c)  The deliberative process of government requires options to be canvassed and advice to
be prepared by oﬃcers who are not the ultimate decision-makers, without fear that
their unﬁnalised and indeterminate advice prepared for consideration purposes only,
would make them the target of fear and speculation based on options that have not yet
been approved or ﬁnalised. Oﬃcers who do not make ultimate decisions should be free
to be candid and frank in their assessments and work in preparing advice, without fear
that people with particular views who disagree with their thoughts wil  attack them for
their frank and fearless advice to the Government in its deliberative processes;

(d)  The options canvassed within the material reﬂects the input of diﬀerent government
agencies at a particular point in time and does not reﬂect the ultimate decision-making
process or the ﬁnal positions adopted by the V/Line, which are not public record.
Disclosing these analyses and options, which were not necessarily adopted or approved,
in a situation where the government can be judged for the decision it did ultimately
make and the reasons for which it made them, is misleading and gives undue weight to
options which do not reﬂect V/Line’s decision-making process

V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

25.  Having considered the information, I consider documents of this nature requires agency
oﬃcers to discuss, deliberate, and record relevant issues in a thorough and considered
manner. It is crucial agencies are able to conduct a thorough and considered approach with
the necessary degree of conﬁdentiality required.

26.  Accordingly, V/Line considers certain information in the documents are contrary to the public
interest and are exempt under section 30(1).
Section 33(1) – Documents aﬀecting personal privacy
27.  Section 33(1) exempts from disclosure any document (or any part thereof) that would
unreasonably disclose information relating to the personal aﬀairs of another person (including
a deceased person).

28.  For this exemption to apply to a document, two parts must be satisﬁed:

(a)  the information contained in the document must relate to the personal aﬀairs of a
person; and

(b)  the release of the information would be an unreasonable disclosure.

29.  Section 33(9) deﬁnes ‘information relating to the personal aﬀairs of any person’ to include
information that identiﬁes any person or discloses their address or location, or information
from which any person’s identity, address or location can reasonably be determined.

30.  This exemption has been applied to the names of internal V/Line employees and third-party
addresses. Release of this information would be unreasonable as it is not apparent that the
individuals concerned would reasonably expect this information to be disclosed under the Act.

31.  Having considered the context in which the personal aﬀairs information was recorded, I
consider the relevant third parties would likely object to the release of their personal aﬀairs
information. Accordingly, I have determined consultation with the relevant third parties is not
practicable under section 33(2C) of the FOI Act.

32.  I have determined the release of certain information in the documents would be unreasonable
for the fol owing reasons:

(a)  general y, the names of an agency oﬃcers are not made widely available;

(b)  I do not consider disclosure of this personal information relating to third parties and
agency oﬃcers peripheral to the matter would assist the Applicant in understanding the
content or context of the information;

(c)  The applicant’s request is predominantly for the information considered by V/Line in
making recommendations in relation to overcrowding.
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

33.  Accordingly, I consider certain information in documents 35, 36, 41, and 42 exempt under
section 33(1) of the FOI Act.
Deletion of exempt or irrelevant information
34.  Section 25 of the FOI Act requires an agency to grant access to an edited copy of a document
containing exempt or irrelevant information if it is practicable for the agency to delete that
information, and if the applicant is agreeable to receiving an edited copy.
35.  Determining what is ‘practicable’ requires us to consider the eﬀort involved in making the
relevant deletions and the eﬀectiveness of those deletions – that is, whether editing the
document would render it meaningless.
36.  In the current circumstances, I found it was practicable to provide you with an edited copy of
the documents with exempt and irrelevant information deleted in accordance with section 25
of the FOI Act.
37.  I have applied section 25 to documents 10, 11, 12, 18 and 28 that contain information that
fal s outside the scope of your FOI request.
Access charges
38.  The Freedom of Information (Access Charges) Regulations 2014 and section 22 of the FOI Act
outline that an agency may impose charges for providing access to a document and sets out
how to calculate those charges.
39.  In this instance, I decided to waive the access charges, and you do not need to pay anything.
Receiving a copy of the documents
40.  I have attached copies of the released documents along with this decision letter.
Your review rights
41.  If you are not satisﬁed with my decision, you have the right to apply for a review of my
decision by the Information Commissioner under section 49A(1)(a) of the FOI Act.
42.  A review application must be in writing, identify the decision to be reviewed and the agency
who made it.
43.  An application must be made to the Information Commissioner within 28 days from the day
you receive this letter.
44.  The Oﬃce of the Victorian Information Commissioner’s (OVIC) website has a review form you
may download, which contains more information about the review process and what you can
expect. OVIC’s contact details are:
Oﬃce of the Victorian Information Commissioner
PO Box 24274
Melbourne VIC 3001
Email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xxx.xx
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

Phone: 1300 00 6842 (1300 00 OVIC)
www.ovic.vic.gov.au
More information
45.  If you have any questions about this decision, please contact us by email at xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Ashley Peter-Budge – Lawyer

V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

Schedule of Documents
No.
Date of
Document
No. of pages
Decision
document
description
1.
N/A
Albury full
7
Released in part
reservation of busy
Section 30(1)
weekend services
trial
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
2.
N/A
Albury Ful y
7
Released in part
Reserved Services:
Section 30(1)
Long-term change
options
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
3.
N/A
Albury Ful y
4
Released in part
Reserved Services:
Section 30(1)
Long-term change
options
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
4.
N/A
Albury Ful y
15
Released in part
Reserved Services:
Section 30(1)
Long-term change
options
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
5.
N/A
Albury Ful y
14
Released in part
Reserved Services:
Section 30(1)
long-term change
options
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
6.
N/A
Albury reservations
10
Released in part
trial extension –
Section 30(1)
Passenger
consultation
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
7.
N/A
V/Line Passenger
7
Released in part
Engagement
Sections 30(1)
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
8.
09/09/2024
Passengers
5
Released in part
reserving multiple
Sections 30(1)
seats: Assessment
and mitigations
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
9.
11/09/2024
Reserved seating
35
Released in part
on V/Line services
Section 30(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
10.
19/01/2024
Internal
2
Irrelevant
correspondence
Section 25
between Agency
oﬃcers
11.
N/A
Warrnambool
8
Irrelevant
VLocity Services:
Section 25
Summer trial – Ful
reserved seating
12.
N/A
Warrnambool
14
Irrelevant
VLocity Services –
Section 25
Reservation,
catering, bike and
luggage: Options
assessment and
timelines
13.
N/A
Warrnambool line
6
Refused in full
reservations
Section 30(1)

14.
N/A
Warrnambool line
7
Released in part
services –
Section 30(1)
Passenger
consultation
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
15.
N/A
Weekend Albury
9
Released in part
services –
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

Passenger
Sections 30(1)
consultation
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
16.
N/A
Ful y reserved
20
Released in part
seating on busy
Sections 30(1)
Albury services
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
17.
24/04/2024
Rail Patronage Post
5
Released in ful
– Fare Cap

18.
N/A
Return WBL Load
1
Irrelevant
Spread
Section 25
19.
N/A
Altered Consist
-
Released in ful
Graph

20.
N/A
Bendigo Patronage
4
Released in ful
Assessment

21.
N/A
Additional Albury
13
Released in part
Services: Options,
Section 30(1)
Impacts and
Considerations
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
22.
October 2024
Northern Corridor
17
Released in part
Section 30(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
23.
October 2024  Northern Corridor:
5
Released in part
Bendigo Uplift
Section 30(1)
Options for
Business Case
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
24.
October 2024
North-East BG
10
Released in part
Service Uplifts: For
Section 30(1)
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

more trains more
A marked up copy of the
often business case
document is provided with
this decision letter.
25.
June 2024
Seymour Analysis:
39
Released in part
patronage Risk,
Section 30(1)
Considerations &
Option Analysis
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
26.
February 2024
Seymour &
15
Released in part
Wyndham Vale:
Section 30(1)
Patronage Risk &
Service Uplift
A marked up copy of the
Option Analysis
document is provided with
this decision letter.
27.
February 2024  Warrnambool Line
37
Released in part
Upgrade: Weekend
Section 30(1)
Interim VL Running
– Service Plan
A marked up copy of the
Options
document is provided with
this decision letter.
28.
February 2024  Warrnambool Line
13
Irrelevant
Upgrade: Weekend
Section 25
Interim VL Running
– Service plan
Options (Duplicate
of Document 27)
29.
May 2024
Wyndham Vale:
10
Released in part
Patronage Risks &
Section 30(1)
VL Considerations
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
30.
N/A
Geelong Service
9
Release in ful
Stopping
Restriction Analysis
31.
N/A
GeLU2 + SW
11
Released in part
Weekends: High
Section 30(1)
Level Fleet Planning
Assessment 20-
A marked up copy of the
minute frequency
document is provided with
this decision letter.
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

32.
February 2024  VL Running Options
2
Refused in ful
Section 30(1)

33.
N/A
Weekend Bendigo
2
Released in ful
Patronage Graphs
34.
06/09/2024
Consist Build-up
36
Released in part
options
Section 30(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
35.
26/10/2024
Fare Cap Stand By
5
Released in part
Coaches Utilisation
Sections 30(1) and 33(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
36.
July 2023
V/Line Fare Cap:
38
Released in part
Review and
Sections 30(1) and 33(1)
Strategy
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
37.
27/07/2023
Fare Cap: Service
23
Released in part
Adjustments
Section 30(1)
Assessment
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
38.
27/07/2023
Fare Cap: Service
8
Released in part
Adjustments Future
Section 30(1)
Plan
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
39.
16/09/2024
Fare Cap Initiatives
12
Released in part
Section 30(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege

PROTECTED Legal Privilege
Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au

40.
30/05/2024
Fare Cap Train
9
Released in ful
Services Review

41.
16/01/2023
Fare Reduction:
18
Released in part
Service Adjustment
Sections 30(1) and 33(1)
Options
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter
42.
02/02/2023
V/Line Fare
35
Released in part
reduction strategy
Sections 30(1) and 33(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter.
43.
April 2024
School/Public
9
Released in ful
Holidays (Fare Cap)
44.
13/09/2024
September School
2
Released in part
Holidays (Fare Cap)
Section 30(1)
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter
45.
N/A
Fare Cap – Service
99
Released in ful
Patronage

Assessment - South
West Corridor
46.
N/A
Fare Cap – Service
72
Released in ful
Patronage

Assessment –
Northern Corridor
47.
N/A
Albury Reservations
32
Released in part
Trial – May
Section 33(1)
Passenger
Consultation
A marked up copy of the
document is provided with
this decision letter

V/Line Corporation, Level 6, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, GPO Box 5343, Melbourne VIC 3001
T (03) 9619 5900 F (03) 9619 5000 vline.com.au ABN 91 273 289 190
PROTECTED Legal Privilege