ONE NATIONAL CIRCUIT
BARTON
FOI
FOI/2020/069
Mr Brett Wilson
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Wilson
I refer to your email of 18 March 2020 in which you made a request to the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet (the Department) under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) in the following relevant terms:
It is requested that your office provide copies of all documents, correspondence and
emails between your office and the World Health Organisation between 01 Jan 2015
and 18 Mar 2020.
It is requested that your office provide copies of all documents, correspondence and
emails between your office and the United Nations between 01 Jan 2015 and 18 Mar
2020.
It is requested that your office provide copies of all documents,minutes, official letters,
other correspondence and emails between your office and the Reserve Bank of
Australia between 01 Oct 2019 - 18 Mar 2020.
It is requested that your office provide copies of all documents,minutes, official letters,
other correspondence and emails between your office and the US Federal Reserve
Central Bank between 01 Oct 2019 - 18 Mar 2020.
Authorised decision-maker The authorised decision-maker for your request is Ms Lina Wong, acting Assistant Secretary,
Global Interests Branch.
Notice of practical refusal reason
Section 24(1) of the FOI Act provides that a request to an agency may be refused if the
decision maker is satisfied that a practical refusal reason (as set out in section 24AA of the
FOI Act) exists in relation to the request.
I write to advise you that the decision maker considers that the work involved in processing
your request, in its current form, would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of
Postal Address: PO Box 6500, CANBERRA ACT 2600
Telephone: +61 2 6271 5849 Fax: +61 2 6271 5776 www.pmc.gov.au ABN: 18 108 001 191
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the Department from its other operations. This constitutes a ‘practical refusal reason’ under
section 24AA of the FOI Act. On this basis, the decision maker intends to refuse access to the
documents you have requested.
However, before the decision maker makes a final decision to refuse the request for a
practical refusal reason, you have an opportunity to revise your request. This is called a
‘request consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You have
14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Reasons for intention to refuse your request
In deciding if a practical refusal reason exists, an agency must have regard to the resources
required to perform the following activities specified in section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act:
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• identifying, locating or collating documents within the filing system of the agency;
• examining the documents;
• deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access;
• consulting with other parties;
• redacting exempt material from the documents;
• making copies of documents;
• notifying an interim or final decision to the applicant.
Other matters may be relevant in deciding if a practical refusal reason exists such as the
staffing resources available to an agency for FOI processing, whether the processing can only
be undertaken by one or more specialist officers in an agency who have competing
responsibilities, the impact that processing may have on other work in an agency including
FOI processing, and whether there is a significant public interest in the documents requested.
2 Preliminary searches undertaken to date have identified over 6000 documents that may fall
within the scope of your request. Before the decision-maker can make a decision regarding
any disclosure of documents, these documents would need to be examined. The decision-
maker has formed the view that, in order to process your FOI request, the task of thoroughly
examining the material identified to date, firstly to confirm whether the material is within the
scope of the FOI request and, secondly, to decide whether that material should be released,
will be substantially time consuming. Documents would then have to be checked, possible
redactions made, a schedule of documents prepared and a decision letter written, which would
also add to the time required to process your FOI request.
It is also likely that the documents that are ultimately identified as within the scope of your
request would require consultation with a wide range of third parties.
In light of the above, it is apparent that your request in its current terms is manifestly
voluminous.
The Department acknowledges that the processing of requests for access to documents is a
legitimate part of each agency’s functions, and that FOI requests may require reallocation of
resources within an agency. However, the Department could not reasonably divert resources
to assist in processing the request. In reaching this view, the Department has had regard to the
1 ‘Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of the
Freedom of Information
Act 1982’, Part 3 – Processing and Deciding on Requests for Access (Version 1.6, January 2018), [3.116].
2 Ibid, [3.117].
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public interest in access to information held by the Department but considers the public
interest in access is outweighed by the competing public interest in the ability of the
Department to undertake its ordinary functions without substantial impairment, including the
processing of other FOI requests.
For the reasons given above, the decision maker considers that processing your request in its
current form would be a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources
from its other operations.
Request consultation process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed. Revising your
request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more manageable or
explaining in more detail the specific documents you wish to access. We will assess whether
any revised request has removed the practical refusal reason.
You may wish to consider revising your FOI request by:
• narrowing the time frame for your request;
• limiting your request to a specific organisation;
• limiting your request to a specific type of document.
No guarantee of access
Please be aware that even if you revise your FOI request to enable it to be processed, there is
still no guarantee that documents will ultimately be released. That is a matter for the
decision-maker to decide in the usual manner after examining the relevant documents. The
issue we are addressing at the moment is whether your FOI request can be processed – not
what the eventual outcome may be if it is processed.
Action required
Section 24AB of the FOI Act provides that you must do one of the following, in writing,
within the next 14 days:
• revise your FOI request;
• indicate that you do not wish to revise it; or
• withdraw the FOI request.
If you do
not do one of the above within the next 14 days, your FOI request will be taken to
have been withdrawn.
If you were to revise your FOI request in a way that adequately addresses the above concerns
and makes it manageable, the Department will recommence processing it.
Calculation of 30 day period
Please note that the time taken to consult with you regarding the scope of your FOI request is
not taken into account for the purposes of calculating the 30 day period during which the
Department is required to take all reasonable steps to process your FOI request.
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Should you wish to discuss your request, please contact the Department’s FOI and Privacy
Section on (02) 6271 5849, or by email to xxx@xxx.xxx.xx, quoting reference number
FOI/2020/069.
Yours sincerely
A/g Senior Adviser
FOI and Privacy Section
15 April 2020
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