Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
OFFICIAL
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
REQUEST BY:
Christian
Right to Know
Notice of Estimate of Charges
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Christian,
Freedom of information request - FOI/NIAA/2122/004
1. I refer to your request, dated 18 August 2021, to the National Indigenous Australians Agency (the NIAA) under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) for access to the fol owing documents:
•
details of the goods or services by Walking with Wisdom Pty Ltd as recorded in the Senate Order 13 document
for 2020 and in the amount of $534,600.00.
•
any information about the end date of services by this company and if DPC was aware that the organisation has
been deregistered.
2. I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI requests.
3. I am writing to advise you of my decision that you are liable to pay a charge in respect of the processing of your request.
Decision and reasons for decision
4. In accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act and the
Freedom of Information Charges Regulations 1982 (Charges
Regulations), my preliminary assessment of the charge you would be liable to pay for the processing of your request is
$
431.20
Basis for my preliminary assessment of the charge
5. I have assessed the work the Agency would need to do to process your request and have calculated the fol owing
breakdown of charges:
Document estimate
Number of relevant documents
12
Number of relevant pages
55
PROCESSING CHARGES
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NIAA | FREEDOM OF INFORMATION | NOTICE OF ESTIMATE OF CHARGES
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Search and retrieval
Task
Time
Cost @ 15/hr
Search and retrieval of relevant electronic and registry files
28
420.00
Search and retrieval of relevant pages in file
-
0
Preparation of schedule of documents
-
0
Search and retrieval subtotal (A)
28
420.00
Decision making
Task
Time
Cost @ 20/hr
Examination of documents
1.83
36.60
Consultation with third parties
-
0
Preparation of documents for release
0.73
14.60
Preparation of notice of access decision
3
60.00
Decision making subtotal (before deduction of 5 hours)
5.56
111.20
Decision making subtotal (after deduction of first 5 hours free) (B)
0.56
11.20
ACCESS AND DELIVERY CHARGES
Access and delivery charges subtotal (C)
-
0
ESTIMATED TOTALS AND DEPOSIT
ESTIMATED TOTAL (total of A, B and C)
431.20
REQUIRED DEPOSIT (10 per cent (%))
43.12
Payment of a deposit
6. A 10 per cent deposit ($43.12) is payable.
7. The deposit is not refundable except in some limited circumstances (for example, if the NIAA fails to make a decision on
your request within the statutory time limit), or may be refundable in part if the final charge is less than the deposit paid.
8. If you agree to pay the charges (or deposit), the timeframe for processing your request wil resume once payment is
received.
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How to respond to this notice
9. You have 30 days to respond in writing to this notice. Within this timeframe, you must do one of the fol owing things in
writing:
• pay the charges, being the deposit amount or the full amount outlined above, and notify the FOI team in writing via
email to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx , or
• contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not imposed and explain your reasons,
or
• withdraw your request.
10. If you do not provide us with a written response within 30 days of this notice, your request wil be taken to have been
withdrawn.
11. The period for processing your request is suspended from the day that you receive this notice and resumes on either the
day you pay the charge or deposit, or the day on which the NIAA makes a decision not to impose a charge.
Your right to contend the charge
12. Under the FOI Act, you have the right to contend that the charge:
• has been wrongly assessed, or
• should be reduced, or
• should not be imposed.
13. In deciding whether a charge should be reduced or not imposed, I must take into account:
• whether payment of the charge, or part of it, would cause you financial hardship
• whether giving access to the document/s is in the general public interest or in the interest of a substantial section of
the public
• any other relevant matter.
14. Should you seek a reduction or waiver of the charges on the grounds of financial hardship, it would assist me if you could
provide suitable evidence of financial hardship, for example evidence of receipt of pension or income support payment,
or evidence of income, debts or assets.
Paying the charges
15. Payment can be made by one of the fol owing options:
Electronic Funds Transfer
a. You can make payment to the following account:
i. Account Name:
NIAA Departmental Operating Account
i . BSB:
032713
i i. Account:
496380
iv. Reference:
FOI/2122/004
Credit Card Payment
b. Please cal the NIAA’s Accounts Receivable Team on 02 6271 6000 (select option 4, then option 3).
Please reference FOI/2122/004 in all forms of payment to ensure it is al ocated to your matter
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IMPORTANT: Please ensure you advise the FOI Team via email xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx once you have made payment. Failure to
advise may cause a delay in processing your request.
Final charges
16. Once your FOI request has been processed, I wil determine the actual charge you must pay before the documents can
be provided to you. The final charge for processing your request may be different from the estimate quoted in this letter.
17. If I decide to grant ful access to al the documents within the scope of your request, you must pay the actual charges for
the time and disbursements involved in processing your request ascertained in accordance with the table set out above
(which may be greater or less than the estimate).
18. However, if you are only granted partial access to the documents you wil only be required to pay whichever amount is
lesser of the estimate quoted in this letter and the actual charges.
19. Please note that I can charge for search and retrieval that the NIAA has already undertaken for the purpose of your
request in its current form, but it may be possible to reduce the decision-making charges that might be incurred in the
future if you refine the scope of your request, for example, by limiting the date range of document sought or excluding a
particular category of documents.
20. If you agree to pay the charge, you are accepting liability for settlement of the debt upon completion of processing the
FOI request. Once your FOI request has been processed, the outstanding amount of the charge becomes a debt to the
Commonwealth. The NIAA is obliged to pursue recovery of the debt in accordance with the
Public Governance.
Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth).
Third party consultation
21. In the event your request relates to documents that include information about a person their business or professional
affairs or about the business, commercial or financial affairs of an organisation or undertaking, pursuant to sections 27
and 27A of the FOI Act, the Agency wil be required to provide that person or organisation with the opportunity to make
submissions if it appears that they may wish to argue any document is exempt from release.
22. The statutory timeframe for processing an FOI request wil be extended by 30 days under subsection 15(6) of the FOI Act
where a third party is to be consulted.
Questions about this notice
23. More information about charges under the FOI Act is available on the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner’s website: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/guidance-and-advice/calculating-and-
imposing-charges-for-foi-access-requests/.
24. If you would like to discuss any of the matters above, please contact the FOI Team by email to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Kind regards,
Ursula Carolyn
Branch Manager
Families & Safety Branch
14 September 2021
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