Australian Bureau of Statistics
Locked Bag 10 | Belconnen ACT 2616
FOI Ref: FOI202526/02
Name:
Liam Edwards-Playne e-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Liam,
RE: YOUR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST - FOI202526/02
I refer to your request submitted 20 July 2025 under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) in
which you asked the ABS for:
1. Details of the short comings in the questionnaire and data collection processes
2. Details of the increase in cost of data collection
3. Any meeting minutes/transcripts/communications which amount to the decision taken here
Purpose of this letter
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I am writing to notify you that a practical refusal reason exists under Section 24AA(1)(a) of the FOI Act, as
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.
Information collected under the authority of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (C&S Act) is exempt from
the FOI Act under Schedule 2, Part II, Division 2. This includes administrative data collected by the ABS
from other organisations, survey data, and Census information.
Grounds for a practical refusal of your request
I have decided that a practical refusal reason exists because this request requires the ABS to search the
personal holdings of a large number of APS level and executive staff, as well as a considerable number of
corporate holdings across the ABS using a broad scope. It also pulls into scope all document types,
including drafts, which significantly increases the amount of material needing to be processed.
Request for a consultation process
Before I make a final decision to refuse access, you have an opportunity to revise your request to enable
it to proceed. Therefore, I am requesting a consultation process as set out under section 24AB of the FOI
Act.
The consultation period runs for 14 days and starts on the day after the date on this notice.
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following in writing:
• make a revised request
• withdraw your request
• tell us that you do not wish to revise your request.
If you do not do one of the three things outlined above during the consultation period or you do not
consult the ABS FOI Contact Officer during this period, your request will be taken to have been
withdrawn.
Making a revised request
Revising your request may include, but is not limited to, providing more specific detail or further
clarification on the information you are seeking, for example:
• including a date range for the documents you seek
• excluding draft documents
• narrowing the scope of your request to seek specific information
• limiting the search to documents held by specific staff, such as Senior Executive Staff.
During this period, you are welcome to seek assistance from the ABS FOI team to revise your request. If
you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal grounds, 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 purpose of the 30-day time limit for processing your request.
Contact Person
If you would like to revise your request or have any questions, please contact the ABS FOI Contact Officer
at:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Ewing
A/g General Manager
Statistical Production and Digital Services
Australian Bureau of Statistics
24 July 2025
