OFFICIAL
PO Box 457
CANBERRA ACT 2601
dta.gov.au
Concerned Citizen
Concerned Citizen
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
14 October 2021
Dear Concerned Citizen,
Freedom of Information Request - FOI 227/2021
I refer to your email of 30 September 2021 seeking access under the Commonwealth
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to:
‘any emails sent or received by the Digital Transformation Agency between the 1st of March 2021 and the 10th
of March 2021 that contain the terms “COVIDSafe” and (“review” or “reviews” or “rating” or “5 star”).’
I am authorised to make decisions under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act and my decision regarding
your request and the reasons for my decision are set out below.
Decision
I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have occurred to locate the requested documents and that
these documents do not exist. Therefore, I refuse your application under s 24A of the FOI Act on the
basis that no documents exist.
Reasons for my decision
Freedom of Information Act 1982 section 24A
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) al reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(i ) does not exist.
On 1 October 2021 DTA’s Records Management team conducted an extensive search across DTA’s
systems using the search terms as articulated in the scope of the request. The results were
inconclusive because the search term captured every document. For example:
The term "review" appears in some standard email footers - see below
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IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If you
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by
return email informing them of the mistake and delete al copies of the
message from your computer system.
On 6 October 2021 you were informed of our findings and instructed DTA to find a manageable
outcome for your request.
On the same day, the FOI Officer made enquiries into locating the requested documents and found
that no review of COVID Safe occurred during 1 March 2021 and 10 March 2021. Additionally, the
terms ‘ 5 star/ ratings’ is not used by DTA to assess performance, which is why we could not find
documents with the scope of your request.
Based on these findings, I am satisfied that the searches conducted were thorough and al reasonable
steps have been taken to locate documents relevant to your request. I am satisfied that the
documents referred to in your request do not exist and refuse your request in accordance with
section 24A of the FOI Act.
Relevant material
In reaching my decision I referred to the fol owing:
• the terms of your request;
• the FOI Act;
• Guidelines published by the Office of the Information Commissioner under section
93A of the FOI Act (the FOI Guidelines);and
• advice from departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the
documents to which you sought access.
Review rights
If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you have certain rights of review available to you.
Firstly, under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply to DTA for an internal review of the decision.
Your application must be made by whichever date is the later between:
• 30 days of you receiving this notice; or
• 15 days of you receiving the documents to which you have been granted access
An internal review wil be conducted by a different officer from the original decision-maker.
No particular form is required to apply for review although it wil assist your case to set out in the
application the grounds on which you believe that the original decision should be overturned. An
application for a review of the decision should be addressed to: xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
If you choose to seek an internal review, you wil subsequently have a right to apply to the Australian
Information Commissioner for a review of the internal review decision.
Review by the Australian Information Commissioner
Digital Transformation Agency —
Minute
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Alternatively, under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may seek review of this decision by the Australian
Information Commissioner without first going to internal review. Your application must be made
within 60 days of you receiving this notice.
The Australian Information Commissioner is an independent office holder who may review decisions
of agencies and Ministers under the FOI Act. More information is available on the Australian
Information Commissioner's website www.oaic.gov.au.
You can contact the Information Commissioner to request a review of a decision online or by writing
to the Information Commission at:
Director of FOI Dispute Resolution
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken in relation to your
request.
Your enquiries to the Australian Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone 1300 363 992 (local cal charge)
Email xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
There is no particular form required to make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner.
The request should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered that the
action taken in relation to the request should be investigated and identify the DTA as the relevant
agency.
Contacts
If you have any queries about this notice, please contact the FOI team by ema
il xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Regards
Anthony Warnock
Chief Technology Officer
FOI Authorised Decision Makers
Digital Transformation Agency —
Minute
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