Notice of Decision No Documents FOI 1852.pdf

Department Reference: FOI 1852

John Smith
Via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear Mr Smith

NOTICE OF DECISION UNDER SECTION 24A
OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982

I refer to your request of 3 July 2020 to the Department of Health (the department)
seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the Act) to the
following documents:

A document that contains a list of all the position/job titles of every non-APS
contractor working within your department.

e.g. a position title may be: 'security guard', or 'consultant', or 'APS3 FOI officer', etc.

You may omit repeating a position title when there exist multiple contractors who have
that position title. Additionally, if it would not be too onerous, please indicate the
number of contractors that hold each position title.

If no such document exists please produce a document containing the information
under s17.

FOI decision

I am authorised under subsection 23(1) of the Act to make decisions in relation to
Freedom of Information requests. I am writing to notify you of my decision on your
request.

No documents exist

Appropriate steps have been taken to find the documents referred to in your request
including searches of departmental file management systems.

Freedom of Information Unit (MDP 516)  GPO Box 9848 Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6289 1666  ABN: 83 605 426 759

I am satisfied, on the basis of the searches conducted, that the documents referred to
in your request do not exist.

As a consequence, relying on section 24A of the Act, I cannot provide access to the
documents you requested.

Production of a document

Section 17 of the Act applies where an FOI request is made to an agency for
information that is not available in discrete form in written documents held by the
agency.

In certain circumstances, paragraph 17(1)(c) of the Act requires the agency to produce
a written document containing the information requested by using a ‘computer or
other equipment that is ordinarily available’ to the agency for retrieving or collating
stored information or by making a transcript from a sound recording.

However, subsection 17(2) does not require an agency to produce a written document
containing the requested information where doing so would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations.

The factors I have taken into account when determining whether producing a
document to satisfy your request would be a substantial and unreasonable diversion
of resources within the meaning in subsection 17(2) are:
•  the staffing resources available to the department for processing FOI requests;
and
•  the impact that processing the request may have on other work in the
department.

Following consultation with the relevant business unit and taking the above factors
into account, I am satisfied that processing your request by producing a discrete
document would require substantial and unreasonable diversion of resources in the
department away from priority work, including management of the coronavirus
pandemic.

Accordingly, I have decided the department is not required to produce and provide a
document to you as if the department had such a document in its possession.

As a consequence, relying on subsection 17(2) of the FOI Act, I cannot provide access
to the document you requested.

FOI review rights

If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for a review.

Freedom of Information Unit (MDP 516)  GPO Box 9848 Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6289 1666  ABN: 83 605 426 759

Internal review

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 notice (or such further period as the department allows). To
assist in the internal review process, please provide reasons you consider review of
my decision is necessary. The internal review will be carried out by another officer of
this department within 30 days of receipt of your application.

An application for an internal review should be sent to:
Email:

xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
Mail:

FOI Unit (MDP 516)

Department of Health

GPO Box 9848

CANBERRA ACT 2601

Information Commissioner review

Alternatively, under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for review my decision by the
Information Commissioner. An application for review must be made in writing within
60 days of this notice (if you do not request an internal review).

More information about Information Commissioner review is available on the OAIC
website at: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews/

The OAIC can be contacted by:

Email:  xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx

Phone: 1300 363 992

You may also make a complaint to the OAIC about action taken by the department in
relation to your application. Further information about this process is available on the
OAIC website.

Relevant provisions of the FOI Act

The FOI Act, including the provisions referred to in this letter, can be accessed from
the Federal Register of Legislation website:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2020C00110

Additional information

While the department does not hold documents relevant to your request, the
following information, provided outside the FOI Act, may be of assistance to you.

Freedom of Information Unit (MDP 516)  GPO Box 9848 Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6289 1666  ABN: 83 605 426 759

The department aspires to be a high performing organisation with a positive culture
based on collaboration, innovation, respect and staff engagement. We measure our
performance and culture through the Australian Public Service Commission
Employee Census, internal surveys and key human resource measures including
workforce planning metrics, skills and capability and diversity benchmarks. As at
30 June 2019, 4,280 ongoing and non-ongoing staff were engaged by the department.

Additional information about the department’s activities, including access to
publications such as the corporate plan and annual reports is available here:
https://www.health.gov.au/about-us/corporate-reporting

In addition, the Australian Government Transparency Portal is the central repository of
publicly available corporate information for all Commonwealth bodies. Over time, the
portal is to become the single definitive source of Commonwealth corporate
information, providing easy access to the information for the public.

More information about the Transparency Portal, including links to publications and
related resources that may be of interest to you, is available here:
https://www.transparency.gov.au/

Contacts

If you require clarification of any of the matters discussed in this letter you should
contact the department’s Freedom of Information Unit on (02) 6289 1666 or at
xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.

Yours sincerely

K Bishop
Principal Lawyer
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
30 September 2020

Freedom of Information Unit (MDP 516)  GPO Box 9848 Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6289 1666  ABN: 83 605 426 759