FOI
Statement of reasons made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Decision and reason for decision of Leia (Position Number 62210022), Information Law
Section, Legal Services and General Counsel Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Applicant:
Alan Ashmore
Decision date:
7 February 2019
FOI reference number:
FOI 26448
Sent by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Freedom of Information Request: FOI 26448
1.
I have made a decision to create and grant full access to one (1) document that meets the scope of
your request.
Summary
2.
I, Leia (Position Number 62210022), Assistant Director, 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).
3.
On 14 January 2019, you made a request for access to documents in the possession of the
Department. Your request was made in the following terms:
…The total DVA spent on external legal services in the period 1 July 2018 to
31 December 2018…
4.
I have decided not to impose a charge in relation to this request, in accordance with regulation 3(1)
of the
Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982.
5.
The Department has undertaken a reasonable search of its records and has created one (1)
document, in accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act that meets the scope of your request. The
document relevant to your request is listed at
Schedule 1.
1
Decision and reasons for decision
6.
I have made a decision to create and grant full access to one (1) document that meets the scope of
your request.
Material taken into account
7.
I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
the terms of your request, dated 14 January 2019;
the types of information and documents that are in the Department’s possession;
the content of the document that fall within the scope of your request;
the availability of information relevant to your request, insofar as it determines the practicality
and ease in which the Department can create a document under section 17 of the FOI Act;
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 also considered section 17 (Requests involving use of computers etc.) as
relevant to my decision; and
the guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) under
section 93A of the FOI Act.
8.
A full extract of all FOI Act provisions used to make my decision are provided in
Schedule 2.
Access to documents
9.
The document released to you in accordance with the FOI Act is enclosed.
Information Publication Scheme
10.
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 have
determined that information relating to your request will be published on the Department’s
disclosure log which can found on the Department’s website at http://www.dva.gov.au/about-
dva/freedom-information/foi-disclosure-log
Your rights of review
11.
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for Internal Review or request the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) to 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.
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Internal review
12.
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.
13.
You can make your application for internal review in one of the following ways:
Post: Legal Services and Assurance Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998 CANBERRA ACT 2601
Facsimile: (02) 6289 6337
Email: xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
OAIC review
14.
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the OAIC to review my decision. An application
for review by the 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
15.
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
16.
If you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact me using the following details:
Post: Legal Services and Assurance Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998 CANBERRA ACT 2601
Facsimile: (02) 6289 6337
Email: xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
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Yours sincerely
Leia (Position Number 62210022)
Assistant Director
Information Law Section | Legal Services and Assurance Branch
Legal Assurance and Governance Division
7 February 2019
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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 of subsection 15(2) to an agency;
(b)
It appears from the request that the desire of the applicant is for information that
is not available in discrete form in written documents of the agency; and
(ba)
it does not appear from the request that the 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 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 the agency;
the 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 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 the agency from its other operations.
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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.
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Reasons and other particulars of decisions to be given
(1)
Where, in relation to a request, a decision is made relating to a refusal to grant access to a
document in accordance with the request or deferring provision of access to a document,
the decision-maker shall cause the applicant to be given notice in writing of the decision,
and the notice shall:
(a)
state the findings on any material questions of fact, referring to the material on
which those findings were based, and state the reasons for the decision; and
(aa)
in the case of a decision to refuse to give access to a conditionally exempt
document—include in those reasons the public interest factors taken into account
in making the decision; and
Note:
Access must generally be given to a conditionally exempt document unless it would be contrary to the public
interest (see section 11A).
(b)
where the decision relates to a document of an agency, state the name and
designation of the person giving the decision; and
(c)
give to the applicant appropriate information concerning:
(i)
his or her rights with respect to review of the decision;
(ii)
his or her rights to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner in
relation to the decision; and
(iii)
the procedure for the exercise of the rights referred to in subparagraphs (i)
and (ii); including (where applicable) particulars of the manner in which an
application for internal review (Part VI) and IC review (Part VII) may be
made.
(1A)
Section 13 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 does not apply to a
decision referred to in subsection (1).
(2)
A notice under this section is not required to contain any matter that is of such a nature
that its inclusion in a document of an agency would cause that document to be an exempt
document.
(see section 11A).
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