2 March 2017
Our reference: 2017/1364
Mr James Smith
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Smith
Freedom of Information Request – Notice of Decision
I refer to your email dated 16 February 2017 making a request under the
Freedom of
Information Act (1982) (FOI Act) for access to:
‘document(s) which describe the data provided to the external organisation(s) responsible for
conducting the ballot(s) for all Enterprise Agreements put to staff for a vote.
The scope of this request is limited only to those ballots undertaken for enterprise agreements
which were proposed to take effect after 30 June 2014.
The document shall describe the data given to the ballot agent. For example, employee name,
employee identification number, employee email address, etc. I exclude the data for specific
employees here; I am only after the 'meta-data'.’
Decision
I am authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
Comcare holds two documents (20 pages) that relate to your request. I have decided to
grant you full access to the documents.
I note in your request that you were not requesting data on specific employees, therefore
staff details have been deleted in accordance with section 22(1) of the FOI Act.
Rights of review
If you are not satisfied with this decision, you are entitled to seek review. Your review rights
are set out at Attachment A to this notice.
Contacts
Should you require clarification of any matter discussed in this letter, please contact me by
email to
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx or by telephone 1300 366 979.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Delegate, Freedom of Information
Phone: 1300 366 979
Email:
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
ATTACHMENT A
INFORMATION ON RIGHTS OF REVIEW
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
Application for review of decision
The
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives you the right to apply for a review of
this decision. Under sections 54 and 54L of the FOI Act, you can apply for a review of this
decision by:
(i) an internal review officer within Comcare; or
(ii) the Information Commissioner.
Internal Review
If you apply for internal review, it will be carried out by a different decision-maker who will
make a fresh decision on your application. An application for review must be:
•
made in writing;
•
made within 30 days of receiving this letter; and
•
sent to the postal or email address shown in this letter.
No particular form is required, but it is desirable to set out in the application the grounds
upon which you consider the decision should be reviewed.
If the internal review officer decides not to grant you access to all of the documents to
which you have requested access, you have the right to seek a review of that decision by
the Information Commissioner. You will be further notified of your rights of review at the
time you are notified of the internal review decision.
Please note that if you apply for an internal review and a decision is not made by an internal
review officer within 30 days of receiving the application, you have the right to seek review
by the Information Commissioner for a review of the original FOI decision on the basis of a
'deemed refusal' decision, An application for Information Commissioner review in this
situation must be made within 60 days of the date when the internal review decision should
have been made (provided an extension of time has not been granted or agreed).
Information Commissioner review
You must apply in writing within 60 days of the receipt of the decision letter and you can
lodge your application in one of the following ways:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
mail:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
If a person has sought an internal review and no result of that review is provided within 30
days, then the applicant may apply to the Information Commissioner to review the matter.
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An application form is available on the website a
t www.oaic.gov.au. Your application should
include a copy of the notice of the decision that you are objecting to (if one was provided),
and your contact details. You should also set out why you are objecting to the decision.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner or the Commonwealth Ombudsman
You may complain to either the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the Australian Information
Commissioner about action taken by Comcare in relation to your request. The Ombudsman
will consult with the Australian Information Commissioner before investigating a complaint
about the handling of an FOI request.
Your enquiries to the Ombudsman can be directed to:
Phone:
1300 362 072 (local call charge)
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Your enquiries to the Australian Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone:
1300 363 992 (local call charge)
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
No particular form is required to make a complaint to the Ombudsman or the Australian
Information Commissioner. The request should be in writing and should set out the grounds
on which it is considered that the action taken in relation to the request should be
investigated and identify Comcare as the relevant agency.
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