Our reference: FOIREQ20/00235
Julie
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Your freedom of information request - FOIREQ20/00235
Dear Julie
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 7 December 2020.
In your request you seek access to the fol owing:
“…I seek copy of any document regarding the recommendation of Synergy
Group Australia, an external consultant contracted by the Information
Commissioner to process review and workshop changes to its processes, that
OAIC staff members spend no more than 5 minutes reviewing IC Review
requests (before rejecting them for investigation, without using any second
stage review process to review such a decision internally before release) in
order to reduce the OAIC's backlog of IC Reviews.
Was that recommendation, which was reported by them (from the results of its
off-site workshops with OAIC staff), adopted?”
Decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decision in relation to
FOI requests.
I have identified 1 document within the scope of your request. I have decided to grant
you access to that document in ful . A schedule describing the document and access
decision I have made has also been provided with this decision.
You may also wish to look at the draft report prepared for the OAIC by Synergy Group
regarding a review of FOI business processes. This is available on the OAIC’s disclosure
log at the fol owing weblink:
FOIREQ20/00088 Documents (PDF, 9.7 MB)
1300 363 992
T +61 2 9284 9749 GPO Box 5218
www.oaic.gov.au
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
F +61 2 9284 9666 Sydney NSW 2001 ABN 85 249 230 937
Searches undertaken
In conducting searches for documents relevant to your request, I consulted with the
relevant line area in the OAIC. The line area provided the following response:
“In considering Synergy's draft recommendations, the FOI Regulatory Group reviewed
its existing process and operational documents to assist in streamlining the IC review
process. The Synergy Review of IC review process: Implementation of draft
recommendations document (attached) sets out the Group's response to the draft
recommendations. In particular:
o
Page 6 of the document in particular refers to the Synergy
recommendation that ‘Initial assessment is 'broad-stroke’ (av. 5 mins)
and does not include the Principal Director unless the case is
potentially significant or systemic'.
o
Page 6 of the document notes the response of the team:
Preliminary assessments of incoming IC reviews are currently undertaken by the
Director of Intake and Early Resolution and reviewed by the Principal Director. This
process is undertaken on the basis that the IC review function is currently divided
between 3 teams: Intake and Early Resolution, Reviews and Significant and Systemic
under the broad leadership of the Principal Director.
Opportunities and improvements Changes to process Status and significant issues at
various stages of the IC review process. A ‘Conducting IC review: Assessments’
D2019/002542 work sheet was developed in March 2019 and updated in June 2019 to
provide guidance on assessing IC review applications. A Conducting IC reviews:
Identification of systemic and significant issues worksheet (TRIM link: D2019/001898)
was developed in March 2019 to enable identification of systemic. and significant
issues at various stages of the IC review process. A ‘Conducting IC review: Assessments’
D2019/002542 work sheet was developed in March 2019 and updated in June 2019 to
provide guidance on assessing IC review applications.
I confirm that the practice remains that incoming IC reviews are currently assessed by
the Director of Intake and Early Resolution and reviewed by the Principal Director.
The FOI Regulatory Group have also developed operational documents to assist in
streamlining the initial assessment of IC reviews, noting that applications are
reassessed once documents/submissions are received from the parties in response to
the s 54Z notice”
Irrelevant material (s 22)
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that irrelevant information can be deleted from a
document if it is reasonably practicable to prepare a copy of the document modified
by deletions, and the modified copy would not disclose the irrelevant material.
2
Part of document 1 contains information that is not relevant to the scope of your
request. As such, I have decided to redact this information from the document under
section 22 of the FOI Act.
Please see the following page for your review rights and information about the OAIC’s
disclosure log.
Yours sincerely
Joseph Gouvatsos
Lawyer
24 December 2020
3
If you disagree with my decision
Internal review
You have the right to apply for an internal review of my decision under Part VI of the
FOI Act. An internal review wil be conducted, to the extent possible, by an officer of
the OAIC who was not involved in or consulted in the making of my decision. If you
wish to apply for an internal review, you must do so in writing within 30 days. There is
no application fee for internal review.
If you wish to apply for an internal review, please mark your application for the
attention of the FOI Coordinator and state the grounds on which you consider that my
decision should be reviewed.
Applications for internal reviews can be submitted to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Alternatively, you can submit your application by email to
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or by fax
on 02 9284 9666.
Further Review
You have the right to seek review of this decision by the Information Commissioner
and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
You may apply to the Information Commissioner for a review of my decision
(IC review). If you wish to apply for IC review, you must do so in writing within 60 days.
Your application must provide an address (which can be an email address or fax
number) that we can send notices to, and include a copy of this letter. A request for IC
review can be made in relation to my decision, or an internal review decision.
It is the Information Commissioner’s view that it wil usual y not be in the interests of
the administration of the FOI Act to conduct an IC review of a decision, or an internal
review decision, made by the agency that the Information Commissioner heads: the
4
OAIC. For this reason, if you make an application for IC review of my decision, and the
Information Commissioner is satisfied that in the interests of administration of the Act
it is desirable that my decision be considered by the AAT, the Information
Commissioner may decide not to undertake an IC review.
Section 57A of the FOI Act provides that, before you can apply to the AAT for review of
an FOI decision, you must first have applied for IC review.
Applications for IC review can be submitted online at:
https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR_10
Alternatively, you can submit your application to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Or by email to
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or by fax on 02 9284 9666.
Disclosure log
Section 11C of the FOI Act requires agencies to publish documents released through an
FOI request on our website within 10 days of release, except if they contain personal
or business information that it would be unreasonable to publish.
I do not consider it would be unreasonable to publish this document. As a result, the
document wil be published on our
disclosure log shortly.
Accessing your information
If you would like access to the information that we hold about you, please
contact
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx. More information is available on the
Access our
information page on our website.
5
Document Outline