12 January 2026
Ref: FOI 25/13642
By email: Shirley Humphris <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx>
Dear Ms Humphris
Freedom of Information Request – Acknowledgement
We refer to your email received by the University of Melbourne (
the University) on 5 January 2026, in which you
are seeking access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (FOI Act).
Under section 17 of the FOI Act, a request must meet three requirements to be valid:
1) your request must be in writing;
2) you must pay the application fee which is currently
AUD$33.60 or seek a waiver; and
3) you must provide sufficient information about the documents you are requesting to enable us to identify
and locate relevant documents.
Application fee
To meet the second requirement, you must pay the application fee. Payment of the application fee can be made
online
at https://ecommerce.unimelb.edu.au/foi-application-fee
If paying the application fee would cause you hardship, you may request that we waive the application fee in full
or in part. If you request a waiver, please provide evidence to show why paying the fee would cause you hardship,
such as a concession or healthcare card. We will assess your fee waiver request and let you know the outcome.
Sufficiently clear terms
The third requirement for a valid request requires us to determine whether your request is sufficiently clear to
enable us to identify and locate all relevant documents. Once we have had an opportunity to consider your
request in detail, we may need to contact you for further clarification of the terms of your request.
Additional information to assist us
It may be helpful to exclude certain documents or information from your request if it isn’t particularly necessary
or relevant. This may allow us to process your request more quickly by potentially reducing the number of
documents to assess or removing the requirement for us to consult with third parties. Do you require access to:
• draft documents: Yes / No
• duplicate documents: Yes / No
• personal information relating to third parties: Yes / No
• commercial information relating to third parties: Yes / No
Please advise if you are not seeking access to this type of material.
Edited copies
The documents you requested may contain exempt or irrelevant information. Under section 25 of the FOI Act, we
can provide edited copies of documents with exempt or irrelevant information removed. However, we are only
required to do this if you indicate you will accept an edited copy of the documents, and if it is practicable for us to
make edits. If you don’t agree to receive an edited copy, we may decide the entire document is exempt and
refuse access to it in full, even if there is some information that could be released to you.
Please advise if you agree to receive access to an edited copy of a document with exempt or irrelevant
information removed in accordance with section 25 of the FOI Act.
Timeframes
After you submit a request, we will assess it to ensure it meets the requirements outlined in section 17 of the FOI
Act. If we determine that your request is not valid, we will notify you within 21 days from the date we received
your request and provide you with assistance to help you make the request valid. If your request is valid, we will
begin processing it.
We have 30 days from the day after we receive your valid request to provide you with a decision. However, we
can extend this time by up to 15 days if we need to consult with third parties whose information may be
contained in the requested documents. We may also extend this time by up to 30 days with your agreement. We
will notify you know if the timeframe changes.
Consultation with third parties
Under section 33(2B) of the FOI Act the University has an obligation to consult with third parties whose personal
affairs information is contained in a document being considered for release. Personal affairs information includes
information that identifies any person or discloses their address or location; or from which any person's identity,
address or location can reasonably be determined. Similarly, under section 34(3) of the FOI Act the University has
an obligation to consult with third parties whose business, commercial or financial information may be contained
in a document being considered for release.
Consultation is required to gain the views of a third party about whether the information should be disclosed to
you. Should consultation be required, and the legislative timeframe extended by 15 days, you will be notified of
this in writing.
Access charges
Under section 22 of the FOI Act and under the
Freedom of Information (Access Charges) Regulations 2025, access
charges are applicable to FOI requests. You may be required to pay certain charges before access is provided to
the requested documents. For example, we may charge for searching for documents or providing copies of the
documents. If these charges exceed $70.00, we will notify you and request that you pay a deposit before
proceeding with your request.
Further information
For further information about Freedom of Information at the University of Melbourne please visit
Freedom of
Information
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information
