12 December 2025
Mr Daniel M
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Daniel M
DECISION – ABC FOI 202526-038
I refer to your email sent Thursday 25 September 2025 seeking access under the
Freedom of Information Act (Cth) 1982 (the
FOI Act) to:
…1. Copies of complaints received by the ABC from confused complainants, related to
the American Broadcasting Company's cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, from 16
September 2025 to 25 September 2025 2. Any responses from the ABC to those
complaints, if applicable, and any further replies from those complainants to the ABC's
responses 3. Any internal correspondence relating to the ABC's receipt of such
complaints.
To assist the ABC in more promptly processing the request, I preemptively agree to the
exclusion of:
a) duplicates of documents;
b) duplicate email chains;
c) draft versions of a document where a later version exists;
d) publicly available documents;
e) personal information (including names and contact details) of ABC staff (although job
titles are to remain);
f) personal information (including names and contact details) of complainants.
I also agree to:
g) administrative release of some or all of the requested information if this would assist
the ABC in processing the request.
On Friday 24 October 2025, by email, the timeframe for processing your request was
extended by agreement by 16 days under s 15AA of the FOI Act.
As notified to you by email on Wednesday 12 November 2025, the ABC was required to
consult with an affected third party under s 27, such that a decision is due on your
request by Friday
12 December 2025, under s 15(6) of the FOI Act.
Authorisation
I am authorised by the Managing Director of the ABC to make decisions about FOI
requests under s 23 of the FOI Act.
Decision
I have identified 5 documents that answer the scope of your request -
Documents 1 to 5.
These documents are described in
Schedule 1, attached.
Legal ABC Ultimo Centre, 700 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007
GPO Box 9994 Sydney NSW 2001 |
Email: xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Documents 1 and 2 answer point 1 of the scope of your request. I have granted access
in full.
Documents 4 and 5 answer point 2.
These are auto reply email templates received by all
persons who made an online enquiry / complaint. I have granted access in full.
Document 3 answers point 3. I have granted access to
Document 3 in part (with agreed
exempt material redacted under s 22 of the FOI Act).
Material taken into account
In making my decision I have considered:
• the scope of your request
• the content of the document/s requested
• the FOI Act
• the guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
under s 93A of the FOI Act (
the Guidelines)
• responses to consultation undertaken with a third party.
Locating and identifying documents
The search for documents included approaching the ABC News and the Audience
support team.
I consider all reasonable steps were taken to identify and locate relevant documents
that answer your request. I am satisfied that the searches conducted were thorough
and all reasonable steps have been taken to locate the documents relevant to your
request.
Documents 1 and 2 did not exist at the time of your request, however the ABC was able
to create it for you as provided for under s 17 of the FOI Act.
Reasons for decision
Third Party Consultation
The ABC consulted with the
American Broadcasting Company to seek their views on
the release of
Documents 1 and 2 as they contain information and commentary around
their business and professional affairs.
The
American Broadcasting Company advised that it did not object to the release of
the documents under FOI and it is my view that it is reasonable to release the
information based on this consent.
For information, I note that the material contained in
Documents 1 and 2 if it had been
regarding content that was broadcast on the ABC (the public broadcaster), including
any resultant complaints about content, it would be exempt from the FOI regime under
s 7(2) of the FOI Act. This means there would be no right to seek access to this type of
document about the ABC’s programs and access would not have been granted. As
these complaints concerned material not broadcast on the Australian ABC, a different
assessment applied.
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Section 22 – Irrelevant information
In the scope of your request in your email of 25 September 2025, you agreed to exclude
the personal information including the names and direct contact details of ABC staff as
well as external parties. This information has been removed as agreed out of scope
material under s 22.
In addition, you agreed to remove contact details of complainants. As such when
compiling the complaints in a report format, identifying information was removed from
the outset such that it did not form part of the documents in scope.
The FOI Act and the Guidelines provide that agencies may grant access to edited
versions of documents by deleting information that would reasonably be regarded as
irrelevant to the request. I have deleted the agreed irrelevant parts of the documents
under s 22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act, and provided an edited copy, as it was reasonably
practicable to do so.
Review rights
Your review rights are set out in
Annexure A.
Yours sincerely
Ali Edwards
Head of Rights Management & FOI Decision Maker
xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
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Schedule 1 – Document Schedule – FOI 202526-038
Access
No.
Date
Description
Page/s
grant
Exemption
section/s
decision
01
17 to 25
Complaints to the Audience
15
Full
September
support regarding J Kimmel
2025
02
18 to 25
Complaints to ABC News
5
Full
September
support team regarding J
2025
Kimmel
03
18
Email regarding Kimmel
1
Part
22 – irrelevant
September
complaints
material
2025
04
September
Auto reply from ABC Audience
1
Full
-
2025
Support
05
September
Auto reply from ABC News
1
Full
-
2025
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Annexure A – Your Review Rights
If you are dissatisfied with this decision you can apply for Internal Review of the decision by the
ABC, or Information Commissioner (IC) Review. You do not have to apply for Internal Review
before seeking IC Review.
APPLICATION FOR INTERNAL REVIEW BY THE ABC
You have the right to apply for an internal review of the decision refusing to grant access to
documents. If you apply for an internal review, a delegate who is not the person who made the
initial decision will undertake a review and make a fresh decision.
You must apply in writing for an internal review of the decision
within 30 days of receipt of this
letter. No particular form is required, although it helps if you set out the reasons for review in
your application and include the decision under review.
Application for a review of the original decision should be emailed to
: xxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
or posted to:
FOI team
ABC Legal
GPO Box 9994
SYDNEY NSW 2001
APPLICATION FOR INFORMATION COMMISSIONER (IC) REVIEW
Alternatively, you have the right to apply for a review by the Information Commissioner of the
decision refusing to grant access to documents. Your application must:
• be in writing;
• be made
within 60 days of receipt of this letter (the original decision or the internal
review decision, or a deemed refusal decision);
• give details of how notices may be sent to you (eg. an email address); and
• include a copy of the decision for which a review sought.
Please refer to the OAIC website the IC review process page for further information including
the online form for applying for IC review:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-
of-information-reviews
Alternatively, an application for IC Review can be emailed to:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or
posted to:
Director of FOI Dispute Resolution
OAIC GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
The Information Commissioner has a discretion not to undertake a review.
COMPLAINTS TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
You may complain to the Information Commissioner about action taken by the ABC in the
performance of functions, or exercise of powers, under the FOI Act. The Information
Commissioner may make inquiries for the purpose of determining whether or not to investigate
a complaint.
Complaints can be made in writing to:
OAIC - GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
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