7 April 2017
James Smith
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 17/04/00249
File Number: ADF2017/37844
Dear Mr Smith
Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request
This letter refers to an access request received under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) on 4 April 2017, seeking access to:
1. All documents sent to all employees which explain what information about them
was passed onto the ballot provider for each ballot.
2. Any documents sent to the relevant decision maker(s) who approved the use of the
data that was used in the ballots.
3. Any documents which explain the rational for obtaining breakdowns of votes
4. Any documents which mention benefits to the department or to the bargaining
process in obtaining a breakdown of votes.
5. Any documents between the departmental bargaining team and the departmental
Executive which discuss breakdowns of votes and suggest how that information
should be used or otherwise taken into consideration by the department.
6. Any documents from the APSC that mention what information about employees
can or should be used in ballots.
Your request has been allocated FOI request number FA 17/04/00249. Please include your
FOI request number in all correspondence with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Section.
Exclusion of non-SES staff personal details and SES telephone contact details
The Department’s policy is to exclude the personal details of officers not in the Senior
Executive Service (SES), as well as the mobile and work telephone numbers of SES staff,
contained in documents that fall within scope of an FOI request. If you require names and
contact details of non-SES officers, or direct telephone numbers of SES staff, please inform
us so the decision maker may consider your request. Otherwise we will take it that you agree
to that information being excluded from the scope of your request.
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 BELCONNEN ACT 2616 • Telephone 02 6264 1111 • Website: www.border.gov.au
- 2 -
Timeframe for request
The statutory time frame provided under the FOI Act for processing requests is a standard
30 calendar days. Due to the unprecedented number of requests currently being received by
the Department, our processing times have increased.
We appreciate your patience and understanding during this busy time and we will endeavour
to finalise your request as soon as possible. Although we endeavour to have all requests
finalised within the statutory timeframes, this is not practicable at this time. Requests that are
outside the processing timeframes under the FOI Act will still continue to be processed by
the Department.
FOI requests will generally be processed in the order that they are received. As the number
of cases on-hand continues to increase, we are unable to give you an exact date for the
finalisation of your request. In some cases where a request is specific and is seeking to
access a single document the Department may process this type of request within the 30 day
timeframe.
Contacting the FOI Section
If you wish to discuss your access request you may contact the FOI Section using the details
provided below.
Contacting the Department
You can contact us with an enquiry in a number of ways including by email, through our
website; by telephone, through our Service Centres or offices around the world, or in person.
In Australia you can call 13 18 81 between 9 am and 4 pm Monday to Friday. Details on
submitting a webform, or contacting our offices outside Australia are available on our website
at www.border.gov.au.
Yours sincerely
Karen Chapman
FOI Officer | Freedom of Information Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Email
xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
