If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
28 March 2017
Our reference: LEX 28493
Mr Justin Warren
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Mr Warren
Internal Review Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request for internal review of the department’s Freedom of Information (FOI)
decision in LEX 26566, dated 14 March 2017.
Decision on internal review
Your request was received by the department on 17 March 2017 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 18 April 2017. The period of processing will be
paused during formal consultation periods or pending payment of charges.
In accordance with s54C of the FOI Act a person (other than the person who made the
original decision) will be the decision maker for this internal review.
Terms of your request
Your request for internal review relates to LEX 26566. In that matter, you sought access
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) to the following documents:
‘[In relation to] to either of:
- the Better Management of the Social Welfare System initiative, or
- Taskforce Integrity:
- Meeting agendas, minutes, and other notes for any and all meetings held with the
Minister for Human Services, or their Office, between 1 Jan 2016 and 31 Dec 2016,
inclusive.
- Meeting agendas, minutes, and other notes for any and all meetings held with the
Minister for Social Services, or their Office, between 1 Jan 2016 and 31 Dec 2016,
inclusive’.
Practical refusal reason
Your request covers a wide range of documents. Because of the amount of work involved for
the department, we are asking you to revise your request to give us more specific details
about the information you are after. I understand that in LEX 26566, your request was
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refused because a practical refusal reason existed. In making your revision, please consider
the history of that request, noting particularly the searches that the department would be
required to carry out in order to identify all of the documents within scope.
If you decide not to make any revisions I will have to refuse your FOI request as a 'practical
refusal reason' exists.
For a more detailed explanation of what this means see
Attachment A.
How to send us a 'revised request'
Before I make a final decision on your request, you can narrow the size of your original
request and submit a revised request.
You could consider narrowing your request to a smaller time period, or only seeking access
to documents related to a specific programme the department delivers.
Within the next 14-days you must do one of the following, in writing:
withdraw the request
make a revised request, or
tell us that you do not want to revise your request.
If you do not contact us during the 14 day consultation period, we will assume you do not
want to continue with your request. See
Attachment A for relevant sections of the FOI Act.
We have 30 days to give you a decision about your request, however the time taken to
consult with you now is not included in this 30 day time period.
Contact
During the consultation period you are welcome to ask for my help in revising your request
and filling out the form. You can contact the department:
in writing to the address at the top of this letter
via email t
o xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Note: When you contact us please quote the reference number
FOI LEX 28493.
Your response will be expected within 14 days of this letter
. If no response is received, your
matter will be taken as withdrawn.
Your Address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send notices to. You
have advised your electronic address i
s xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
We will send all notices and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as
possible if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your address
changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address, correspondence and notices
will continue to be sent to the address specified above.
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Department of Human Services
Exclusion of junior department employee details
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.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please email
xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
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Department of Human Services
Attachment A
What I took into account
Because of the amount of work involved for the department, under sections 24AA and 24 of
the FOI Act I intend to refuse your FOI request as a 'practical refusal reason' exists. Under
the Act, the practical refusal reason is that processing your request 'would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources' of this agency.
The wording of your request is very broad and would capture a large number of documents.
You have requested documents related to ‘the Better Management of the Social Welfare
System initiative’. This is the name for the Government’s policy platform for the social welfare
system. It is not a departmental initiative in relation to a particular payment or programme.
Any meeting held with the Minister or their office by any member of the department may
therefore broadly be said to relate to the ‘Better Management of the Social Welfare System
initiative’. Any relevant documents are also likely to contain Cabinet material and other
deliberative material requiring careful consideration and redaction.
Furthermore, meetings with Ministers, or their offices, typically involve several officers. The
part of your request covering “other notes” would capture any records made by individual
officers who attended the meetings. Determining whether each participant in a meeting made
notes would require extensive consultation across the department.
For these reasons, processing your request would involve approaching more than 130
branches within the department to determine whether they hold any documents within scope
of your request. Allowing for one hour for each branch to conduct searches of their records
for documents within scope, your request would take more than 130 hours to process. This
does not include the time taken to examine any documents which may be in scope,
consulting with third parties, making a decision on the documents, and writing a statement of
reasons for the decision.
It is also likely that the documents you are requesting would include third party information of
customers, external service providers and other government agencies. The department
would be likely be required to consult with each of the third parties about the potential
release of their personal or business information.
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation
to a FOI request if the work involved in processing the request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of the department from its other operations.
Section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act sets out certain factors which the department must consider
when determining whether providing access in relation to a request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the department's resources. The department must specifically have
regard to the resources that would have to be used for:
identifying, locating or collating the documents within the department's filing system;
deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a document to which the request
relates, or to grant access to an edited copy of such a document, including resources
that would have to be used for examining the document or consulting in relation to the
request;
making a copy, or an edited copy, of the document, and
notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
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Department of Human Services
Section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act provides that the request is taken to have been withdrawn
under at the end of the consultation period if:
the applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice, or
the applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
Section 24AB(6) says that the applicant must, before the end of the consultation period, do
one of the following, by written notice to the agency or Minister:
withdraw the request,
make a revised request, or
indicate that the applicant does not wish to revise the request.
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Department of Human Services
