19 June 2019
Our reference: 2019/5868
Mike Trembly
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Trembly,
Your freedom of information request – consultation letter
Thank you for your email of 10 June 2019, seeking access under
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) to the following:
‘all documents that have been provided by your agency to The Heads of Workplace Authority for
which your senior executive is currently the chair for this organisation. Please ensure documents
relevant to the ACC jurisdiction of New Zealand are included’
I am writing to ask you to provide further information about the documents you are requesting.
Notice of intention to refuse
This is a notice of an intention to refuse access to the documents you have requested because a
‘practical refusal reason’ exists under section 24 (1) of the FOI Act. I am issuing this notice under section
24AB(2) of the FOI Act.
Sections 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists where the request does
not satisfy the requirements in paragraph 15(2)(b), identification of documents.
Section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act states the request must:
b) provide such information concerning the documents as is reasonably necessary to enable a
responsible officer of the agency, or minister, to identify it...
Why your request is not clear
I am satisfied that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to your request because the request does
not enable a responsible officer of Comcare to identify the documents being sought.
This is because:
• You refer to ‘The Heads of Workplace Authority for which your senior executive is currently the
chair for this organisation.’ I have conducted preliminary searches and are unable to identify this
particular organisation. You may be referring to the Heads of Workers’ Compensation
Authorities forum.
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• You seek access to ‘
all documents that have been provided by your agency’. Assuming that you
were referring to Heads of Workers’ Compensation Authorities forum, I note that Comcare
provides a secretariat function for the forum. Accordingly, Comcare may circulate a range of
documents, even if they are not endorsed or prepared by Comcare. Accordingly, it is not clear
whether you are seeking documents written by Comcare or some other forms of documents,
such as minutes, agenda items, e-mails, or a particular working document.
• You have sought ‘
documents relevant to the ACC jurisdiction of New Zealand’. The term
‘relevant’ is a broad request. Being specific about the information you are seeking will assist us
to identify documents. For example, you may be seeking documents that refer to New Zealand
laws only.
Assistance to revise your request
If you wish to revise the scope of your request, you may wish to consider:
• Amending your request to refer to Heads of Workers’ Compensation Authorities
• Specifying whether you are seeking documents provided by Comcare in its role as a Secretariat
or documents that were provided in Comcare’s role as a member or some other kind of
documents (such as meeting minutes or agendas).
• Specifying whether you are seeking documents which specifically refer to New Zealand law.
Further, you have not specified a date range in which you are seeking documents from. If you your
request captures a large number of documents or involve complex searches, it may be too large to
process. I will contact you in this event.
What should you do?
Within 14 days from the day after you receive this letter (consultation period) you must do one of the
following, in writing:
• withdraw the request
• make a revised request, or
• tell us that you do not want to revise your request.
If you do not do contact us during the consultation period or do not do one of things set out above
before the end of the consultation period, your request will be taken to have been withdrawn.
Your response will be expected by
4 July 2019.
If you need more time to respond, please contact me within the consultation period to discuss your
need for an extension of time.
Please note that under section 24AB(8) of the FOI Act, the time for processing your FOI request is
suspended from the day you receive this notice until the day you do one of the things listed above.
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Contact officer
I am the contact officer for your request. During the consultation period you are welcome to ask for my
help in revising your request. You can contact me:
• in writing to GPO Box 9905, Canberra, ACT, 2601
• via email to
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Note: When you contact us please quote the reference number
2019/5868.
Contacts
Should you require clarification of any matter discussed in this letter, please contact me by email to
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Liz
FOI Officer
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