For Official Use Only

Dear Mr Gothe-Snape,

 

I refer to your email dated 8 August 2017 seeking access under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to:

 

“…the budgets, menus, expenses, invoices, receipts, credit card statements
and reimbursements for the most expensive event attended by a Minister or
Assistant Minister in your Department's portfolio area in 2016-17...”

 

Please note that expenditure in relation to events attended by the
Minister for Communications and the Arts is the responsibility of the
Minister’s office rather than the Department and therefore it is very
unlikely that the Department holds any documents within the scope of your
request.

 

I also note that, in any event, your request does not satisfy the
requirements of section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act, as you have not provided
such information as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible
officer to identify the documents identified as those “for the most
expensive event attended by the Minister in 2016-17”.

 

For a request to be valid under section 15(2) of the FOI Act, it must:

 

(a)    be in writing, and state it is an application for the purposes of
the FOI Act;

(b)   provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably
necessary to enable the agency to identify it; and

(c)    give details of how notices and documents may be sent to the
applicant.

 

I also note that under the FOI Act, the Minister and the Department are
treated as separate agencies and therefore should you wish to proceed with
a request for the documents, you should ensure that your request satisfies
the above-mentioned requirements of section 15(2) and send it to the email
address below: [1][email address]

 

It may also assist you to note that reports about Parliamentarians’
expenditure, including a Summary of Parliamentary Expenditure for the
Minister for Communications and the Arts during the period 1 July and 31
December 2016 are published on the Department of Finance website at:

[2]http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/p...

 

Yours sincerely

 

[3]cid:C4234CC5-D32A-44FF-A754-F96227B373F7

FOI Coordinator  / Information Law Section  /  Office of the General
Counsel

Department of Communications and the Arts

P +61 2 6271 1277

E [4][Department of Communications and the Arts request email]

 

GPO Box 2154 Canberra ACT 2601

  

[5]communications.gov.au

[6]cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A [7]@CommsAu

 

[8]arts.gov.au

[9]cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A [10]@artsculturegov

 

This email and any attachments may contain confidential information or
legal advice over which legal professional privilege can be claimed.  Such
privilege is not waived and you should ensure that, in the handling of the
advice, you avoid waiving privilege.  Please consult the author of the
advice if unsure about appropriate handling.

 

show quoted sections

For Official Use Only

FOI 18-1718

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

I refer to your email dated 22 August 2017 outlining a request for access
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to:  

 

“…the budgets, menus, expenses, invoices, receipts, credit card statements
and reimbursements for the most expensive event attended by a Minister or
Assistant Minister in your Department's portfolio area in 2016-17. 'Most
expensive event' shall be determined only by expenses paid - directly or
through reimbursement - by the Department …”

 

Timeframe for receiving your decision:

Please note that we will process your request in accordance with the
Department’s [1]FOI Policy and that the 30 day statutory period for
processing the request commenced on 23 August.  You should therefore
expect a decision from us by 21 September 2017.  The period of 30 days may
be extended in certain circumstances.  We will advise you if there is any
extension of time.

 

Scope of request:

If it emerges that the scope of the request is unclear or is too large for
processing, the Department will contact you to discuss re-scoping the
request.

 

Charges:

Please note that it is the Department’s policy to issue charges for
processing FOI requests and that we will advise you of the estimated
charges when we are in a position to estimate the resources required to
process the request. 

 

Timing of release:

As the subject matter of the request will require the Department to upload
any documents released to you to the Department’s FOI Disclosure Log, I
take this opportunity to advise you that the Department’s policy is to
upload documents to the disclosure log on the same day as or as soon as
practicable after the documents are released.  More information on the
Department’s disclosure log is available in the FOI Policy.

 

Personal Information:

Your personal information has been collected by the Department as a result
of your correspondence, and will be used in order to process the FOI
request. Personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy
Act 1988. The Department’s [2]Privacy Policy is available on the website
and contains information about access to or correction of your personal
information, and how you may complain about a breach of your privacy.

 

Please note that if we need to consult with other people regarding release
of the requested documents, we may need to disclose your personal
information. When we consult with other people about the request, it may
be apparent to those people that you have made a request, even if we do
not disclose your identity. If you have concerns about the Department
consulting with other people about the request, please let us know about
these concerns.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

[3]cid:C4234CC5-D32A-44FF-A754-F96227B373F7

 

FOI Coordinator  / Information Law Section  /  Office of the General
Counsel

Department of Communications and the Arts

P +61 2 6271 1277

E [Department of Communications and the Arts request email]

 

GPO Box 2154 Canberra ACT 2601

  

[4]communications.gov.au

[5]cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A [6]@CommsAu

 

[7]arts.gov.au

[8]cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A [9]@artsculturegov

 

This email and any attachments may contain confidential information or
legal advice over which legal professional privilege can be claimed.  Such
privilege is not waived and you should ensure that, in the handling of the
advice, you avoid waiving privilege.  Please consult the author of the
advice if unsure about appropriate handling.

 

show quoted sections

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[14][FOI #3796 email]

 

This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:

[15]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.communications.gov.au/who-we...
2. https://www.communications.gov.au/docume...
4. https://www.communications.gov.au/
6. https://twitter.com/CommsAu?lang=en
7. http://arts.gov.au/
9. https://twitter.com/artsculturegov?lang=en
10. http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/p...
11. file:///tmp/cid:C4234CC5-D32A-44FF-A754-F96227B373F7
12. file:///tmp/cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A
13. file:///tmp/cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A
14. mailto:[FOI #3796 email]
15. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

UNCLASSIFIED

Mr Gothe-Snape

 

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI Request
(reference 18-1718).

 

[1]cid:C4234CC5-D32A-44FF-A754-F96227B373F7

 

FOI Coordinator  / Information Law Section  /  Office of the General
Counsel

Department of Communications and the Arts

E [Department of Communications and the Arts request email]

 

GPO Box 2154 Canberra ACT 2601

  

[2]communications.gov.au

[3]cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A [4]@CommsAu

 

[5]arts.gov.au

[6]cid:17F0759F-5B67-41BB-B991-66700A2CA00A [7]@artsculturegov

 

This email and any attachments may contain confidential information or
legal advice over which legal professional privilege can be claimed.  Such
privilege is not waived and you should ensure that, in the handling of the
advice, you avoid waiving privilege.  Please consult the author of the
advice if unsure about appropriate handling.

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
2. https://www.communications.gov.au/
4. https://twitter.com/CommsAu?lang=en
5. http://arts.gov.au/
7. https://twitter.com/artsculturegov?lang=en