Our reference: FOIREQ21/00155
By email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear verifysp
Your Freedom of Information Request – FOIREQ21/00155
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the
Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) and received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 24 August 2021.
Scope of your request
In your request you seek access to the following:
Please make available al pdf doc requests FoI and the assoc decision doc in the 2 years
dated 2020 & 2021 which specifically ask (in whole or in part of their scope) for evidence
(ie proof: such as whitepapers, photos, video other media or documents) confirming the
existence of a pure isolated sars-cov-2 virus. Al eged to cause Covid19
To further limit the scope of docs requested, the FOI requested docs should contain one
(or more) of the caveat conditions below:
*Sample taken from a living human patient.
*Not contaminated with any other mammalian cel material.
*word 'Isolated' def is used in its normal meaning, not cell-cultured, not amplified (eg
PCR) not sequenced or computer model or extrapolated. - but separated from everything
else.
On 10 September 2021, you further inquired:
Hi Nora, if possible I'd like to get the docs as pdf format either as 1 file or zipped as a
collection.
I have no problem if you wish to put the online in your disclosure section, can I assume I
am able to download the from that area?
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
Please proceed and update me on which format I should expect docs or if I am able to
download from yr sites page, no need to await a reply from me unless you need acquery
ans or something clarified.
OK to exclude duplicate materials. And personal name can be redacted.
On 13 September 2021, I responded to your inquiry as follows:
Dear verifysp
Thank you for your email of 10 September 2021. I acknowledge your agreement to
exclude duplicates and names of third-party individuals during the processing of your
FOI request of 24 August 2021.
Form of access
Subject to limited exceptions, an applicant who requests access to a document in a
particular form has a right to be given access in that form. The most common form of
access is providing a copy of the document. If we decide to grant you access to
documents that fal within the scope of your request, we wil general y release the
documents as a PDF bundle accompanied by a schedule listing the documents included
in the bundle.
Disclosure log
If we have granted you access to documents that fal within the scope of your request,
the same documents may also be published online on our FOI disclosure log, unless they
contain personal or business information that would be unreasonable to publish.
If you have any further questions, please contact me on my details set out below.
On 20 September 2021, I further wrote to you to seeking your confirmation as follows:
In your request of 24 August 2021, you stated:
I am happy to have any PIN redacted out to maintain privacy on each pdf doc. I
am not concerned who submitted each request, just the request wordings and
decisions of each in turn.
In your correspondence of 10 September 2021, you further stated:
OK to exclude duplicate materials. And personal name can be redacted.
Taken together, we understand that you agree to redact personal information of the
FOI applicants, including name, email address and phone number. We will continue to
process your request with this understanding unless you advise us otherwise by close
of business 21 September 2021.
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As the OAIC has not received a response from you as of 21 September 2021, I continued
to process your request as specified in my letter of 20 September 2021.
Decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to
FOI requests.
I identified nine documents that fal within the scope of your request. I have decided
to grant you access to all nine documents in part.
Reasons for decision
Materials taken into account
In making my decision, I have had regard to the following:
• your freedom of information request of 24 August 2021
• your correspondence of 10 September 2021
• the FOI Act, in particular ss 22 and 24A
• the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A
of the FOI Act (the FOI Guidelines)
• searches conducted by the Records Officer and myself
Searches undertaken – s 24A
In conducting searches for documents relevant to your request, I consulted with the
OAIC’s Records Officer.
Searches were conducted through the following system:
• corporate document holding system – Content Manager
• case management system – Resolve
• general computer files
• paper files
The Records Officer conducted searches using the search term ‘sars-cov-2 virus’. As of
13 September 2021, the searches returned no results.
I further conducted searches on Resolve using the search terms ‘isolated’, ‘covid’,
‘sars-cov-2’, and ‘pure isolated’ and Content Manager for a record of previous FOI
matters. As of 21 September 2021, the searches returned eight FOI requests that fall
within the scope of your request.
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I have decided to grant you access to these eight FOI requests in part and the decision
of FOIREQ21/00128 in part. Please note that where the FOI requests were withdrawn
by the applicants, an FOI decision was not issued.
Based on the searches conducted, I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been
taken to find the documents within scope of the FOI request and that no further
documents exist in accordance with s 24A of the FOI Act.
Irrelevant material – s 22
Section 22(1)(a)(ii) provides that an agency may prepare an edited copy of a
document by deleting information ‘that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to the request for access’.
In your request to the OAIC, you instructed that you are ‘happy to have any PIN
redacted’ and that you are ‘not concerned who submitted each request’. In your
correspondence of 10 September 2021, you further instructed that ‘personal name
can be redacted’. In our letter to you of 20 September 2021, we sought your
clarification of what ‘PIN’ entails and informed you that we will process your request
with the understanding that you agree to redact the personal information of the FOI
applicants, including name, email address and phone number, unless you advise us
otherwise. As we did not receive a response from you as of 21 September 2021, I have
processed your request with the understanding that the personal information of the
FOI applicants is not within the scope of your request.
Therefore, I have examined the documents at issue and identified the name, email
address, phone number, home address and work contact details of the FOI
applicants as irrelevant materials to your request. I further identified irrelevant
materials in parts of the documents where an applicant is seeking information that
are unrelated to the scope of your request.
Your review rights are outlined on the following page.
Yours sincerely,
Nora Truong
Legal Services
23 September 2021
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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 will 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 t
o 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 will usually 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
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.
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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_
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Alternatively, you can submit your application to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Or by email t
o xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or by fax on 02 9284 9666.
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.
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