GPO Box 2392
Melbourne, VIC 3001 Australia
www.transport.vic.gov.au
Our Ref: CS017679
Jarred Crowe
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Crowe
Your request for documents I refer to your correspondence received by the Department of Transport and Planning
(
Department) on 26 July 2025
, in which you requested:
Dear Department of Transport,
I am formally requesting access to the following document under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982:
1) FOI log for the period between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025, including:
- internal reference numbers,
- request dates,
- request scopes,
- identified documents,
- the decision outcome for each document (e.g. released in full, released in part, refused), and
- decision dates.
Please note that I am not seeking any personal information, including the names or contact
details of requesters or FOI officers involved in processing the requests.
You are making a request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (
FOI Act),
however at this time your request is not valid under section 17 of the FOI Act because it is
not clear and specific enough for us to identify the documents you have requested.
Your request requires clarification
For your request to be valid under section 17 of the FOI Act, it must provide enough
information about the documents you asked for so we can properly identify them. If the terms
of a request are not sufficiently clear, it will not comply with section 17 of the FOI Act, and we
cannot process it.
At present, your request is not sufficiently clear because a FOI log is not held by the
Department, and because the request is broad and undefined in nature.
In part, that relates to a request for ‘request dates.’ That term is undefined and can apply to a
range of dates applicable to a FOI request. For example, the date a request is received by
the Department may be different to the date a request is made valid, and a due date may
change dependant on whether consultation is required. It is also not clear if your request
relates to the request which is dated by the applicant, or if it relates to the dates which fall
part of the FOI request once received by the Department. There is a need to clarify which
request date your request relates to.
You have also specified interest in ‘the decision outcome for each document (e.g. released in
full, released in part, refused)’. While each document relevant to a FOI request is assessed
individually to determine if access should be granted or refused, a FOI decision is described
for reporting purposes in relation to the requested documents as a whole.
Efforts to process the request are likely excessive
Additionally, there is a concern that your request is voluminous, requiring extensive
searches. To illustrate:
The Department received over 1800 FOI requests between 1 July 2024 and 30
June 2025.
While you have agreed to out scope personal information, request scopes can
capture large amounts of personal details, and they would need to be individually
assessed to redact any personal affairs.
Document schedules are created on a case-by-case basis and is dependent on
the size and complexity of documents relevant to the request. To identify each
document for every request would require individual assessment of every request.
This is likely to involve tens out thousands of documents.
The work needed to identify the relevant information would be onerous and likely
to cause an unreasonable diversion to the Department’s resources, affecting the
timely processing of this and other requests.
FOI stats are made publicly available
The Victorian Information Commissioner is required to report annually on the performance
and exercise of the Information Commissioner’s functions and powers under the FOI Act.
Likewise, the Department’s annual report provides a snapshot of the Department’s key
achievements, performance and accompanying financial statements.
Both annual reports identified above provide FOI statistics, and include:
Total number of requests received;
Type of requests received (personal/non personal);
Outcomes of all requests received or decided (full, part, refused or other);
Exemptions cited;
Timeliness figures.
Reports for financial year 2023/24 (and earlier) have been published. The reports for
financial year 2024/25 are to be published in the coming months.
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Because data for financial year 2024/25 has been prepared for publication in Annual
Reports, expected by November 2025, its release under FOI is subject to s24(1)(a) of the
FOI Act. That provision defers access to a document that has been prepared for presentation
to the Parliament until it has been published.
What you need to do
Given FOI stats are already made available, you may decide that you no longer wish to
proceed with this FOI request.
If you wish to continue with your FOI request, please clarify your request within 21 days of
receiving this correspondence by contacting us at xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx.
You may wish to offer an alternative phrasing of your request, however, please note that any
alternative that does not sufficiently specify the documents sought may result in the request
not proceeding.
Until your request is amended as required by section 17 of the Act it cannot be processed
and the 30-day period within which a decision must be made on your request has not
commenced.
If this consultation fails to achieve a valid request by Monday 8 September 2025, we may
close your request without processing it. If we close your request without processing it, you
will need to make a new request if you wish to access the documents.
Contact
Please feel free to contact us at xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx if you have any queries about this
matter.
Yours sincerely
Darson Bonett
Manager, Privacy and Information Access
18/08/2025
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