Our ref:
FOI25/402; CM25/24417
2 October 2025
M. Public
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Applicant
Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 – 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 via 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 AI bots.
I am happy to receive a redacted excerpt of the document that only covers the sentences relevant to
FOI requests being made at scale by AI bots, including any numerical data or estimates of the
number of such requests.
I wil respond favourably to appropriate requests to reduce the scope of this request to reduce
workload on the Department.
This is a separate request from previous requests in relation to criminal gangs or foreign actors.
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 8 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 in full to 2 documents.
• Grant access to 6 documents in part with deletion of material which:
o may be regarded as irrelevant to your request under s 22(1) of the FOI Act; or
o is exempt pursuant to s 47E(d) 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.
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.
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 statement of reasons at
Attachment C sets out the reasons for my decision to refuse access to certain
material to which you have requested access.
The documents to which I have decided to grant full or partial access under the FOI Act are at
Attachment D.
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.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 Decision letter
Page 2 of 8
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: Statement of reasons
Attachment D: Documents
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 Decision letter
Page 3 of 8
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 FOI25/402 Decision letter
Page 4 of 8
Attachment B - Schedule of documents - Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402
Doc
Date
No.
Description
Access decision
Exemption/s applied
no.
pgs
1
29 August 2025 2
Email to the Attorney-General’s Department Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
(AGD)
Section 47E(d): Public interest conditional exemption - Certain
operations of agencies
2
29 August 2025 32
Examples of AI generated requests
Grant access in part Section 47E(d): Public interest conditional exemption - Certain
Attachment to Document 1
operations of agencies
3
30 August 2025 1
Email from AGD to Attorney-General’s Office Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
(AGO)
Section 47E(d): Public interest conditional exemption - Certain
operations of agencies
4
30 August 2025 10
Talking Points
Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
Attachment to Document 3
5
10 April 2024
13
Media article
Grant access in full
Attachment to Document 3
6
14 August 2024 5
Media article
Grant access in full
Attachment to Document 3
7
2025
28
Freedom of Information Amendment Bill
Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
2025: High level talking points
8
April 2025
14
AI: implications for freedom of information
Grant access in part Section 22(1): Irrelevant material
policy
Section 47E(d): Public interest conditional exemption - Certain
operations of agencies
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 Decision letter
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Attachment C - Statement of reasons - FOI25/402
This document, when read in conjunction with the schedule of documents at
Attachment B,
provides information about the reasons I have decided not to disclose certain material to you in
response to your request for documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
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 by email on 2 September 2025, your
agreement was sought to exclude the following the following categories of information from the
scope of your FOI request:
- 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.
On 2 September 2025, you agreed to exclude the material listed above from the documents in your
request. I have therefore decided to regard the above categories of information as irrelevant to your
request and have deleted this 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 foreign
powers 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.
Public interest conditional exemptions
An agency or minister can refuse access to a document or part of a document that is conditionally
exempt from disclosure under Division 3 of Part IV of the FOI Act
. Documents for your request which
are conditionally exempt under Division 3 relate to certain operations of agencies (s 47E).
Brief information about each of the conditional exemptions applied when making a decision about
disclosure of each of the documents to which you have requested access is set out below. Additional
information about each of these conditional exemptions can be obtained from the Guidelines
available at
: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-guidelines/part-6-conditional-
exemptions.
Where a document is assessed as conditionally exempt, it is only exempt from disclosure if
disclosure would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest. The public interest test is weighted
in favour of giving access to documents so that the public interest in disclosure remains at the
forefront of decision making.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 Decision letter
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A single public interest test applies to each of the conditional exemptions. This public interest test
includes certain factors that
must be taken into account where relevant, and other factors which
must not be taken into account. My reasoning in regard to the public interest are set out under the
heading ‘
Section 11A(5): Public interest test’ below.
Section 47E: Public interest conditional exemption - certain operations of agencies
Section 47E of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure would,
or could reasonably be expected to, do any of the following:
(a) prejudice the effectiveness of procedures or methods for the conduct of tests, examinations
or audits by an agency;
(b) prejudice the attainment of the objects of particular tests, examinations or audits conducted
or to be conducted by an agency;
(c) have a substantial adverse effect on the management or assessment of personnel by the
Commonwealth or by an agency;
(d) have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of an
agency.
I have decided to apply s 47E(d) to the documents for your request. My reasons for applying this
exemption has been set out below.
Section 47E(d)
Material marked s 47E(d) contains information shared between the department and another agency
for the purpose of progressing evidence based reforms to the Freedom of Information Act.
Disclosure may compromise the departments ability to receive sensitive information from other
agencies.
Accordingly, I am satisfied that this material is conditionally exempt under s 47E(d) of the FOI Act. I
have turned my mind to whether disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public
interest and have included my reasoning in this regard below under the header ‘
Section 11A(5):
Public interest test’.
Section 11A(5): Public interest test
Access to a conditional y exempt document must general y be given unless doing so would be
contrary to the public interest. The Guidelines issued by the OAIC provide at paragraph 6.224 that
the public interest test is considered to be:
•
something that is of serious concern or benefit to the public, not merely of individual interest,
•
not something of interest to the public, but in the interest of the public,
•
not a static concept, where it lies in a particular matter wil often depend on a balancing of
interests,
•
necessarily broad and non-specific, and
•
related to matters of common concern or relevance to all members of the public, or a
substantial section of the public.
In deciding whether to disclose conditionally exempt material, I have considered the factors
favouring access set out in s 11B(3) of the FOI Act. I have not taken into account the irrelevant
factors listed under s 11B(4) of the FOI Act.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 Decision letter
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Of the factors favouring disclosure, I consider that release of the conditionally exempt material
identified for your request would promote the objects of the FOI Act, including by:
• informing the community of the government’s operations,
• inform debate on a matter of public importance,
• revealing the reason for a government decision, and
• enhancing the scrutiny of government decision making.
The FOI Act does not list any specific factors weighing against disclosure. However, I have considered
the non-exhaustive list of factors against disclosure in the Guidelines as well as the particular
circumstances relevant to the conditionally exempt material.
I consider the release of the conditionally exempt material could, as the case may be, reasonably be
expected to prejudice the department’s ability to receive sensitive information from other agencies.
On balance, I consider the factors against disclosure outweigh the factors favouring access and that
providing access to the conditionally exempt material identified for your request would be contrary
to the public interest.
Attorney-General's Department Freedom of Information Request FOI25/402 Decision letter
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