Your Ref
Our Ref
45011
Tim Sherratt
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Tim
Your Freedom of Information request - charge
I refer to your revised request, received by the Department of Education, Skil s and
Employment (department) on 26 November 2021, for access under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the fol owing documents:
…the final three reports commissioned as part of the scoping study of potential research
infrastructure for HASS and Indigenous research platforms.
On 8 November 2021, you made a request under the FOI Act in the fol owing terms:
As part of the 2018 Research Infrastructure Investment Plan, funding was committed for a
scoping study of potential research infrastructure for HASS and Indigenous research
platforms
(https://www.dese.gov.au/national-research-infrastructure/national-research-
infrastructure-scoping-studies).
Three reports were commissioned as part of this scoping study, and recommendations drawn
from these reports were included in the 2020 Research Infrastructure Investment Plan
(https://www.dese.gov.au/2020-research-infrastructure-investment-plan/resources/2020-
research-infrastructure-investment-plan).
I request that the three reports commissioned for the HASS and Indigenous research
platforms scoping study be made publicly available, along with any recommendations and
associated briefing notes derived from the scoping study.
On 26 November 2021, I wrote to you to advise you that it was likely that processing your
request in those terms would substantial y and unreasonably divert the resources of the
department and I invited you to reduce the scope of your request.
Also on 26 November 2021, you revised the scope of your request to the terms outlined
above.
GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | www.dese.gov.au | ABN 12 862 898 150
Administrative access
I am advised that the scope of your revised request captures three documents. I am advised
that one of these documents, a report prepared by the Australian Academy of the
Humanities, has previously been made available to parties external to the department in its
entirety and the relevant business team in the department is prepared to release this
document to you outside of the FOI process. Accordingly, the department releases a copy of
the Australian Academy of the Humanities’ report to you on an administrative basis (outside
the FOI Act) and I have been asked to provide this to you. A copy of this document is
attached to the email covering this notice. Noting the document has been provided to you,
we will treat this part of your request as withdrawn unless you advise otherwise when
responding to this notice.
Preliminary assessment of the charge
Under the FOI Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a charge for the processing of
the remaining parts of your request. My preliminary assessment of the charge is $135.00,
calculated as follows:
Search and retrieval time: one hour, at $15.00 per hour
$15.00
Decision-making time including consultation with relevant third parties, after
$120.00
deduction of 5 hours*: 6 hours, at $20.00 per hour
TOTAL
$135.00
*The FOI Act provides that the first five hours of decision-making time are free of charge and this is reflected in
the calculation.
I am advised that the department has in its possession two documents with approximately
100 pages relevant to your request. As outlined above, as the Australian Academy of the
Humanities’ report has been released to you outside the FOI Act, the preliminary assessment
of the charge outlined above only includes the estimated time taken to process the
remaining two documents captured by your request.
Required action
If you would like the department to continue processing your request, you must notify the
department in writing within 30 days of receiving this notice that you:
• agree to pay the charge
• wish to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, should be reduced or
not imposed or both or
• withdraw your request.
If you do not respond within 30 days, your request wil be taken to have been withdrawn by
the operation of the FOI Act.
Option - pay the charge
As the charge exceeds $25, you are required to pay a deposit of $34.00, which is
approximately 25% of the total charge, within 30 days of receiving this notice. You may elect
to pay the charge in full at this point.
Payment can be made by:
• cheque or money order made out to the Col ector of Public Monies - Department of
Education, Skil s and Employment and forwarded to the following address:
Schools, Youth and Corporate Legal Branch
Department of Education, Skil s and Employment
LOC: C50MA1
GPO Box 9880
CANBERRA ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA
• credit card by completing the attached credit card authorisation and sending a
scanned copy to
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or posting it to the above address.
Please note that the charge is a fee for processing your request, not a payment for access to
documents. Payment of the charge does not guarantee you access to any or al of the
documents you have requested. Access to documents wil be considered by the decision
maker in accordance with the FOI Act.
Option - seek reduction or non-imposition of the charge
If you want to ask the department to reduce or not to impose the charge, you should tel us
why and give us evidence to support your reasons. You may wish to tell us:
• whether paying the charge would cause you financial hardship and/or
• whether access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the interest
of a substantial section of the public.
We must take these matters into account in deciding whether or not to reduce or not
impose the charge.
Time limits for processing your request
Under the FOI Act, the time limit for processing your request is suspended from today until
the day fol owing payment of the charge (in full or the required deposit) or, if applicable, the
day following a decision not to impose the charge.
As your request covers documents that contain information concerning the business,
commercial or financial affairs of several organisations, I need to ask those organisations
about the release of that information before making a decision on your request. For this
reason, the department has extended the time for processing your request by 30 days under
the FOI Act.
To assist you, I have set out the relevant sections of the FOI Act at
Attachment A.
Further assistance
As an alternative, you may wish to consider revising the scope of your request. If you would
like to discuss this, please email xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Alison
Authorised decision maker
Department of Education, Skil s and Employment
6 December 2021
Attachment A
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Charge
Section 29(1) of the FOI Act provides that, where the department decides that an applicant is
liable to pay a charge in respect of a request for access to a document, or the provision of
access to a document, the department must give the applicant written notice. The notice
must state, among other things, that the applicant must within 30 days after the notice was
given tell the department in writing that the applicant:
• agrees to pay the charge
• wishes to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced
or not imposed or both or
• wishes to withdraw the request.
Under section 29(2) of the FOI Act, if the applicant does not do one of these things within 30
days, the request wil be taken to have been withdrawn.
Consultation
Section 27 of the FOI Act provides that if the department receives a request for access to
documents containing information in relation to the business, commercial or financial affairs
of an organisation or a person’s professional affairs and believes the organisation or person
may object to the release of the documents, the department is required to consult with that
organisation or person before making a decision on access to the documents.
Section 15(6) of the FOI Act provides that when the department consults with a person
under section 27 and/or section 27A of the FOI Act, the 30 day period for processing a
request under the FOI Act is extended by 30 days.
Attachment B
Credit Card Authorisation
Use this form to pay a Freedom of Information charge by credit card
Applicant's details
Name
Phone number
Credit card details
Credit card type
Card holder's name
Credit card number
Expiry date
CCV number
Amount
Signature
Date
Privacy statement
Your personal information is col ected by the Department of Education, Skil s and Employment for the
purposes of processing the payment of a charge imposed under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 and related purposes. If you do not provide some or all of the information requested, the department
may be unable to process your credit card payment. Your personal information may be disclosed to
other parties where you have agreed, or where it is otherwise permitted by law. The department's
Privacy Policy, including information about how to make a complaint and access to and correction of
your personal information, can be found at
https://www.dese.gov.au/privacy.
Document Outline