LEX 51504
Decision and Statement of Reasons issued under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982
Decision and reason for decision of Ramona (Position Number 62336362), Assistant Director,
Information Access Unit, Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch, Department of Veterans’
Affairs
Applicant:
Ms Verity Pane
Date of primary decision:
26 August 2022
FOI reference number (Primary): LEX 51217
Internal review decision date:
19 September 2022
Internal review reference number: LEX 51504
Sent by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Ms Pane
Freedom of Information Internal Review Request: LEX 51504
Decision
1. The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about your request for internal review for
the decision made for LEX 51217 under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act).
2. I have made the decision to vary the original decision made by Brett (Position Number
62258141), Assistant Director, Information Access Unit, Client Access Rehabilitation Branch.
That decision was to refuse access to the document within the scope of your request under
section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.
3. My decision on internal review is to grant access in part to the document.
1
4. The document that I have decided to grant access in part to is set out in
Schedule 1,
together with the applicable exemption provision. Where I have decided to grant access in
part, I have provided access to an edited copy of the document, modified by deletions in
accordance with section 22(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act).
Authority to make decision
5. I, Ramona (Position Number 62336362), Assistant Director, Information Access Unit, Client
Access Rehabilitation Branch, am an officer authorised by the Secretary of the Department
to make decisions about access to documents in the possession of the Department in
accordance with section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Summary
Original Decision
6. On 13 October 2018, you made a request for the Department to create a document from
data in the possession of the Department. Your request sought access to:
“
Under s 17 of the FOI Act, I apply for a one page summary document to be
compiled from information held in your agency’s information systems, which will
primarily (and possibly only require) information from DVA’s aDVAnce system, to set
out the number of DVA clients, by age group, that were referred to SPOC
management by the Coordinated Care unit and Client Liaison Unit (to be listed
separately) for the month of July 2018 (TRIM and Outlook need not be searched,
based on information given by the Coordinated Client Support Program, that states
such methods have not been used since Feb 2016 for referral management).
As per the relevant ANAO report, the Client Liaison Unit (CLU) was established by
DVA in September 2007, and the Coordinated Care (CC) unit in January 2010,
following criticisms made by various preceding reviews.
DVA implemented the Case Coordination program to case manage clients identified
(Level 3 or Level 2) as being at increased risk of self‐harm or harm to others, who
have multiple complex needs (although recent veterans who were at risk, such as
Jesse Bird, were not managed by this unit). The Client Liaison Unit was established
to case manage clients identified (Level 1) as vulnerable or having complex
behaviours.
DVA breaks veterans into age groups referred to as ‘young veterans’ (64 and under)
2
and ‘veterans’ (65 and over), based on historical retirement age. For the purpose of
this FOI, we will stick to this age split.
Format of compiled document:
Unit....................FY15/16...................FY16/17..................FY17/18
CLU ‐ > 65
CLU ‐ 65+
CC ‐ > 65
CC‐ 65+
The purpose of this FOI is to determine what DVA itself has determined are the
numbers of vulnerable veterans, by age group, it has, by reference to the number of
referrals it makes (which, as the Jesse Bird case reflects, wil be a lower number than
the actual number of vulnerable veterans DVA is communicating with, but gives
some indicative evidence)…”
7. On 15 October 2018, the Department acknowledged your request via email.
8. On 25 October 2018, the Department provided you with a Charges Notice, advising of a
preliminary assessment of charges for processing your request in the amount of $403.45.
You were also advised that a deposit of $100.86 was required before any further action
could be taken on your request.
9. On 25 October 2018, you requested a reduction or waiver of charges associated with your
request on the basis that the charges were wrongly assessed. Your request was made in the
following terms:
‘…Disappointingly, there isn’t even an attempt to justify the processing time claimed
(at least previous ones did have some description) this time, and the summary
charges even incorrectly has two different total charge amounts on it (obviously this
was just a quick cut and paste job) ‐ being a total charge of $119.54 or $403.45
depending where you look.
At least this is a preliminary notice this time.
But yet again it highlights the fictional nature of these estimates.
The same data, but for a six month period, recently had an invalid post‐dated
charges notice for $507.75 issued
3
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4820/response/13308/attach/2/FOI%202
4561%20Charges%20notice.pdf 3
The same data, but for a one month period here, amazingly gets a $403.45 charges
levy.
DVA Information Law employee’s math is either genuinely terrible (even for lawyers)
or this is yet another example in the long list of DVA charges notices where the
assessment bears no relationship to the work involved, but is merely a reflection of
the amount of DVA’s unwil ing to legitimately deal with the FOI request in
accordance with the law.
The calculations are clearly fictional, being inconsistent with previous calculations,
lack any evidentiary basis let alone reasonable description, and are thus challenged
accordingly…’
10. On 9 November 2018, the Department issued you with a decision that advised the charges
remained payable (Charges Decision).
11. On 21 November 2018, you applied for the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner’s (OAIC) review of the Department’s decision to apply charges to your FOI
request (MR18/00907 refers). In your application, you noted:
‘…A charges notice was issued by DVA on 25 October 2018 and the charges were
contested as wrongly calculated the same day.
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4882/response/13330/attach/4/FOI%2025
062%20Charges%20notice.pdf
Unlike the other IC review submitted today, DVA acknowledged the contested status
but re‐issued the charges notice as a charges decision anyway on 9 November 2018:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4882/response/13448/attach/4/FOI%2025
062%20Charges%20decision.pdf
The grounds of objection are provided here:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/spoc_referral_statisics_for_july#outgoing‐
9992
4
This is one of multiple charges notices issued by DVA to me that have involved
spurious and excessive charges that bear no realistic relationship to the work
involved.
The FOI Guidelines explain that the decision to impose a charge is discretionary and
any charges must be fair, accurate and should not be used to unreasonably hinder an
applicant from pursuing an FOI request. Further, a charge must not be used to
unnecessarily delay access or discourage an applicant from exercising the right of
access conferred by the FOI Act.
The FOI Guidelines further explain that in exercising the discretion to impose a charge,
an agency should take into account the ‘lowest reasonable cost objective’ in s 3(4) of
the FOI Act, which provides 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’.
Under s 55D(1) of the FOI Act, it is the agency that bears the onus of establishing that
the decision given in respect of the request is justified.
Because of the above, the Information Commissioner must be satisfied that a charge
is accurate and fairly reflects the work involved.
An underlying assumption in calculating processing time is that the officers involved
in this process are skilled and efficient. For example, it is assumed that an officer who
is preparing material has appropriate knowledge and expertise to carry out the
activity efficiently.
In the recent IC review decision of 'ND' and Department of Human Services (Freedom
of information) [2017] AICmr 119, the Information Commissioner considered the use
of a charges calculator in estimating the cost of processing a request. This and various
other IC review decisions, together with the FOI Guidelines, emphasise that ‘[w]here a
decision is made to utilise the charges calculator to estimate a charge, the agency or
minister should examine a sample of the relevant documents and adjust the
parameters of the charges calculator accordingly.’
I also note that a earlier Information Commissioner decision ruled that agencies could
not charge applicants for any time the agency took on verifying and confirming
figures as applicants are not paying for the agency assurance activities, which are
predominantly for their own benefit.
5
I also note that the information Commissioner has previously made IC decisions
relating to the use of ‘fractional’ hours to essentially create a charge ‐ particularly in
this case where DVA have decided to charge for a EL1 (Assistant Director) Information
Law lawyer to carry out basic tabulation work that an APS 3 or APS 4 could carry out
(being within their work standards). I note in earlier charges notices DVA use to
charge $20/h for such work, but has tripled these costs of late by charging for
Executive Level lawyers in Information Law when realistically the work is actually
carried out by much lower level employees in the respective business area, therefore
the charges are in bad faith.
Also, I note the charges decision is invalid, as it does not meet the requirements of s
26(1)(b) and FOI Guideline 3.181, as it does not include the required information to
identify the decision maker (without further research), which as per the OAIC ICON
circular of 8 June 2018 (which was circulated to agencies including DVA), states
“where the decision relates to a document of an agency, the decision notice needs to
include the name and designation of the person making the decision, including the
decision maker’s first name, surname and title, to clearly explain their authority to
make the decision”.
This required information is not merely incidental to an FOI decision but integral ‐ it is
provided so the receiver knows who to contact about the decision, and to determine
whether the person who issued it is in fact authorised to do so (such as by
independently checking the agency’s FOI delegations/authorisations list). It is simply
not enough to assert that the agency knows who issued the decision, or is confident
they are authorised to do so ‐ it is not a question for the agency alone to determine…’
12. On 6 May 2019, the Department received a notice under section 54Z of the FOI Act from the
OAIC, advising of the IC Review. In response, the Department elected to issue you with a
revised decision.
13. On 24 May 2019, the Department provided you with a revised Charges Notice under section
55G of the FOI Act, advising of revised charges for processing your request in the amount of
$145.84. You were also advised that a deposit of $36.46 was required before any further
action could be taken on your request.
14. On 29 July 2022, the OAIC made a compliance decision under section 55K of the FOI Act
(MR18/00907 refers). The decision set aside the Department’s original Charges Decision of 9
November 2018 and substituted it with a decision that you are not liable to pay any charge
in respect of your request for access to the document at issue.
6
15. On 13 August 2022, a search minute was issued to the Coordinated Client Support Branch to
determine whether the department could produce a document relevant to the scope of the
original request.
16. On 22 August 2022, the Coordinated Client Support Branch (CCSB) advised that their search
for the data had returned a total number of referrals to the Client Liaison Unit and
Coordinated Care Unit for the month of July 2018. The Coordinated Client Support Branch
stated that “due to limitations with reporting in aDVAnce (as this is now a legacy system) we
are unable to interrogate this data further.” Meaning, the data could not be split into the
categories requested.
17. On 26 August 2022, the Department made a decision to refuse your request under section
24A(1)(b)(ii) of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act), as the document could not be
identified or created.
Internal Review
18. After receiving the Department’s decision on 26 August 2022, you contacted the
Department on 27 August 2022 requesting an internal review of decision on this FOI request.
Your internal review request was made in the following terms:
“…Paragraph 25 of your access refusal decision of 26 August states:
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.
I am therefore seeking in writing an internal review of Department of Veterans'
Affairs’ access refusal decision of 26 August.
This FOI was made in 2018 but instead of dealing with it DVA unethically raised a
grossly exaggerated charges notice that DVA fraudulently used as a barrier to
access for nearly four years to claim no such records exists.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet
at this address:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/spoc_referral_statisics_for_july...”
19. As your application was made within 30 days of the original decision being made, the
internal review decision is valid.
7
Material taken into account
20. In accordance with section 26(1)(a) of the FOI Act, my findings on any material question of
fact, the material on which those findings were based and the reasons for my decision to
grant partial access to the document fol ows.
21. I have taken the following material into account in making my decision.
• the terms of your original request made on 13 October 2018 and the original decision
made on this request on 26 August 2022;
• the records of the searches carried out in processing your original request;
• the OAIC’s decision (MR18/0090) to set aside the revised Charges Decision of 24 May
2019, and section 55K of the FOI Act decision (MR18/00907) of 29 July 2022;
• the terms of your internal review request made on 27 August 2022;
• the types of information and documents that are in the Department’s possession;
• my correspondence with different business areas within the Department;
• the content of the document that fals within the scope of your request;
• Sections 3, 11 and 11A of the FOI Act which give the Australian community a legally
enforceable right to obtain access to information held by the Government of the
Commonwealth. I have also considered the following provisions of the FOI Act
relevant to my decision:
- Section 11B Public interest exemption – factors
- Section 15 Request for Access
- Section 17 Requests involving use of computers etc. (e.g. requests for the
Department to create a document)
- Section 22 Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant material deleted
- Section 47F Public interest conditional exemptions--personal privacy
- Section 54C Internal review – decision on internal review
• the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (
FOI Guidelines).
22. A full extract of all FOI Act provisions used to make my decision is provided in
Schedule 2.
8
Reasons for decision
23. The Department’s Data Insights Unit have been able to interrogate the data from the total
number of referrals to the Client Liaison Unit and Coordinated Care Unit for the month of
July 2018 further and create a document which includes the raw data, a count of unique
client UIDs, and a breakdown by Unit and age group.
24. I have therefore decided to vary the original decision made on 26 August 2022 and grant
partial access to the document created, subject to the following provisions in the FOI Act.
Public interest conditional exemptions--personal privacy (section 47F)
25. Section 47F of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure
would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person
(including a deceased person).
26. Section 4 of the FOI Act provides that personal information has the same meaning as in the
Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). Personal information is defined in section 6 of the Privacy Act
as:
. information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is
reasonably identifiable:
(a)
whether the information or opinion is true or not;
(b)
whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
27. The elements of ‘personal information’ are:
(a)
it relates only to a natural person (not, for example, a company);
(b)
it says something about the individual;
(c)
it may be in the form of an opinion, it may be true or untrue, and it may form
part of a database;
(d)
the individual’s identity is known or is reasonably ascertainable using the
information in the document.
9
28. If information is personal information, it will be conditionally exempt if disclosure would be
‘unreasonable’. In considering whether disclosure would be unreasonable, section 47F(2) of
the FOI Act requires me to take into account:
(a)
the extent to which the information is wel known;
(b)
whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have
been) associated with the matters dealt with in the document;
(c)
the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
(d)
any other matter I consider relevant.
29. The document outlined in
Schedule 1 contains the personal information of third party
individuals and I find that there is a public interest in protecting the privacy of these
individuals’ personal information.
30. Accordingly, I have decided that the part of the document which is listed as exempt in
accordance with this provision in
Schedule 1, meets the criteria for conditional exemption.
Where a document is assessed as conditional y exempt, access must be given subject to the
public interest test in accordance with section 11A(5).
Application of the public interest test – section 47F
31. Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act provides that an agency must give the person access to the
document if it is conditional y exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances)
access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
32. In order to assess whether release of the exempt material would be contrary to the public
interest, I considered the fol owing factor which favours disclosure:
(a)
disclosure would promote the objects of the FOI Act by providing access to
government held information.
33. I also considered the fol owing factor which does not favour disclosure:
(a)
disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of an
individual’s right to privacy.
10
34. On balance, I consider the public interest factor against disclosure to be more persuasive
than the public interest factor favouring disclosure. I am satisfied that the public interest is
to withhold the exempt material.
35. I am satisfied that no irrelevant factor has been considered, as set out in section 11B(4) of
the FOI Act.
Delete exempt or irrelevant material from documents and provide access to edited copies
(section 22)
36. The Department may refuse access to a document on the grounds that it is exempt. If so, the
Department must consider whether it would be reasonably practicable to prepare an edited
copy of the document for release, that is, a copy with relevant deletions made under
section 22 of the FOI Act. The Department is under the same obligation to consider
preparing an edited copy of a document by removing information that would reasonably be
regarded as irrelevant to the request.
37. As outlined above, the document listed at
Schedule 1 contains exempt information.
38. On this basis, I have prepared the document for release by removing the exempt material in
accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act. The material that has been edited for release is
marked within the document as well as at
Schedule 1.
Access to documents
39. The document to which I have made a decision to vary access to is enclosed.
Information Publication Scheme
40. 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.
41. I am of the view that details of your request should be made available on the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log. As such, details of your request will be published on the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log, which can be accessed at:
http://www.dva.gov.au/about-dva/freedom-
information/foi-disclosure-log. Please note that the Department does not publish details of
FOI applicants, it only publishes details of the FOI request and the documents released in
response to the request.
11
Your rights of review
42. If you are dissatisfied with my decision you may apply for Information Commissioner Review
of the decision through the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC).
OAIC review
43. 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 fol owing ways:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
Director of FOI Dispute Resolution
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Facsimile:
(02) 9284 9666
Phone:
1300 363 992
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
44. More information about your review rights under the FOI Act is available in Fact Sheet 12
published by the OAIC:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-
complaints/information-commissioner-review/
Contact us
45. If you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the Information Access
Unit using the following details:
Online:
https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview/reporting/freedom-
information/access-information
Post:
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001
Phone:
1800 838 372
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
12
Yours sincerely,
Ramona (Position Number 62336362
)
Assistant Director
Information Access Unit
Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
19 September 2022
13
LEX 51504
Schedule 1
Document schedule
Applicant:
Ms Verity Pane
Decision date:
19 September 2022
FOI reference number:
LEX 51504
Document Date of
Document description
Page
Decision
Exemption
reference document
number
provision
1
N/A
DATA-4848 July 2018 CLU & CC Referrals Outcome 1 - 3 Part Access
s 47F
14
LEX 51504
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 fol owing:
(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 fol owing:
(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).
15
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 conditional y exempt.
Note 2: A conditional y 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 conditional y 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).
11B Public interest exemptions — factors
Scope
(1)
This section applies for the purposes of working out whether access to a conditionally
exempt document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest under
subsection 11A(5).
(2)
This section does not limit subsection 11A(5).
Factors favouring access
(3)
Factors favouring access to the document in the public interest include whether access to
the document would do any of the fol owing:
(a)
promote the objects of this Act (including al the matters set out in sections 3 and
3A);
(b)
Inform debate on a matter of public importance;
(c) promote effective oversight of public expenditure;
(d)
allow a person to access his or her own personal information.
Irrelevant factors
(4)
The following factors must not be taken into account in deciding whether access to the
document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest:
(a)
access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth
Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government;
(b)
access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or
misunderstanding the document;
(c)
the author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the
request for access to the document was made;
(d)
access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.
Guidelines
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(5)
In working out whether access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the
public interest, an agency or Minister must have regard to any guidelines issued by the
Information Commissioner for the purposes of this subsection under section 93A.
15
Requests for access (as related to the requirements for requests)
Persons may request access
(1) Subject to section 15A, a person who wishes to obtain access to a document of an agency
or an official document of a Minister may request access to the document.
Requirements for request
(2)
The request must:
(a)
be in writing; and
(aa) state that the request is an application for the purposes of this Act; and
(b)
provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably necessary to
enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister, to identify it; and
(c)
give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the applicant (for
example, by providing an electronic address to which notices may be sent by
electronic communication).
(2A) The request must be sent to the agency or Minister. The request may be sent in any of the
following ways:
(a)
delivery to an officer of the agency, or a member of the staff of the Minister, at the
address of any central or regional office of the agency or Minister specified in a
current telephone directory;
(b)
postage by pre-paid post to an address mentioned in paragraph (a);
(c)
sending by electronic communication to an electronic address specified by the
agency or Minister.
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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 writte
n 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)
th
e agency could produce a written
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 th
e agency;
th
e agency shall deal with the
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 th
e 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 the
agency from its other operations.
22
Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted
Scope
(1)
This section applies if:
17
(a)
an agency or Minister decides:
(i)
to refuse to give access to an exempt document; or
(ii)
that to give access to a document would disclose information that would
reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request for access; and
(b)
it is possible for the agency or Minister to prepare a copy (an edited copy) of the
document, modified by deletions, ensuring that:
(i)
access to the edited copy would be required to be given under section 11A
(access to documents on request); and
(ii)
the edited copy would not disclose any information that would reasonably
be regarded as irrelevant to the request; and
(c)
it is reasonably practicable for the agency or Minister to prepare the edited copy,
having regard to:
(i)
the nature and extent of the modification; and
(ii)
the resources available to modify the document; and
(d)
it is not apparent (from the request or from consultation with the applicant) that
the applicant would decline access to the edited copy.
Access to edited copy
(2)
The agency or Minister must:
(a)
prepare the edited copy as mentioned in paragraph (1)(b); and
(b)
give the applicant access to the edited copy.
Notice to applicant
(3)
The agency or Minister must give the applicant notice in writing:
(a)
that the edited copy has been prepared; and
(b)
of the grounds for the deletions; and
(c)
if any matter deleted is exempt matter—that the matter deleted is exempt matter
because of a specified provision of this Act.
(4)
Section 26 (reasons for decision) does not apply to the decision to refuse access to the
whole document unless the applicant requests the agency or Minister to give the applicant
a notice in writing in accordance with that section.
23
Decisions to be made by authorised persons
(1)
Subject to subsection (2), a decision in respect of a request made to an agency may be
made, on behalf of the agency, by the responsible Minister or the principal officer of the
agency or, subject to the regulations, by an officer of the agency acting within the scope of
authority exercisable by him or her in accordance with arrangements approved by the
responsible Minister or the principal officer of the agency.
(2)
A decision in respect of a request made to a court, or made to a tribunal, authority or body
that is specified in Schedule 1, may be made on behalf of that court, tribunal, authority or
body by the principal officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body or, subject to the
regulations, by an officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body acting within the scope
of authority exercisable by him or her in accordance with arrangements approved by the
principal officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body.
47F
Public interest conditional exemptions—personal privacy
General rule
(1)
A document is conditional y exempt if its disclosure under this Act would involve the
unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased
person).
(2)
In determining whether the disclosure of the document would involve the unreasonable
disclosure of personal information, an agency or Minister must have regard to the following
matters:
(a)
the extent to which the information is well known;
18
(b)
whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have
been) associated with the matters dealt with in the document;
(c)
the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources;
(d)
any other matters that the agency or Minister considers relevant.
(3)
Subject to subsection (5), subsection (1) does not have effect in relation to a request by a
person for access to a document by reason only of the inclusion in the document of matter
relating to that person.
Access given to qualified person instead
(4)
Subsection (5) applies if:
(a)
a request is made to an agency or Minister for access to a document of the agency,
or an official document of the Minister, that contains information concerning the
applicant, being information that was provided by a qualified person acting in his or
her capacity as a qualified person; and
(b)
it appears to the principal officer of the agency or to the Minister (as the case may
be) that the disclosure of the information to the applicant might be detrimental to
the applicant’s physical or mental health, or well-being.
(5)
The principal officer or Minister may, if access to the document would otherwise be given
to the applicant, direct that access to the document, so far as it contains that information,
is not to be given to the applicant but is to be given instead to a qualified person who:
(a)
carries on the same occupation, of a kind mentioned in the definition of qualified
person in subsection (7), as the first-mentioned qualified person; and
(b)
is to be nominated by the applicant.
(6)
The powers and functions of the principal officer of an agency under this section may be
exercised by an officer of the agency acting within his or her scope of authority in
accordance with arrangements referred to in section 23.
(7)
In this section:
qualified person means a person who carries on, and is entitled to carry on, an occupation
that involves the provision of care for the physical or mental health of people or for their
well-being, and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes any of the
following:
(a)
a medical practitioner;
(b)
a psychiatrist;
(c)
a psychologist;
(d)
a counsellor;
(e)
a social worker.
Note: Access must general y be given to a conditional y exempt document unless it would be
contrary to the public interest (see section 11A).
54C
Internal Review – decision on internal review
Scope
(1) This section applies if an application fo
r internal review of an
access refusal decision or
an
access grant decision (the original decision ) is made in accordance with this Part.
Decision
(2) The
agency must, as soon as practicable, arrange for a person (other than the person who
made the original decision) to review the decision.
(3) The person must make a fresh decision on behalf of th
e agency within 30 days after the day on
which the application was received by, or on behalf of, th
e agency.
Notice of decision
(4)
Section 26 extends to a decision made under this section.
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Document Outline
