13 October 2025
eSafety ref: FOI 25165
Greg Tannahill
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Applicant
Decision on your freedom of information request
I refer to your request to the eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) for access to documents under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
On 12 August 2025, you sought access to:
“documents related to age assurance consultation arising out of the request for expressions of
interest published by eSafety on or about 5 May 2025.
This request covers documents dated between 1 April 2025 and 12 August 2025, inclusive.
My request is limited to documents under that category relating to the following matters:
(a) Who was selected for participation in targeted roundtables or meetings arising out of this
expression of interest; and
(b) The criteria used in their selection; and
(c) Applicants who were NOT selected, if any, who represented the perspectives of young people,
the LGBTIQA+ community, culturally and linguistically diverse people, people with disability or
neurodiversity, or adult industry and sex workers.
In relation to (c) above I am satisfied with de-identified data. That is to say, it is sufficient to
identify the quantity of such unsuccessful applicants (if any) who existed, to prevent the need for
you to contact them or reveal their information.”
(request).
Decision
I am authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions under that Act.
I have identified 12 documents that fall within the scope of your request. I have decided to:
- grant access to 7 documents in part pursuant to sections 47E(d) and 47F of the FOI Act
Email: xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
eSafety.gov.au
- grant access to five documents in full
Pursuant to section 22 of the FOI Act, I have also redacted information that is irrelevant to
the scope of your request. Consistently with our acknowledgement of 14 August 2025, I have
treated the names and other personal information of public servants as irrelevant to your
request, and have excluded any duplicate documents.
In addition to the materials released in the attached document set, I note the following
response to each of the categories raised in your request:
(a) the eSafety Commissioner received 258 expressions of interest by 18 May 2025. Of these,
91 were selected to be offered an opportunity to participate in targeted roundtables or
meetings. A breakdown of the sectors represented by the applicants can be found here:
Social media age restrictions consultation | eSafety Commissioner
(b) the selection criteria are also summarised here:
Social media age restrictions
consultation | eSafety Commissioner
(c) of the participants who were not selected for targeted consultation or meetings, 72
selected that they had knowledge or experience related to child or youth perspectives
and 52 selected that they had knowledge or experience related to perspectives of a
specific community. We do not have the further breakdown of which communities each
purported to represent.
Material taken into account
In making my decision, I have considered the following:
• your request dated 12 August 2025
• information provided by relevant line areas
• responses received from relevant third parties
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act including sections 22, 47E(d), and 47F
• the guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act.
Reasons for decision
The attached schedule of documents provides a description of each document and my
decision on access for each one. The reasons for my decisions are outlined below.
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act – proper and efficient conduct of operations Section 47E(d) provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure would, or
could reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and
efficient conduct of the operations of an agency.
Documents 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 contain a shared email addresses used by personnel at eSafety
to communicate with industry stakeholders. I consider that the release of this information
would, or could reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper
and efficient conduct of eSafety’s operations. This is because these email addresses are not
intended to be reached by the public, and their disclosure may lead to the public emailing
those addresses for various purposes, including to divert resources or to expose staff to
abuse. This, in turn, could reasonably be expected to substantially weaken the operational
efficiency of eSafety.
I therefore consider that documents 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 are conditionally exempt from release
in part under section 47E(d).
Section 47F of the FOI Act – personal privacy
Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure
would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any person.
‘Personal information’ means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an
individual who is reasonably identifiable (see section 4 of the FOI Act and section 6 of the
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)).
Whether a disclosure is “unreasonable” requires a consideration of all the circumstances,
including the nature of the information that would be disclosed, the circumstances in which
the information was obtained, the likelihood of the information being information that the
person concerned would not wish to have disclosed without consent, and whether the
information has any current relevance.
eSafety must also have regard to the following matters (section 47F(2) of the FOI Act):
• the extent to which the information is well known
• whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have been)
associated with the matters dealt with in the document
• the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources
• any other matters that the agency or minister considers relevant.
Documents 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12 contain the personal information of third parties, including
their name and/or contact details. In making this decision, I have also taken into
consideration the views of consulted third parties who have objected to the disclosure of
personal information, though I note that it was not practicable to consult with all named
third parties due to the high volume. I consider that the disclosure of third-party personal
information would be unreasonable in the circumstances because the relevant individuals are
not publicly known to be associated with the matters dealt with in the documents, and
disclosure is likely to cause the third parties undue stress and anxiety.
I therefore consider that parts of documents 3, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12 are conditionally exempt
from release under section 47F of the FOI Act.
Public interest considerations – sections 47E(d) and 47F
Under s 11A of the FOI Act, access to a document covered by a conditional exemption must
be given unless access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public
interest.
Section 11B(3) of the FOI Act sets out matters favouring access that must be taken into
account in considering whether release is in the public interest.
For all the material identified above as conditionally exempt, I consider that disclosure would
generally promote the objectives of the FOI Act and may enhance the scrutiny of government
decision making.
Against release, I consider that there is a public interest in maintaining the personal privacy
of individuals who interact with eSafety, as failing to do so is likely to impact negatively on
those individuals.
I also consider that there are further public interest factors against disclosure that apply, in
that releasing the information could reasonably be expected to disrupt or detract from work
undertaken by teams at eSafety and the Department through unnecessary, unsolicited and/or
abusive contact.
Should the relevant material be disclosed, there is a possibility that disclosure would render
eSafety’s processes less effective at achieving the objects of the OSA, which include
promoting and improving online safety for Australians.
On balance, I consider there are overriding public interest factors weighing against disclosure
of parts of the document as shown in the schedule. I have therefore decided this material is
exempt under sections 47E(d) and/or 47F of the FOI Act.
I have not taken into account any of the ‘irrelevant factors’ set out in section 11B(4) of the
FOI Act.
Yours sincerely
Manager, Legal – Business Operations Attachments
1. Schedule of documents
2. Rights of review
ATTACHMENT 1: SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS
Number
Date
Description
Decision on access
Exemptions or deletions
1
19 May 2025
Internal eSafety email chain
Release in full, irrelevant
s 22
parts deleted
2
26 May 2025
Internal eSafety email chain
Release in full, irrelevant
s 22
parts deleted
3
26 May 2025
SMAR consultation groups spreadsheet
Exempt in part
s 22, s 47F
(attachment to document 2)
4
27 May 2025
Internal eSafety email chain
Release in full, irrelevant
s 22
parts deleted
5
27 May 2025
Internal eSafety email chain
Release in full, irrelevant
s 22
parts deleted
6
27 May 2025
Email chain between Suicide Prevention
Exempt in part
s 22, s 47E(d), s 47F
Australia and eSafety
7
29 May 2025
Email chain between Suicide Prevention
Exempt in part
s 22, s 47E(d), s 47F
Australia and eSafety
8
3 June 2025
Commissioner’s memo re: EOI outcomes
Exempt in part
s 22, 47F
9
12 June 2025
Internal eSafety email chain
Exempt in part
s 22, s 47E(d)
10
11 June 2025
Commissioner’s memo re: EOI outcomes
Release in full, irrelevant
s 22
(signed) (attachment to document 9)
parts deleted
11
23 July 2025
Internal eSafety email chain
Exempt in part
s 22, 47E(d), s 47F
12
31 July 2025
Email chain between eSafety and SNAICC
Exempt in part
s 22, s 47E(d), s 47F
eSafety.gov.au
Document Outline
