Documents outlining the legal or policy basis for the banner.
Please exclude:
•
Duplicates
•
Drafts
•
Names of any non-SES employees.
•
Communications (and the part of documents that contain
communications) between OAIC as a client and a lawyer where obtaining
legal advice was the dominant purpose of the communication and the
communication has not been very widely distributed.
•
Source Code
I only need the information regarding the cookie banner so if, for example, a
document contains 400 pages and 1 page is about the cookie banner, please
exclude everything else unrelated it. It can be redacted/excluded in full.
If a document is publicly available, I am happy to be linked to it and exclude it
from this process.
Request timeframe
Your FOI request was received by the OAIC on 24 October 2025. Therefore, the decision
on your FOI request falls due by Sunday 23 November 2025.
Paragraph 3.141 of the Australian Information Commissioner Guidelines states ‘If the
last day for notifying a decision falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, the
timeframe will expire on the first business day following that day.’
Therefore, the decision is due to be notified by the next working day Monday 24
November 2025.
Decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in
relation to FOI requests on behalf of the OAIC.
Subject to the provisions of the FOI Act, I have made a decision to grant full access to 1
document.
Searches undertaken
The FOI Act requires that all reasonable steps be taken to locate documents within
scope of an FOI request.
The following line areas of the OAIC conducted searches for documents relevant to
your request:
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• Information Management team
A search was conducted in the following OAIC document storage system:
• the OAIC’s document holding system – Content Manager
The following search terms were used for electronic records:
•
Cookies
•
Online Identifiers
•
Research conducted on cookies and online identifiers
Having consulted with the relevant line areas, and having reviewed the search and
retrieval efforts, I am satisfied that a reasonable search has been undertaken for your
request.
Reasons for decision
Material taken into account
In making my decision, I had regard to the following:
• your FOI request dated 24 October 2025
• consultation with relevant line area
• the FOI Act
• FOI Guidelines
Access to edited copies with irrelevant and exempt matter
deleted (section 22)
In accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, an agency must consider whether it is
possible to prepare an edited copy of the documents subject to an FOI request, where
material in the documents has been identified as exempt, or irrelevant, to the request.
I have determined that no FOI Act exemptions apply to this material.
I have also identified that the following material within the documents is irrelevant (out of
scope) of your request:
•
Material relating to APP6 (use or disclosure of personal information.
The exempt and irrelevant material has been removed in accordance with s 22(1)(a)(i)
and (ii) of the FOI Act.
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Release of documents
The relevant document is enclosed for release.
Please see the following page for information about your review rights.
Yours sincerely
Fern
FOI delegate
Governance, Risk and Compliance (FOI & Privacy)
24 November 2025
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If you disagree with my decision
Internal review
You have the right to apply for an internal review of my decision under Part VI of the FOI
Act. An internal review will be conducted, to the extent possible, by an officer of the
OAIC who was not involved in or consulted in the making of my decision. If you wish to
apply for an internal review, you must do so in writing within 30 days. There is no
application fee for internal review.
If you wish to apply for an internal review, please mark your application for the attention
of the FOI Coordinator and state the grounds on which you consider that my decision
should be reviewed.
Applications for internal review can be submitted email to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Alternatively, you can submit your internal review application by post to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5288
SYDNEY NSW 2001.
Further review
You have the right to seek review of this decision by the Information Commissioner and
the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).
You may apply to the Information Commissioner for a review of my decision (IC review).
If you wish to apply for IC review, you must do so in writing within 60 days. Your
application must provide an address (which can be an email address or fax number)
that we can send notices to and include a copy of this letter. A request for IC review can
be made in relation to my decision, or an internal review decision.
Please note: It is the Information Commissioner’s view that it will usually not be in the
interests of the administration of the FOI Act to conduct an IC review of a decision, or
an internal review decision, made by the same agency which the Information
Commissioner heads: the OAIC. For this reason, if you make an application for IC
review of my decision, and the Information Commissioner is satisfied it is not in the
interests of administration of the FOI Act, and it is desirable that my decision be
referred or considered by the ART, the Information Commissioner may decide not to
undertake an IC review (refer section 54W of the FOI Act).
Section 57A of the FOI Act provides that, before you can apply to the ART for review of
an FOI decision, you must first have applied for IC review.
Applications for IC review can be submitted online at: IC Review application online
form.
Alternatively, you can submit your application to:
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Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5288
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Or by email to xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
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