Our ref:
FOI25/401; CM25/24416
2 October 2025
M. Public
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Applicant
Freedom of Information Request FOI25/401 – 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 for restricting access to FOIs through a fee-based system.
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 foreign powers or foreign
state actors.
I am happy to receive a redacted excerpt of the document that only covers the sentences relevant to
FOI requests being made by foreign powers or foreign state actors, including any numerical data or
estimates of the number of such requests.
This is separate from a previous request in relation to criminal gangs.
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.
I have identified 5 documents that fal within the scope of your request. I did this by making inquiries of
staff likely to be able to identify relevant documents and arranging for comprehensive searches of relevant
departmental electronic and hard copy holdings.
In making my decision regarding access to the relevant documents, I have taken the following material into
account:
• the terms of your request,
• the content of the documents identified as within scope of your request,
• the provisions of the FOI Act, and
• the FOI Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner (the Guidelines).
I have decided to:
• Grant access to 3 documents in part with deletion of material which may be regarded as irrelevant
to your request under s 22(1) of the FOI Act.
• Refuse access in ful to 2 documents as the material is exempt from the operation of the FOI Act
under s7(2A).
Statement of reasons
Section 22: Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if an agency decides to give access to a document that would
disclose information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, and it is possible for
the agency to prepare a copy (an
edited copy) of the document, modified by deletions, the agency
must prepare the edited copy and give the applicant access to it.
I note that when the department acknowledged your request, you agreed to the exclusions of certain
material under s 22 of the FOI Act. I have therefore decided to regard those categories of information as
irrelevant to your request and have deleted the material under s 22 of the FOI Act.
I have also deleted other material in the documents that is irrelevant to the terms of your request. Having
regard to the scope of your request, I have considered material not relating to evidence of foreign powers
or foreign state actors as out of scope. Given this, I considered it likely that you would also agree that this
information is irrelevant to your request and have deleted this material under s 22 of the FOI Act.
Additional information
Th
e Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 was introduced to Parliament on 3 September 2025.
Information on the Bill and Explanatory Memorandum is available on the Parliament of Australia website:
https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbillhome%
2Fr7371%22. On 4 September 2025, the bill was referred to the
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Legislation Committee. On 17 September 2025, an order for production of documents relating to the
Freedom of Information Amendment Bill was tabled and is available at
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Tabled_Documents/12606.
Your review rights under the FOI Act are set out at
Attachment A to this letter.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/401 Decision letter
Page 2 of 5
The schedule of documents at
Attachment B sets out brief information about each document within the
scope of your request and my decision in relation to access to each of those documents.
The documents to which I have decided to grant full or partial access under the FOI Act are at
Attachment C.
Disclosure log publication If an agency grants access to a document in response to an FOI request, it is
required to publish that information publicly on a website (the disclosure log) within 10 business days of
giving access to the information (subject to certain exceptions for personal and business information that it
would be unreasonable to publish). The documents released to you in this decision wil be published on the
department's disclosure log.
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
Attachment B: Schedule of documents
Attachment C: Documents
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/401 Decision letter
Page 3 of 5
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=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
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 FOI25/401 Decision letter
Page 4 of 5
Attachment B - Schedule of documents - Freedom of Information Request FOI25/401
Doc Date
No. pgs
Description
Access decision
Exemption/s applied
no.
1
29 August 2025 2
Email from Attorney-General’s Department Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
(AGD) to Attorney-General’s Office (AGO)
2
30 August 2025 10
Talking Points
Grant access in part Section 22(1): irrelevant material
3
30 August 2025 28
Freedom of Information Amendment Bill
Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
2025: High level talking points
4
[withheld]
[withheld] [withheld]
Exempt s 7(2A)
Exempt s 7(2A)
5
[withheld]
[withheld] [withheld]
Exempt s 7(2A)
Exempt s 7(2A)
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/401 Decision letter
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