Our ref:
FOI25/399; CM25/24413
2 October 2025
M. Public
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Applicant
Freedom of Information Request FOI25/399 – Decision letter
I write to give you a decision about your request to the Attorney-General's Department (the department)
for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
Your request
On 2 September 2025, you requested access to:
In recent public media, the Attorney-General and other government ministers have referred to “AI
bot generated requests” and FOI requests being made by “foreign powers, foreign actors, (and)
criminal gangs” as reasons.
I am requesting a copy of the briefing or document held by the Department and produced in 2025
that refers to any evidence that FOI requests are being made at scale by criminal gangs.
I am happy to receive a redacted excerpt of the document that only covers the sentences relevant to
FOI requests being made by criminal gangs, including any numerical data or estimates of the
number of such requests.
On 2 September 2025, the department acknowledged your request, sought your agreement to a 30 day
extension of time under s 15AA of the FOI Act and your agreement to exclude the fol owing categories of
information from the documents:
• duplicates of documents that are in scope,
• personal information of members of the public,
• contact details for teams, internal to the department and other agencies, and
• personal information belonging to officers of the department and other government agencies.
That same day, you declined the extension of time and agreed to the exclusions.
A decision in relation to your request is due on 2 October 2025.
My decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to freedom of
information requests made to the department.
In making my decision, I have taken the fol owing into account:
• the terms of your request,
• advice provided to me by officers with responsibility for matters to which your request relates,
• the provisions of the FOI Act, and
• the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of the FOI Act (the
Guidelines).
S 24A of the FOI Act relevantly provides that a
n agency or Minister may refuse
a request for access to
a document if al reasonable steps have been taken to find the document and the agency is satisfied that
the document:
• is in the agency’s possession but cannot be found, or
• does not exist.
When considering a decision to refuse access under s 24A of the FOI Act, the Guidelines relevantly provide
at paragraph 3.89 that an agency or minister should take comprehensive steps to locate documents, having
regard to:
• the subject matter of the documents,
• the current and past file management systems and the practice of destruction or removal of
documents,
• the record management systems in place,
• the individuals within an agency or minister’s office who may be able to assist with the location of
documents, and
• the age of the documents.
To identify the documents for your request, staff within the Information Law Branch undertook
comprehensive searches of the department’s records management systems primarily using key search
terms developed with reference to the scope of your request, with some staff also undertaking manual
search and inspection of documents. Despite these efforts, no relevant documents were identified.
Having regard to the above, I am satisfied that reasonable steps to locate the documents to which you have
sought access were undertaken. I am also satisfied that the documents do not exist within the
department’s records holdings. I have therefore decided to refuse access pursuant to s 24A of the FOI Act.
Additional information
The referencing of FOI requests being ‘made at scale by criminal gangs’, is not a statement made by the
Attorney-General or a characterisation evident in documents prepared by this department. The second
reading speech for the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 noted the ability for freedom of
information requests to be lodged anonymously risks undermining the integrity of the framework, and in
combination with new technology, creates risk vectors that could be exploited by offshore actors seeking
government-held information for potential y nefarious purposes. Th
e Freedom of Information Amendment
Bill 2025 (FOI Bill), the Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech for the FOI Bill is available
from the Parliament of Australia website at:
https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbillhome%
2Fr7371%22.
On 17 September 2025, an order for production of documents relating to the FOI Bill was tabled and is
available at
: www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Tabled_Documents/12606.
The department also notes that the submission by the Department of Home Affairs to the 2023 Senate
Committee inquiry into the operation of Commonwealth Freedom of Information (FOI) laws provides that
government held data can be financially valuable to bad actors and criminals seeking to engage in identity
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/399 Decision letter
Page 2 of 4
theft and fraud. It further noted that the FOI Act does not consider the possibility of it being used to cause
harm, including from foreign interference, and that providing personal identifiers when lodging an FOI
request would assist to mitigate these risks. For the submission please see:
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Common
wealthFOI2023/Submissions.
Your review rights under the FOI Act are set out at
Attachment A to this letter.
Questions about this decision
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOI case officer for this matter is Claire, who can be reached on
(02) 6141 6666 or by email to
xxx@xx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Jane McClintock
Acting Assistant Secretary
Information Law Branch
Attachments
Attachment A:
Review rights
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/399 Decision letter
Page 3 of 4
Attachment A – Your review rights
If you disagree with my decision, you may ask for an internal review or Information Commissioner review.
We encourage you to seek internal review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your
concerns.
Internal review
You may apply for an internal review of my decision within 30 days of receiving this letter. Your request for
internal review must be in writing, and should provide reasons why you believe the review is necessary.
You may apply by emailin
g xxx@xx.xxx.xx or by post to:
Director, Freedom of Information and Privacy Section
Office of Corporate Counsel
Attorney-General’s Department
3-5 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Another officer will make a new decision on your request within 30 days of receiving your request for
internal review. If you are unhappy with the internal review decision, you may ask for an information
Commissioner review.
Information Commissioner review
Information Commissioner review requests must be submitted within 60 days of the relevant decision,
unless an extension of time is granted. Your request should include your contact details, a copy of my
decision, and the reasons why you disagree with my decision. You can apply in one of the following ways:
Online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICRequest&layoutcode=ICRequestWF
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Mail: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available at:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review
FOI Complaints
If you are concerned about how we handled your FOI request, please let us know what we could have done
better, as we may be able to rectify the situation. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a
complaint to the Information Commissioner. Your complaint must be in writing, and can be lodged in one
of the following ways:
Online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Mail: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
More information about Freedom of Information complaints is available at:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-complaints
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/399 Decision letter
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