17 July 2014
Mr Wayne Blacker
Sent via email:
foi+request-679-47fe14bb@right oknow.org.au
Our Ref: FOI1415/4.02
Dear Mr Blacker,
FOI Application – Belgian Gardens/Rowes Bay/Pal arenda Rollout Information
I am writing in relation to your request made under the
Freedom of Information Act, 1982 (
the FOI Act).
Application Terms
On 15 July 2014, you made an FOI request to NBN Co Ltd (
NBN Co) in the fol owing terms:
Any documentation relating to the NBN rollout for the areas of Belgian Gardens, Rowes Bay and Pal arenda in
Townsville, Queensland (4TNS FSA). Specifical y, whether a contract instruction to "commence " (sic) detailed design
and field inspection work" has been/wil be issued for these areas?
Scope of FOI Application
Your FOI application indicates that you are seeking “any documents” that relate to the NBN rollout in particular regions. As you
have not framed your request in terms of specific documents, it fol ows that you are seeking access to al manner of documents,
including emails to and from NBN Co staf . For your reference, the required search and review process would involve a very
significant amount of time and ef ort from NBN Co’s FOI Of icer and staf from across the company.
The terms of your request would require NBN Co to undertake a review of the email accounts of a significant number of
employees, so as to determine whether they fal within the scope of this FOI request. Among other sources of documents, NBN
Co’s IT Group would be required to create a set of data cubes which would need to be searched, cul ed for relevance and
organised. That process alone would involve very significant ef ort and cost. Relevant executives and senior managers of NBN
Co would also need to be involved in consideration of the documentation, which would be a significant interference with the
performance of their usual responsibilities. Moreover, these search-related tasks would not include the more dif icult and time-
consuming task of making a formal FOI decision and applying exemptions to the various documents and factual scenarios. In
addition, NBN Co could be required to consult with numerous construction partners in relation to any documents concerning
their business or personal af airs.
Please also be aware that processing charges may be imposed in relation to your FOI application. In that regard, I would refer
you to NBN Co’s FOI processing charges policy, which is outlined at the fol owing hyperlink
: Submission to the Of ice of the
Australian Information Commissioner Charges Review. In particular, NBN Co supports – and wil general y apply –
Recommendation 24 in the
Hawke Review into FOI Legislation, (the Hawke Review), which suggests a 40-hour ceiling for all
FOI processing charges.
In light of the volume of documents and the need to consult with multiple third parties, I am of the opinion that it would be an
unreasonable diversion of NBN Co’s resources to commence the processing of this FOI application in its current form. In that
regard, I am relying upon
sections 24 and
24AA of the FOI Act.
PHONE (02) 9926 1900
FAX
(02) 9926 1901
EMAIL
xxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
WEB www.nbnco.com.au
LEVEL 11, 100 ARTHUR STREET, NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060 NBN Co Limited ACN 136 533 741 © NBN Co 2013
Request Consultation Process
Section 24 of the FOI Act requires NBN Co to undertake a request consultation process before issuing a notice to refuse
access. Before issuing a refusal notice
, section 24AB of the FOI Act requires Government authorities to provide applicants with
writ en notice stating their intention to refuse access and to initiate a request consultation process. In that context, I request that
you review the scope of your FOI request and notify the writer by
31 July 2014 as to whether you wish to:
• withdraw the request; or
• make revised request; or
• not revise the request.
If you have not notified the writer by the above-mentioned date, NBN Co wil consider that this application has been withdrawn
as per section 24AB(6) of the FOI Act.
In accordance with section 24AB(8) of the FOI Act, the time taken to consult with you
regarding the scope of a request is not taken into account when calculating the 30-day statutory time limit for processing FOI
applications. In addition, I would invite you to telephone the writer on the number below to discuss or clarify the terms of this
FOI application.
NBN Co’s Commercial Activities
In addition to the section 24 issues, there is a strong possibility that many of the documents within the scope of this request
would relate to NBN Co’s commercial activities and would not be subject to the operation of the Act. In that regard, I refer you to
section 7(3A) and
Part I of Schedule 2 of the FOI Act, which outline the scope of NBN Co’s commercial activities exemption
(
the CAE). For your reference, the Of ice of the Australian Information Commissioner (
the OAIC) completed a review decision
in January 2012 (
the Internode Decision), which provides background and guidance as to the application of the CAE to NBN
Co. The Internode Decision may be found by clicking on the fol owing
link. The OAIC completed an additional review at the end
of July 2013 –
the Bat ersby Decision, which further clarified the scope of NBN Co’s CAE. While I am not making a formal
decision nor have I begun a review of relevant documents, there is a possibility that documents falling within the terms of this
FOI request may be subject to the CAE and other exemptions from release under the FOI Act.
Disclosure Log Notification
In accordance with the FOI Act, NBN Co is required to publish documents provided to FOI applicants within 10 working days
after release. The information you seek may be published in ful (as released to you) or with some additional redactions as per
section 11C of the FOI Act. For further information, visit our
Disclosure Log on NBN Co’s website at
www.nbnco.com.au/about-
us/media/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log.html.
If you have any questions or need to discuss your FOI application, please feel free to contact the writer on Tel. (02) 8918 8596
or via email o
n xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Sincerely,
David J Mesman
FOI Officer
PHONE (02) 9926 1900
FAX
(02) 9926 1901
PAGE
2
EMAIL
xxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
WEB www.nbnco.com.au
LEVEL 11, 100 ARTHUR STREET, NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060 NBN Co Limited ACN 136 533 741 © NBN Co 2013
Document Outline
