If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
18 April 2016
Mr James Smith
Our reference: LEX 18592
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Smith
Your Freedom of Information Request - Acknowledgement
1. I refer to your request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (the
FOI Act). I have taken your request to be for:
'1. Current social media policy of the department, which covers departmental use
and/or private use by employees in an individual capacity.
2. Any guidance material which is available for employees to make informed
decisions about their social media use.’
2. Your request was received by the department on 15 April 2016 and the 30 day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. You should
therefore expect a decision from us by 16 May 2016. The period of 30 days may be
extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if
this happens.
3. The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the
amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. No charge is payable for providing a
person with their own personal information.
Operational information
4. Under sections 8(2)(c) and 8(2)(j) of the FOI Act, the department is required to public a
description of the functions and powers of the agency, the rules, guidelines, practices and
procedures relating to those functions and powers.
5. This operational information is publicly available on the department’s website:
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/Pages/SiteMap/siteMap.html
6. In particular, the following article may be of interest to you:
article 133-07000000 – Department of Human Services social media accounts
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/Pages/self-service/133-07000000-
05.html
PAGE 1 OF 2
7. Further to this, the department’s website publishes the current policies on social media in
the department, including the social medial policy for departmental staff. These policies
are available here:
https://www.humanservices.gov.au/corporate/media/social-media-department
8. I encourage you to access this publicly available information as it may satisfy some parts
of your FOI request.
9. Please confirm as soon as possible and in any case by close of business
20 April 2016 whether you wish to revise the scope of your request to exclude this
operational information. This will allow the department to more quickly and accurately
determine the charge that may be payable to you.
Your Address
10. The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send notices to.
You have advised your electronic address is foi+request-1825-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx. We will send all notices and correspondence to this
address. Please advise us if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or
if your address changes as soon as possible. If you do not advise us of changes to your
address, correspondence and notices will continue to be sent to the address specified
above.
Disclosure Log
11. Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a disclosure
log on the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication,
however it is subject to certain exceptions, including where publication of personal,
business, professional or commercial information would be unreasonable.
Exclusion of junior department employee details
12. The department is working towards ensuring that all employees have a choice about
whether they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and direct contact details
in response to public enquiries. Where such details are included in the scope of a
request, this may add to processing time and applicable charges as it may be necessary
to consider whether the details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you
tell us otherwise, we will assume that these details are out of scope of your request and
they will be redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
13. Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please send an email to
xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Authorised Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
PAGE 2 OF 2
Department of Human Services
