Australian Government
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
FOI Ref: 1901-F2118
File No: 19/548
2 April 2019
. Posty
By e-mail to: foi+request-5188-9cf7aaac@righttoknow.
Dear Posty
Re: Freedom of Information (FOi) Request- request for waiver of charges
I refer to your FOi request for
"I request-under the Freedom of Information Act 1982-copies of the following
documents: All documents as is (that is, redacted or unredacted) from all previously made
decisions on your department's FOi Jog that are currently not available for download direct
from the website."
I also refer to your e-mail of 2 February 2019, in which you sought waiver of the processing charges
on public interest grounds.
I am the decision-maker authorised in accordance with the provisions of section 23(1) of the FOi
Act. I am writing to inform you that I have decided not to reduce or waive the charges of $157.50
payable in respect of your FOi request.
Reasons for decision
I have considered your contentions that:
1) the documents
"have already been decided upon";
2)
"there needs to be a very good reason for why the documents are not already available for
download on tbe website";
3)
"these FO/s have already been granted as decidedly in some form of the public interest of
each individual decision to warrant their delivery to the original applicant...";
4)
"Waiver of the charge would enhance the agency-client relationship with the greater
public"; and
5) the
"total overall charges to *the commonwealth*".
costs issued in this matter are reasonable and consistent with sections 11C(4)(a) and (b) of the FOi
Act. In this regard I have also considered the
"total overall charges ta *the cammanwealth*", and
consider that it is in the public interest that you contribute to the resource costs in processing this
request.
This is a reviewable decision. Information about seeking a review is attached.
Next steps
Now I have written to you with my decision on your request for waiver, you have 30 days within
which to:·
pay the charges amount of $157.50 or the deposit amount of $39.38;
seek review of my decision (as per the enclosed information); or
withdraw your FOi request.
If we do not receive a response from you as outlined above within 30 days of your receipt of this
letter, your request will be deemed to have been withdrawn, in accordance with
section 29 of the FOi Act.
· Should you wish to re-scope your request to reduce the charges, you may wish to consider:
1) identifying specific disclosure log entries you wish to access; and
2) Providing a specific timeframe for the disclosure log documents you wish to access.
If you do this, the narrowed request would be handled as a new FOi request for the purposes of
statutory timelines.
If you have any questions about this decision, please contact xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely
Lindsay Buckingham
Director, Freedom of Information and Privacy Law Section
