FOI
Statement of reasons made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Decision and reason for decision of Julie (Position Number 62212962), Information Law
Section, Legal Services and Assurance Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Applicant:
Verity Pane
Decision date:
10 December 2018
FOI reference number:
FOI 24761
Sent by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Ms Pane
Freedom of Information Request: FOI 24761
1.
I have made a decision to create and
grant full access to one document relevant to your freedom of
information request.
Authority to make this decision
2.
I, Julie (Position Number 62212962), Legal Officer, Information Law Section, am an officer authorised
by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (
Department) to make decisions about
access to documents in the possession of the Department in accordance with section 23(1) of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act).
Summary
3.
On 27 September 2018, you made a request, under the FOI Act, for access to documents in the
Department’s possession. Your request was made in the following terms:
Under s 17 of the FOI Act I require DVA to compile from its Human Resource Information
Management Information System, the names and position numbers of all positions
identified in Internal Review Decision 22524 of FOI 22031 (being all DVA FOI delegates) as
at 27 Sep 2018.
4.
As no extensions of time have been applied to process your request, a decision on your request is
due by 10 December 2018.
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5.
On 24 October 2019, the Department issued you with a Charges Notice, advising an estimate of
$119.54, with a deposit of $29.88 required before any further action could be taken on your request.
6.
On 25 October 2018, you requested a waiver of the charges associated with your request in the
following terms:
I find your ridiculous charges decision to levy $119 for the collection of 14 names and
position numbers of the occupants of identified in this Internal Review disclosure
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4... unreasonable and made in bad faith.
Notably, no charges were levied for the collection of this information released in the prior
FOI, which arguably would have taken longer to compile given it involved more than
producing a standard position report in DVA’s human resource management information
system (HRMIS) and required questions to be asked of the officers involved as to the extent
of their FOI duties.
It does not take two hours to produce a position report in a HRMIS, rather less than 5
minutes (and that’s being for someone unfamiliar with the HRMIS).
I therefore challenge the charges assessment, which appears to have been made solely to
impede access, and for no other purpose.
7.
On 7 December 2018, the Department issued you with the internal review decision of the Charges
Notice, to waive in full the charges associated with processing your request.
8.
The Department has undertaken a reasonable search of its records and has identified information
relevant to your request. One document has been created, in accordance with section 17 of the FOI
Act, relevant to your request. A description of this document is listed at
Schedule 1.
Decision
9.
I have made a decision to create and grant full access to the document.
Access to documents
10.
The document released to you in accordance with the FOI Act is enclosed.
Information Publication Scheme
11.
The Information Publication Scheme requires the Department to publish information released in
response to individual requests made under the FOI Act, except in specified circumstances. I am of
the view that details of your request should be made available on the Department’s disclosure log.
As such details of your request will be published by the Department on its disclosure log, which can
be accessed a
t http://www.dva.gov.au/about-dva/freedom-information/foi-disclosure-log
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Your rights of review
12.
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or request the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) review my decision. We encourage you to seek internal
review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
13.
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Department for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days of the date of this letter.
Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The
internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days.
14.
You can make your application for internal review in one of the following ways:
Post: Legal Services & Assurance Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
Facsimile: (02) 6289 6337
Email: xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
OAIC review
15.
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the OAIC to review my decision. An application
for review by OAIC must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of this letter, and be lodged in
one of the following ways:
Online: www.oaic.gov.au
Post: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Facsimile: (02) 9284 9666
Email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
In person: Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
16.
More information about your review rights under the FOI Act is available in Fact Sheet 12 published
by the OAIC:
http://oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-resources/freedom-of-information-fact-
sheets/foi-factsheet-12-your-review-rights
Contact us
17.
If you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the Information Law Section
using the following details:
Post: Legal Services & Assurance Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
3
Facsimile: (02) 6289 6337
Email: xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely
Julie (Position Number 62212962)
Legal Officer
Information Law Section | Legal Services & Assurance Branch
Legal Assurance and Governance Division
10 December 2018
4
FOI
Schedule 1
Schedule of documents
Applicant:
Verity Pane
Decision date:
10 December 2018
FOI reference number:
FOI 24761
Document Date of document Document description
Page Decision
reference
number
1
No date
Document containing names and position numbers of positions identified in IR 22524 as at 27 September 2018
1
Release in full
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FOI
Schedule 2
Schedule of relevant provisions in the FOI Act
3
Objects—general
(1)
The objects of this Act are to give the Australian community access to information held by
the Government of the Commonwealth or the Government of Norfolk Island, by:
(a)
requiring agencies to publish the information; and
(b)
providing for a right of access to documents.
(2)
The Parliament intends, by these objects, to promote Australia’s representative democracy
by contributing towards the following:
(a)
increasing public participation in Government processes, with a view to promoting
better informed decision-making;
(b)
increasing scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of the Government’s
activities.
(3)
The Parliament also intends, by these objects, to increase recognition that information held
by the Government is to be managed for public purposes, and is a national resource.
(4)
The Parliament also intends that functions and powers given by this Act are to be
performed and exercised, as far as possible, to facilitate and promote public access to
information, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost.
11
Right of access
(1)
Subject to this Act, every person has a legally enforceable right to obtain access in
accordance with this Act to:
(a)
a document of an agency, other than an exempt document; or
(b)
an official document of a Minister, other than an exempt document.
(2)
Subject to this Act, a person’s right of access is not affected by:
(a)
any reasons the person gives for seeking access; or
(b)
the agency’s or Minister’s belief as to what are his or her reasons for seeking
access.
11A Access to documents on request
Scope
(1)
This section applies if:
(a)
a request is made by a person, in accordance with subsection 15(2), to an agency or
Minister for access to:
(i)
a document of the agency; or
(ii)
an official document of the Minister; and
(b)
any charge that, under the regulations, is required to be paid before access is given
has been paid.
(2)
This section applies subject to this Act.
Note:
Other provisions of this Act are relevant to decisions about access to documents, for example the following:
(a)
section 12 (documents otherwise available);
(b)
section 13 (documents in national institutions);
(c)
section 15A (personnel records);
(d)
section 22 (access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted).
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Mandatory access—general rule
(3)
The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document in accordance with
this Act, subject to this section.
Exemptions and conditional exemptions
(4)
The agency or Minister is not required by this Act to give the person access to the
document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is an exempt document.
Note:
Access may be given to an exempt document apart from under this Act, whether or not in response to a request
(see section 3A (objects—information or documents otherwise accessible)).
(5)
The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally
exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that
time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
Note 1: Division 3 of Part IV provides for when a document is conditionally exempt.
Note 2: A conditionally exempt document is an exempt document if access to the document would, on balance, be
contrary to the public interest (see section 31B (exempt documents for the purposes of Part IV)).
Note 3: Section 11B deals with when it is contrary to the public interest to give a person access to the document.
(6)
Despite subsection (5), the agency or Minister is not required to give access to the
document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is both:
(a)
a conditionally exempt document; and
(b)
an exempt document:
(i)
under Division 2 of Part IV (exemptions); or
(ii)
within the meaning of paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of exempt
document in subsection 4(1).
17 Requests involving use of computers etc
(1)
Where:
(a)
a request (including
a request in relation to which
a practical refusal reason exists)
is made in accordance with the requirements o
f subsection 15(2) to
an agency;
(b)
It appears from the
request that the desire of th
e applicant is for information that
is not available in discrete form in writt
en documents of the
agency; and
(ba)
it does not appear from th
e request that th
e applicant wishes to be provided with
a computer tape or computer disk on which the information is recorded; and
(c)
the agency could produce a writt
en document containing the information in
discrete form by:
(i)
the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the
agency for retrieving or collating stored information; or
(ii)
the making of a transcript from a sound recording held
in the agency;
the agency shall deal with th
e request as if it were
a request for access to a written
document so produced and containing that information and, for that purpose, this Act
applies as if
the agency had such
a document in its possession.
(2)
An agency is not required to comply
with subsection (1) if compliance would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of th
e agency from its other operations.
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