5 October 2016
Reg
Kingaroy
Dear Reg
Freedom of Information Request – FOI 150/2016
I refer to your Freedom of Information request received on 14 September 2016 in which you seek
access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (“FOI Act”). You have requested
the fol owing from Australia Post:
“…[al documents]
regarding the loss of a parcel sent to me and returned to sender on via
Startrack and Australia Post on consignment number 32DZ00002939 and which occurred again on
consignment number 32DZ00003511 [including]
copies of all information that has been recorded in
your system, including telephone recordings of all conversations I held with representatives of your
organisation.
The Australia Post case numbers were listed as above and for completion are: Case No 06474246, Case No 06563380, and Case No 06961702……”
Enquiries have ascertained that Australia Post has Case notes and recorded phone cal s in respect
to the documents sought.
The recorded phone cal s can be transferred to a USB Flash Drive and sent to you via express post.
There is a fee for the USB Flash Drive and postage of this item as discussed under heading
“Liability to pay a charge”.
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 fol ows:
Task
Rate
Units
Charge
Search & Retrieval
$15 per hour
0.5 units
$7.50
Decision making
$20 per hour
5 units
$100.00
less first 5 hours free
5 units
$100.00
Photocopies
0.20c per page
0 pages
$0.00
USB Flash Drive
$8.95
1
$8.95
Express Post Postage
$10.55
TOTAL
$27.00
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 wil resume as soon as
Australia Post receives a payment, either in ful or a deposit.
Legal Group
Level 11, 111 Bourke St Melbourne VIC 3000
W: auspost.com.au
GPO Box 1777 MELBOURNE VIC 3001
Payment in ful is $27.00. Payment in ful entitles you to receive a decision in relation to your
request, a schedule which lists the documents relevant to your request, and any documents
intended for release.
Regulation 12 of the Charges Regulations provides that Australia Post can receive a deposit. The
deposit for this request is $25.00. 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 Australia Post 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 Australia Post and addressed to:
FOI Officer
Australia Post – Legal Group
GPO Box 1777
MELBOURNE VIC 3001
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 ful 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 wil be advised of your review rights
under section 54 of the FOI Act fol owing 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 Australia Post in a manner described above within 30 days of the date on this
notice, it wil 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 wil
then accept liability for settlement of the debt with Australia Post upon completion of processing
the FOI request. The outstanding charge amount is a debt created in favour of the Commonwealth
and therefore, Australia Post is obliged to pursue recovery of the debt in accordance with the
Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
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 Australia Post makes a decision not to
impose a charge. However, the actual processing time may also be affected by third party
consultation.
Extension of Time - Third Party Consultation
As document/s fal ing within the scope of your request may involve the unreasonable disclosure of
the business/personal information of a third party, I am obliged under sections 27 and 27A of the
FOI Act to consult with the third parties and give them an opportunity to make submissions
Legal Group
W: auspost.com.au
Level 11, 111 Bourke St Melbourne VIC 3000
GPO Box 1777 MELBOURNE VIC 3001
regarding possible disclosure of the document/s. I must take their views into account in
determining whether a document is an exempt document.
To enable time for the consultation process, subsection 15(6) of the FOI Act extends the period in
which to respond to your request by an additional 30 days. You wil be notified of the due date
once you have advised Australia Post in relation to the charges.
Policy to Exclude Non-Executive Australia Post Officer Details
Australia Post has adopted a policy to general y exclude the names and contact details of any
non-executive Australia Post staff from any documents released under FOI. Australia Post’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 non-executive Australia
Post 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 Australia Post’s Disclosure Log
(www.auspost.com.au) as soon as possible. Australia Post’s
policy is to publish the documents within one working day after they are released to you.
Please contact the FOI Team on the contact details below if you wish to discuss your request.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Oliver
FOI Officer
Australia Post
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Legal Group
W: auspost.com.au
Level 11, 111 Bourke St Melbourne VIC 3000
GPO Box 1777 MELBOURNE VIC 3001
