If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
15 September 2017
Our reference: LEX 32086
Danielle
Only by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Danielle
Your Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request, dated 15 September 2017 and received by the Department of Human
Services (the
department) on the same day, for access under the
Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) to the following documents:
‘Can I please request the case notes of the FOI Team for all FOI requests involving
Right To Know this year (to date). This includes notes made by Jessica, Jack, Stacey
and Bruce.’
I have identified that your request does not meet the requirements in section 15(2)(b) of the
FOI Act because, it is not sufficiently specific to enable the department to reasonably identify
the documents you are seeking. Therefore, the processing of your request would generate
an unreasonable diversion of resources for the department.
Please provide more specific details about the documents in scope of your request. If you
decide not to give this information, 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 submit a revised request.
Within the next 14 days (consultation period) 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 consultation period, we will assume you do not want to
continue with your request. See
Attachment A for relevant sections of the FOI Act.
PAGE 1 OF 6
Contact officer
I am the contact officer for your request. During the consultation period you are welcome to
ask for my help in revising your request and filling out the form. You can contact me:
• in writing to the address at the top of this letter; or
• via email t
o xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Note: When you contact us please quote the reference number
FOI LEX 32086.
Your response will be expected within two weeks of the date of this notice
. If no response is
received, your matter will be taken as withdrawn.
Time frames for processing your request
Your request was received by the department on 15 September 2017 and the 30 day
statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. The
period of 30 days may be extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons.
We will advise you if this happens.
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. On receipt of a revised
request the department will advise you of the new due date for your request.
The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the
amount of any such charge as soon as practicable.
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 is
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.
Administrative Release of Documents
The department has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for the release
of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI request. Unless you advise us
otherwise, in processing your request we may provide you with documents under these
arrangements where appropriate. The arrangements do not extend to information or
materials of third parties. Where documents are released to you under the arrangements we
will advise you in our decision letter.
Disclosure Log
Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a disclosure log on
the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication, however it is
subject to certain exceptions, including where publication of personal, business, professional
or commercial information would be unreasonable.
PAGE 2 OF 6
Department of Human Services
Exclusion of junior staff details
The department is working towards ensuring that all staff 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
Chelsea
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
PAGE 3 OF 6
Department of Human Services
Attachment A
What I took into account
You requested access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the
following documents:
‘Can I please request the case notes of the FOI Team for all FOI requests involving
Right To Know this year (to date). This includes notes made by Jessica, Jack, Stacey
and Bruce.’
Because your request does not have sufficient specificity to enable the department to
reasonably identify the documents you are seeking, I have considered that processing your
request, in its current form, would generate an unreasonable diversion of resources for the
department.
Requests from Right to Know received since 1 January 2017
Since 1 January 2017, the department has responded to approximately 90 inquiries
regarding the FOI Act and requests made under the FOI Act, that originated from the Right to
Know website, including substantive access decisions and internal review decisions.
FOI officers involved in processing an FOI request
The processing of an FOI request involves a number of members of the FOI team including
registration officers, the substantive decision-maker and a quality assurance officer. Any one
or more of the FOI officers involved in the request may make notes in respect of it. The
scope of your current request would include ‘case notes’ made by any member of the FOI
team who had involvement in the processing of a request.
Meaning of case notes
The department is not reasonably able to identify what you mean by ‘case notes’ because
you have not identified what you consider to be a ‘case note’ or provided a definition of ‘case
notes’. Notes could be made, as above, by a number of officers for a range of purposes
including, but not limited to, recording key dates in the processing such as when a decision
was notified, considering reasons for the application of certain exemptions under the FOI Act
or for administrative purposes. As such, it is likely that each request will contain a range of
material, and in relation to some complex requests, a large volume of material, that could be
described as a ‘case note’.
Assistance to revise your request
To assist you to revise your request please consider making one or more of the following
revisions to the scope of your request:
-
Provide a more limited time period for the documents in scope of your request; and/or
-
Identify the type of requests/decisions that are in scope of your request, i.e. the
original request and access decision or internal review requests and decisions; and/or
-
Identify what you mean, specifically, by the phrase ‘case notes’.
PAGE 4 OF 6
Department of Human Services
To process your request the department would have to do extensive searches to find and
process the documents you asked for and I am satisfied that your request would take a
significant period of time to complete. Based on my experience with the type and volume of
records you want, I have considered the terms of your request and have determined that
there is manifest voluminosity associated with the identification and processing of the
documents you have requested.
Under sections 24AA(1)(a)(i), 24AA(1)(b), 24AA(2) and 24 of the FOI Act, I intend to refuse
your FOI request as a 'practical refusal reason' exists. Under the FOI Act, the practical
refusal reason is that your request does not satisfy the requirements in paragraph 15(2)(b)
(identification of documents) and processing your current request ‘would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources’ of this agency.
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.
Section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to
a request for a document if the request does not satisfy the requirement in section 15(2)(b) of
the FOI Act.
Section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a request must provide such information as is
reasonably necessary to enable the agency to identify the documents that are being
requested.
Effect of this notice
Section 24AB(6) of the FOI Act 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.
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
PAGE 5 OF 6
Department of Human Services
• the applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
PAGE 6 OF 6
Department of Human Services
