eSafety FOI 25191
Document 1 of 8
ESAFETY COMMISSIONER
Senate Legislation Committee
2024–25 Additional Estimates Hearings
24 – 28 February 2025
BACK POCKET BRIEF
s 22
Contact Officer/s
Name: s 47E(c), s 47F
Phone: s 47E(c), s
Page 1 of 3
47F
s 22
Page 2 of 3
s 22
Legal and
What is it?
Compliance
• s 22 over 2-years was provided (4 ASL) to support the increasing volume of legal
Resourcing
activities within eSafety including multiple litigation matters, an 1800% increase in
FOI requests this FYTD from last year, and higher volumes of overall activities
s 22
requiring legal advice and support.
What has been delivered to date?
• General Counsel SES 2 commenced 13th January 2025.
• Ongoing management of litigation matters.
• Provision of legal services to eSafety including FOI management, privacy, contract
review and risk.
s 22
.
Page 3 of 3
eSafety FOI 25191
Document 2 of 8
ESAFETY COMMISSIONER
Senate Legislation Committee
2024–25 Budget Estimates Hearings
27 March – 3 April 2025
BACK POCKET BRIEF
s 22
Contact Officer/s
Name: s 47E(c), s 47F
Phone: s 47E(c), s
Page 1 of 3
47F
s 22
Page 2 of 3
s 22
Legal and
What is it?
Compliance
• s 22 over 2-years was provided (4 ASL) to support the increasing volume of legal
Resourcing
activities within eSafety including multiple litigation matters, an 1800% increase in
FOI requests this FYTD from last year, and higher volumes of overall activities
s 22
requiring legal advice and support.
What has been delivered to date?
• General Counsel SES 2 commenced 13th January 2025.
• Ongoing management of litigation matters.
• Provision of legal services to eSafety including FOI management, privacy, contract
review and risk.
s 22
.
Page 3 of 3
eSafety FOI 25191
Document 3 of 8
ESAFETY COMMISSIONER
Senate Legislation Committee
2024–25 Additional Estimates Hearings
24 – 28 February 2025
BACK POCKET BRIEF s 22
30. FOI REQUESTS
KEY STATISTICS
s 22
KEY MESSAGES
Increase in FOI requests
• eSafety has seen a considerable increase in FOI requests received since 1 January
2024. This is largely due to eSafety’s rising public profile and strong regulatory posture,
combined with ongoing litigation.
s 22
Contact Officer/s
Name: s 47E(c), s 47F
Phone: s 47E(c), s
Page 1 of 4
47F
s 22
• eSafety liaised with the Office of the Australian information Commissioner, the OAIC,
throughout this process and has asked the OAIC to consider providing guidance to
agencies/departments on how to manage FOI requests that are made en masse (for
example, as part of a campaign) or where it is clear that FOI requests are not being made
in the spirit of the FOI Act. Additional y, it has been suggested that the OAIC consider
potential reforms to the FOI Act to reduce these types of FOI requests and ‘FOI-
bombing’.
s 22
Page 2 of 4
s 22
How is eSafety managing the increase in FOI requests? • Internally we have prioritised the consideration and processing of FOI requests. We have
also engaged an external provider to assist with processing and have notified the OAIC
of the increase in FOI requests.
• Within eSafety FOI requests are processed by the Legal – Business Services team
(comprising three lawyers) in addition to their other duties and responsibilities, including
all internal and corporate matters and matters relating to Commonwealth obligations.
s 22
Page 3 of 4
s 22
Page 4 of 4
eSafety FOI 25191
Document 4 of 8
ESAFETY COMMISSIONER
Senate Legislation Committee
2024–25 Budget Estimates Hearings
27 March – 3 April 2025
BACK POCKET BRIEF
30. FOI REQUESTS
KEY STATISTICS
s 22
KEY MESSAGES
Increase in FOI requests
• eSafety has seen a considerable increase in FOI requests received since 1 January
2024. This is largely due to eSafety’s rising public profile and strong regulatory posture,
combined with ongoing litigation.
s 22
Contact Officer/s
Name: s 47E(c), s 47F
Phone: s 47E(c), s
Page 1 of 4
47F
s 22
• eSafety liaised with the Office of the Australian information Commissioner, the OAIC,
throughout this process and has asked the OAIC to consider providing guidance to
agencies/departments on how to manage FOI requests that are made en masse (for
example, as part of a campaign) or where it is clear that FOI requests are not being made
in the spirit of the FOI Act. Additional y, it has been suggested that the OAIC consider
potential reforms to the FOI Act to reduce these types of FOI requests and ‘FOI-
bombing’.
s 22
Page 2 of 4
s 22
How is eSafety managing the increase in FOI requests?
• Internally we have prioritised the consideration and processing of FOI requests. We have
also engaged an external provider to assist with processing and have notified the OAIC
of the increase in FOI requests.
• Within eSafety FOI requests are processed by the Legal – Business Services team
(comprising three lawyers) in addition to their other duties and responsibilities, including
all internal and corporate matters and matters relating to Commonwealth obligations.
s 22
Page 3 of 4
s 22
Page 4 of 4
eSafety FOI 25191
s 22
Document 5 of 8
s 22
s 22
s 22
Legal and
What is it?
Compliance
s 22
over 2-years was provided (4 ASL) to support the increasing volume of legal activities
Resourcing
within eSafety including multiple litigation matters, an 1800% increase in FOI requests this
FYTD from last year, and higher volumes of overall activities requiring legal advice and
s 22
support.
What has been delivered to date?
-
EL1 Business Legal Officer commenced 30 September.
-
Ongoing management of litigation matters.
-
Provision of legal services to eSafety including FOI management, privacy, contract
review and risk.
s 22
eSafety FOI 25191
Document 6 of 8
ESAFETY COMMISSIONER
Senate Legislation Committee
2024–25 Supplementary Budget Estimates Hearings
4 – 8 November 2024
BACK POCKET BRIEF
27. FOI REQUESTS
KEY STATISTICS
s 22
KEY MESSAGES
Increase in FOI requests
• eSafety has seen a considerable increase in FOI requests received since 1 January
2024. This is largely due to eSafety’s rising public profile and strong regulatory posture,
combined with ongoing litigation.
s 22
Contact Officer/s
Name: s 47E(c), s 47F
Phone: s 47E(c), s 47F
Page 1 of 5
s 22
• eSafety liaised with the OAIC throughout this process and has asked the OAIC to
consider providing guidance to agencies/departments on how to manage FOI requests
that are made en masse (for example, as part of a campaign) or where it is clear that FOI
requests are not being made in the spirit of the FOI Act. Additional y, it has been
suggested that the OAIC consider potential reforms to the FOI Act to reduce these types
of FOI requests and ‘FOI-bombing’.
s 22
Page 2 of 5
s 22
How is eSafety managing the increase in FOI requests?
• Internally we have prioritised the consideration and processing of FOI requests. We have
also engaged an external provider to assist with processing and have notified the OAIC
of the increase in FOI requests.
• Within eSafety FOI requests are processed by the Legal – Business Services team
(comprising three lawyers) in addition to their other duties and responsibilities, including
all internal and corporate matters and matters relating to Commonwealth obligations.
Page 3 of 5
s 22
Page 4 of 5
s 22
Page 5 of 5
eSafety FOI 25191
Document 7 of 8
From:
s 47E(c), s 47F
Sent:
Monday, 10 February 2025 2:02 PM
To:
DL - eSafety SEG Members
Cc:
s 47E(c), s 47F
Subject:
FOI Update [SEC=OFFICIAL:Sensitive, ACCESS=Legal-Privilege]
OFFICIAL: Sensitive
Legal Privilege
Hi al ,
Just wanted to update you al on a higher than usual number of Freedom of Informa on requests. At me
of wri ng we have received 191 requests via an online tool. Legal and Inves ga ons wil work together to
respond to these requests as per our usual FOI prac ces and we should not comment further. Of course,
any discussion of this ma er is in itself subject to FOI.
s 22
We are of course giving detailed a en on to employee wellbeing. This includes advice on how to keep safe
online, in par cular on socials, workload issues, and for lawyers, and any aspects rela ng to professional
obliga ons.
Kind regards,
s 47F
1
eSafety FOI 25191
Document 8 of 8
s
47E(c)
s 22
s 22
s 47E(c),
s
s 47F
s
47E(c
s 22
47E(
), s
c)
47F
s 47E(d)
s 22
s 22
Document Outline
