Reference:
FOI 16/97
Contact:
FOI Team
Telephone:
(02) 6215 1783
e-mail:
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Mr James Horton
via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Horton,
Freedom of Information Request – FOI 16/97
Thank you for your email to the Department of Finance (Finance) in which you sought
access to the following under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
... a copy of the independent “scoping study into future ownership options for the
operation and ownership of the registry functions of the Australian Securities and
Investments Commission (ASIC) Registry” as announced in the 2014-15 Federal
Budget and upon whose findings a subsequent tender process was announced in the
2015-16 Federal Budget.
Liability to pay a charge
In accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a
charge in respect of the processing of your request. My preliminary assessment of that
charge is as follows:
Task
Rate
Units
Charge
Search & retrieval
$15 per hour
1.05 hours $
15.30
Decision-making
$20 per hour
128.05 hours $
2,561.00
less first 5 hours free
5 hours $
-100.00
Photocopies
0.10 per page
0 pages $
0.00
TOTAL
$
2,476.30
In accordance with the
Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982, this estimate
has included five hours of decision making time free of charge.
You can agree to pay the charge. If you agree, processing of your request will resume as
soon as Finance receives a payment, either in full or a deposit.
Payment in full is $2476.30. Payment in full entitles you to receive a decision in relation to
your request, a schedule which lists the documents relevant to your request, and any
documents released.
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One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603 Telephone 02 6215 2222
Internet www.finance.gov.au
Regulation 12 of the Charges Regulations provides that Finance can receive a deposit. The
required deposit for this request is $619.06. Payment of a deposit entitles you to receive a
decision in relation to your request and a schedule which lists the documents relevant to
your request. Relevant documents would only be released on payment of the balance of
charges. Regulation 14 provides a deposit paid by an applicant is not refundable unless
Finance decides to waive the charge or fails to make a decision on the applicant’s FOI
request within the statutory time limit, including any extension.
Your cheque/money order should be made payable to the Collector of Public Monies and
addressed to:
FOI Coordinator
Legal Services Branch
Department of Finance
One Canberra Avenue
FORREST ACT 2603
If you wish to pay by credit card, you should forward a letter which sets out the credit card
details and authorises Finance to charge that amount to the card. Please note that Finance
only accepts Mastercard and Visa.
If you wish to pay by direct debit, please direct your payment to:
DoF – Official Departmental Bank Account
BSB: 062-900
Account number: 10139661
In accordance with paragraph 29(1)(f) of the FOI Act, within 30 days of the date of this
notice, you need to either:
agree to pay the charge indicated above and forward the deposit; or
contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not
imposed (you should provide full reasons for your contention); or
withdraw your request.
If you contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not
imposed, such a contention is not a request for internal review. You will be advised of your
review rights under section 54 of the FOI Act following my consideration of your
contentions. In deciding whether to reduce or not impose a charge, I must, amongst other
things, take into account whether payment of the charge, or part of it, would cause you
financial hardship and whether the giving of access to the documents is in the general public
interest.
If you fail to notify Finance in a manner described above within 30 days of the date on this
notice, it will be taken that you have withdrawn your request.
Please note that should you forward a deposit in accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act,
you will then accept liability for settlement of the debt with Finance upon completion of
processing the FOI request. The outstanding charge amount is a debt created in favour of
the Commonwealth and therefore, Finance is obliged to pursue recovery of the debt in
accordance with the
Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
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Cabinet Documents
Scoping studies are comprehensive reports prepared for internal use by the Government to
consider options for the future ownership of Government owned entities. These studies are
likely to be documents that may be considered by Cabinet and that may attract a Cabinet
exemption (section 34 of the FOI Act).
Processing Time
In relation to the preliminary assessment of charges, in accordance with section 31 of the
FOI Act, the time period for processing your request is suspended from the date of this
notice and resumes on either the day you pay the deposit or the day on which Finance makes
a decision not to impose a charge. However, the actual processing time may also be affected
by third party consultation.
Policy to Exclude Junior Officer Details
Finance has adopted a policy to generally exclude the names and contact details of junior
staff (non-SES officers) and staff employed under the
Members of Parliament (Staff) Act
1984 (adviser level and below) from any documents released under FOI. Finance’s
preference is to reach agreement with FOI applicants to exclude these details from the scope
of the request. Where there is no objection, the names and contact details of junior officers
are redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act, on the basis that these details are irrelevant to
the request.
Publication
The FOI Act requires Commonwealth agencies to publish:
information in documents to which the agency routinely gives access in response to
FOI requests except where that information is exempt under the FOI Act; and
information in documents released under the FOI Act.
Subject to certain exceptions, any documents provided to you under the FOI Act will be
published on Finance’s FOI Disclosure Log
(www.finance.gov.au) as soon as possible.
Finance’s policy is to publish the documents within one working day after they are released
to you.
Please contact the FOI Team on the above contact details if you wish to discuss your
request.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Pitson
Assistant Secretary
ASIC Registry Project Branch
Department of Finance
8 September 2016
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