5 December 2018
Dr Anthea Vogl
BY EMAIL: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
xxxxxx.xxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request:
FA 18/05/00521
File Number:
ADF2018/53086
Dear Dr Vogl
Freedom of Information (FOI) request - Access Decision
On 2 May 2018, the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) received a request for access
to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for access under the
FOI Act.
1
Scope of request
You have requested access to the following documents:
1. All submissions received in response to the Proposed Pilot of a
Private/Community Refugee Sponsorship Program Discussion Paper (Department
of Immigration and Border Protection, June 2012) [‘the 2012 Discussion Paper’].
2. The total number of submissions received in response to the 2012 Discussion
Paper and the authoring organisation or person.
3. Any information, records, paper documents, electronic records, or the contents
of any records, paper documents or electronic records (including copies of such
records and documents), held or accessible by the Department of Home Affairs
[‘the Department’] in relation to:
a. Outlining, documenting or summarising submissions received in response to the
2012 Discussion Paper.
b. Appraising or assessing the submissions received in response to the 2012
Discussion Paper.
c. Reporting on the Department’s response to submissions received in response to
www.homeaffairs.gov.au
the 2012 Discussion Paper; including but not limited to documents addressing
which submissions and/or recommendations were accepted, rejected or considered
to be outside the terms of the discussion paper..
On 10 September 2018 the Department issued you a notice under section 24AB of the FOI
Act.
1. The total number of submissions received in response to the 2012 Discussion
Paper and the authoring organisation or person.
2. Any information, records, paper documents, electronic records, or the contents
of any records, paper documents or electronic records (including copies of such
records and documents), held or accessible by the Department of Home Affairs
[‘the Department’] in relation to:
a. Outlining, documenting or summarising submissions received in response to the
2012 Discussion Paper.
b. Appraising or assessing the submissions received in response to the 2012
Discussion Paper.
c. Reporting on the Department’s response to submissions received in response to
the 2012 Discussion Paper; including but not limited to documents addressing
which submissions and/or recommendations were accepted, rejected or considered
to be outside the terms of the discussion paper.
2
Authority to make decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate records.
3
Relevant material
In reaching my decision I referred to the following:
• the terms of your request
• the FOI Act
• Guidelines published by the Office of the Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (the FOI Guidelines)
• advice from Departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the
documents to which you sought access
4
Documents in scope of request
The Department has identified three documents as falling within the scope of your request.
These documents were in the possession of the Department on 2 May 2018 when your
request was received.
Attachment A is a schedule which describes the relevant documents and sets out my
decision in relation to each of them.
5
Decision
The decision in relation to the documents in the possession of the Department which fall
within the scope of your request is as follows:
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• Release three documents in part with deletions
6
Reasons for Decision
Detailed reasons for my decision are set out below.
Where the schedule of documents indicates an exemption claim has been applied to a
document or part of document, my findings of fact and reasons for deciding that the
exemption provision applies to that information are set out below.
6.1 Section 22 of the FOI Act – irrelevant to request
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if giving access to a document would disclose
information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, it is possible for
the Department to prepare an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions, ensuring
that the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably be regarded
as irrelevant to the request.
On 10 May 2018, the Department advised you that its 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.
I have therefore decided that parts of documents marked ‘s22(1)(a)(ii)’ would disclose
information that could reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to your request, and have
therefore prepared an edited copy of the documents, with the irrelevant material deleted
pursuant to section 22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
The remainder of the documents have been released to you as they are relevant to your
request.
7
Legislation
A copy of the FOI Act is available at https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00251.
If you are unable to access the legislation through this website, please contact our office
for a copy.
8
Your Review Rights
Internal Review
If you disagree with this decision, you have the right to apply for an internal review by the
Department of this decision. Any request for internal review must be provided to the
Department within 30 days of you being notified of the decision. Where possible please
attach reasons why you believe a review of the decision is necessary. The internal review
will be carried out by an officer other than the original decision maker and the Department
must make a review decision within 30 days.
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Applications for review should be sent to:
By email to: xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
OR
By mail to:
Freedom of Information Section
Department of Home Affairs
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2617
Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
You may apply directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for
a review of this decision. You must apply in writing within 60 days of this notice. For further
information about review rights and how to submit a request for a review to the OAIC,
please see Fact Sheet 12 "Freedom of information – Your review rights", available online
at http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-reviews.
9
Making a Complaint
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken by the
Department in relation to your request.
Your enquiries to the Australian Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone 1300 363 992 (local call charge)
Email xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
There is no particular form required to make a complaint to 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 the Department of Home Affairs as the relevant agency.
10
Contacting the FOI Section
Should you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI Section
at xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx .
Authorised Decision Maker
Position number: 60008296
Department of Home Affairs
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