Attachment A
FOI Request 2016/17-59 - Reasons for internal review decision on access
In making my decision, I have considered:
• your original request
• the department’s request consultation notice and your response
• the original decision
• your internal review request
• decisions of other agencies you referred to as having satisfactorily interpreted your request in
your internal review request
• relevant departmental documents
• advice from the relevant business area of the department
• relevant provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), and
• the FOI Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner.
Original refusal decision
I have considered Mr Terpstra’s decision refusing you access under s 24(1) of the FOI Act following the
request consultation process. Your response to the request consultation process did not address the
areas for which clarification about the requested documents was sought. I therefore consider that Mr
Terpstra’s decision was reasonably open to him to make.
While an internal review is a merit review rather than a process review, I consider the department’s
engagement with you about the scope of your request was consistent with the requirements of the FOI
Act.
Consideration of further information
However, as is appropriate in a merit review process, I have taken into account the further
information provided in your internal review application. In particular I considered responses to your
requests to the Clean Energy Regulator and Australia Post, which you have indicated addressed the
scope of documents you sought. Based on this further information, I have decided to vary the decision
to provide you access to documents that I understand cover the material you are seeking to obtain.
I have identified three documents for release with my internal review decision. I have decided that the
documents are appropriate for release subject to the deletion of irrelevant information. I enclose a
copy of the documents with this information redacted. I consider these documents meet points a) and
b) of your original request. These documents are listed in the schedule below.
The department’s access to telecommunications data ended in October 2015 and has not been
restored. As such the department does not have ‘ongoing access’ to telecommunications data, as
specified in points c)-e) of your request, and as this is the case there are no documents that meet those
points.
While it is not in scope of your request, for reports detailing the supply of telecommunications data to
departments, including this department, prior to 2015, you can refer to the Attorney General’s
Department website at the following link:
https://www.ag.gov.au/NationalSecurity/TelecommunicationsSurveillance/Pages/default.aspx
