9 December 2021
Mr Martin Steven
BY EMAIL: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 21/10/00691-R1
File Number: OBJ2021/30843
Dear Mr Steven
Decision on Internal Review – Freedom of Information Act 1982
I  refer to  your correspondence dated 16 November 2021 in which  you requested that the
Department of Home Affairs (the Department) review its decision on access to documents
dated 5 November 2021 under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
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Scope of original request
The scope of your original request for access to documents under the FOI Act was  as
follows:
I would like to know the total number of applicants, as of 18th October 2021, that
have been approved for Australian citizenship and are waiting to attend a
Citizenship Ceremony in the Sunshine Coast Council area. Furthermore, I'd like to
know the current wait time between citizenship approval and ceremony in the
Sunshine Coast Council area.
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Original decision on access dated 5 November 2021
Documents within scope
In accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act, the Department used its computer system to
produce the following document containing information relevant to your request.
•
Number of people as at 22 October 2021 whose application for Australian citizenship
by  conferral had been approved and who were waiting  to attend an Australian
citizenship ceremony at the Sunshine Coast Regional Council (QLD) – 1 page
The information was  held on the Department’s computer systems on 18 October 2021,
when the Department received your request for access.
The Department did not identify any documents corresponding with part B of your request
but referred you to information contained on the Department’s website.

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Casselden Place 2 Lonsdale Street Melbourne VIC 3001
GPO Box 241 MELBOURNE VIC 3001 • Telephone: 131881 • www.homeaffairs.gov.au

Decision on access
The original decision maker decided to:
•
release the document in full.
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Request for internal review
On 16 November 2021, you requested the Department review its decision dated 5
November 2021. The terms of your review request were as follows:
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Home Affairs's handling
of my FOI request 'Current citizenship ceremony waiting times for Sunshine Coast
Council'.

I had two questions in the request but only one was answered.  Would you be able
to answer the second part please?
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Scope of internal review
Based on the terms of your internal review in paragraph 3 above, I consider you are seeking
review of:
•  the searches conducted by the Department in its original decision, including
considerations as to whether documents could be produced from computer
systems pursuant to section 17 of the FOI Act
•  the Department’s decision, following those searches, to identify only the
documents indicated at paragraph 2 above as falling within the scope of your
request, and not the documents indicated in your request for internal review,
namely:
…the current wait time between citizenship approval and ceremony in the Sunshine Coast
Council area.
I  consider you have not sought review of the Department’s decision on the [other]
documents it identified as falling within the scope of the request in its original decision.
Accordingly, the Department has not re-assessed these documents as part of this internal
review decision, and wil  not be providing you with another copy of these documents.
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Authority to make decision

I  am an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate departmental records.

In accordance with section 54C(3) of the FOI Act, I have made a fresh decision on your FOI
request.
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Information considered

In reaching my decision, I have considered the following:
•
the scope of your request

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•
the Department’s original decision of 8 October 2020 and the evidence gathered for
that decision
•
advice from departmental officers with  responsibility for matters relating to  the
information to which you sought access
•
the FOI Act, and
•
the Australian Information Commissioner’s guidelines relating to the interpretation,
operation and administration of the FOI Act (the FOI guidelines).
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Authority to make decision
I am authorised under section 23 the FOI Act to make decisions to release and to refuse
access to exempt documents and to conduct internal reviews.
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Internal review decision
I have decided to vary the original decision of the Department dated 8 October 2021. I have
set aside part of the decision and replaced it with the following decision:
•  to refuse the following part of your request under section 24A of the FOI Act:
…the current wait time between citizenship approval and ceremony in the
Sunshine Coast Council area.
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Reasons for internal review decision: refusal of access to documents that
cannot be found or do not exist
Section 24A of the FOI Act provides that the Department may refuse access to a document
when that document cannot be found or does not exist. Before the Department can make a
decision under section 24A, it must be satisfied that it has taken all reasonable steps to
locate relevant documents, including searches of computer systems to determine whether
documents can be produced from these systems.
Additional searches for documents
The additional searches undertaken by the Department for further documents within the
scope of your request involved enquiries with the responsible business area of the
Department. As the responsible business area has previously advised that the requested
by you was  not held in discrete form in existing documents, the enquiries sought to
determine:
•
the extent of data held by the Department on its computer systems
•
whether the Department is able to produce a document containing the information
sought by you from this data
•
the processes involved in producing a document.
Outcomes of searches
The relevant business area advised that
•
The Department holds information indicating those individuals who  attended
citizenship ceremonies at the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and those individuals
whose application for Australian citizenship by conferral had been approved and who

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were waiting to attend a ceremony. The Department also holds information indicating
the date on which each individual’s citizenship application was  approved by  the
Department.
•
Significant manual work would be required to calculate the average waiting times.
This would involve:
•
individually reviewing the client records of individuals who were awaiting a citizenship
ceremony at the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and who  had already attended a
ceremony
•
identifying the citizenship approval date for those individuals
•
for each individual – calculating and recording the number of elapsed days since the
approval date (for individuals awaiting a citizenship ceremony) or between the
approval and ceremony date (for individuals who have attended a ceremony)
•
calculating the average approval date from the elapsed days recorded for each
individual.
•
There is no existing information product that is able to produce the data without the
above manual intervention. The data is also not available within existing reporting
systems.
•
The Department does not hold any existing documents that contain the information.
Whether section 17 of FOI Act applies to request

Section 17 of the FOI Act applies if:

•
the Department could produce a written document containing the information using a
computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the agency for retrieving or
collating stored information (s. 17(1)(c)(i)), and
•
producing a written document would  not substantially and unreasonably divert the
resources of the agency from its other operations (s. 17(2))

In considering whether section 17 applies to the request, I am guided by paragraph 3.207
of the FOI Guidelines, citing the decision of the Full Federal Court in Collection Point Pty
Ltd v  Commissioner of Taxation [2013] FCAFC 67; 95 ATR 334, in which the Full Federal
Court:

…held that the reference in s 17(1)(c)(i) to a ‘computer or other equipment that is
ordinarily available’ means ‘a functioning computer system including software, that
can produce the requested document without the aid of additional components
which are not themselves ordinarily available … [T]he computer or other equipment
must be capable of functioning independently to collate or retrieve stored
information and to produce the requested document.’ This wil  be a question of fact
in the individual case, and may require consideration of ‘the agency’s ordinary or
usual conduct and operations’. For example, new software may be ordinarily
available to an agency that routinely commissions or otherwise obtains such
software, but not to an agency that does not routinely do such things.

In the earlier decision of the Federal Court in Collection Point, the Court found that:

If a new computer program is required to be written to produce the document then a
computer is not being used in a manner that is ordinarily available to the agency
because an extraordinary step is required to be taken.

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Both Courts confirmed the earlier view of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that:

The documents requested by Collection Point were not capable of being produced
by the ATO by the use of a computer, being a use that is ordinarily available to the
ATO for retrieving and collating stored information. Instead, to answer the request,
the ATO would have been required to use a computer in an extraordinary manner,
as compared to the ordinary processes available for the retrieval and collation of
such material.
Having  considered the response provided by the business area as  indicated above, I  am
satisfied that the information to which  you seek access is  not available via ordinary use of
the Department’s computer systems. The business area instructs that it would need to take
an extraordinary step to retrieve, collate and produce a document containing this
information, involving the manual interrogation of a computer system and the manual
compilation and calculation of data. I am satisfied that these manual processes of creating
a document go beyond the requirements imposed by section 17(1)(c)(i) of the FOI Act.
I  have accordingly found that the obligation to produce a document under section 17 of the
FOI Act does not apply in this instance.
Whether all reasonable steps taken to locate documents
Paragraph 3.88 of the FOI Guidelines notes that the Act is silent on what constitutes ‘all
reasonable steps’ to search for a document, but suggests that the term should be:
‘construed as not going beyond the limit assigned by reason, not extravagant or
excessive, moderate and of such as amount, size or number as is judged to be
appropriate or suitable to the circumstances or purpose’.
Paragraph 3.89 of the FOI  Guidelines further provides that, at a minimum,  an agency’s
searches for documents should have regard to:
•
the subject matter of the documents
•
the current and past file management systems and the practice of destruction or
removal of documents
•
the record management systems in place
•
the individuals within an agency or minister’s office who may be able to assist with the
location of documents, and
•
the age of the documents.
Having considered the searches conducted above, and the outcomes of these searches, I
am  satisfied that the Department has  undertaken all reasonable steps to  locate  these
documents. In making this decision, I have taken into consideration:
•
that the business area consulted was best placed to advise of the existence of discrete
documents and the capacity of the Department to produce a document containing the
requested information
•
the advice from the business area was  that it is unable to produce a document
containing the  information using the  ‘ordinary use’  of  the Department’s computer
systems

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•
the advice from the business area was  that no existing documents were held or
produced by the Department that already contain the relevant information.
I have accordingly refused this part of your request under section 24A of the FOI Act.
10  Legislation
A copy of the FOI Act is available at https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02562.
If you are unable to access the legislation through this website, please contact our office
for a copy.
11  Your review rights
Review  by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
You may apply directly to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for
a review of this decision.  You must apply in writing within 60 days of this notice. For further
information about review rights and how to submit a request for a review to the OAIC,  please
see  https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/information-
commissioner-review/.
12  Making a complaint
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner about action taken by the
Department in relation to your request.
Your enquiries to the Australian Information Commissioner can be directed to:
Phone 1300 363 992 (local call 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 Department of Home Affairs as the relevant agency.
13  Contact
Should you wish  to discuss my  decision, please do not hesitate to contact via email  at
xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.

Jack
Position No. 11307
Authorised Decision Maker
Department of Home Affairs

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Document Outline