10 December 2014
Megalfar
Sent via email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Our Ref: 1415/31
Dear Megalfar,
FOI Application – Costs related to MTM rollout
I am writing in relation to your request made under the
Freedom of Information Act, 1982 (
the FOI Act).
Application Terms On 4 December 2014, you made an FOI request to NBN Co Ltd (
NBN Co) seeking access to:
“documents outlining any costs since the chance [sic] of the Strategy Review and the new Corporate plan, including
any preview, revision documentations, as well as associated costs of each Node, installing infrastructure, line by line
costs, including all maintenance on a per node bases, this does include electricity costs, per user and per node, costs
to replace and upgrade cards inside of the FTTN and HFC Nodes to the latest technology such as Vectoring, G.Fast,
DOCSIS 3.1.”
Scope of FOI Application
Your FOI application indicates that you are seeking documents which relate to costs associated with many different aspects of
NBN Co’s business. As you have not framed your request in terms of specific documents, it follows that your request will require
NBN Co to consider all manner of documents, including emails to and from NBN Co staff and draft documents. For your
reference, the required search and review process would involve a significant amount of time and effort from NBN Co’s FOI
team and staff from across the company.
The terms of your request would require NBN Co to undertake a review of the email accounts of a large number of employees,
so as to determine whether they fall within the scope of this FOI request. Among other sources of documents, NBN Co’s IT
Group would be required to create a set of data cubes which would need to be searched, culled for relevance and organised.
That process alone would involve significant effort. Relevant executives and senior managers of NBN Co would also need to be
involved in consideration of the documentation, which would be a considerable interference with the performance of their usual
responsibilities. Moreover, these search-related tasks would not include the more difficult and time-consuming task of making a
formal FOI decision and applying exemptions to the various documents and factual scenarios. In addition, NBN Co may be
required to consult with construction partners in relation to any documents concerning their business affairs.
Please also be aware that processing charges may be imposed in relation to your FOI application. In that regard, I would refer
you to NBN Co’s FOI processing charges policy, which is outlined at the following hyperlink
: Submission to the OAIC Charges
Review. In particular, NBN Co supports – and will generally apply – Recommendation 24 in
the Hawke Review into FOI
Legislation, (the Hawke Review), which suggests a 40-hour ceiling for all FOI processing charges.
In light of the potential volume of documents and the likely need to consult with third parties, I am of the opinion that it would be
an unreasonable diversion of NBN Co’s resources to commence the processing of this FOI application in its current form. In that
regard, I am relying
upon sections 24 and 24AA of the FOI Act.
PHONE
(02) 9926 1900
FAX
(02) 9926 1901
EMAIL
xxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
WEB
www.nbnco.com.au
LEVEL 11, 100 ARTHUR STREET, NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060
NBN Co Limited ACN 136 533 741 © NBN Co 2013
Request Consultation Process
Section 24 of the FOI Act requires NBN Co to undertake a request consultation process before issuing a notice to refuse
access. Before issuing a refusal notic
e, section 24AB of the FOI Act requires Government authorities to provide applicants with
written notice stating their intention to refuse access and to initiate a request consultation process. In that context, I request that
you review the scope of your FOI request and notify the writer by
24 December 2015 as to whether you wish to:
withdraw the request; or
make a revised request; or
not revise the request.
If you have not notified the writer by the above-mentioned date, NBN Co will consider that this application has been withdrawn
as per section 24AB(6) of the FOI Act. In accordance with section 24AB(8) of the FOI Act, the time taken to consult with you
regarding the scope of a request is not taken into account when calculating the 30-day statutory time limit for processing FOI
applications. In addition, I would invite you to telephone the writer on the number below to discuss or clarify the terms of this
FOI application.
NBN Co’s Commercial Activities
In addition to the section 24 issues, there is a strong possibility that many of the documents within the scope of this request
would relate to NBN Co’s commercial activities and would not be subject to the operation of the Act. In that regard, I refer you to
section 7(3A) a
nd Part II of Schedule 2 of the FOI Act, which outline the scope of NBN Co’s commercial activities exemption
(
the CAE). For your reference, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (
the OAIC) completed a review decision
in January 2012 (
the Internode Decision), which provides background and guidance as to the application of the CAE to NBN
Co. The Internode Decision may be found by clicking on the followin
g link. The OAIC completed an additional review at the end
of July 2013 –
the Battersby Decision, which further clarified the scope of NBN Co’s CAE. While I am not making a formal
decision nor have I begun a review of relevant documents, there is a possibility that documents falling within the terms of this
FOI request may be subject to the CAE and other exemptions from release under the FOI Act.
Disclosure Log Notification
In accordance with the FOI Act, NBN Co is required to publish documents provided to FOI applicants within 10 working days
after release. The information you seek may be published in full (as released to you) or with some additional redactions as per
section 11C of the FOI Act. For further information, visit
our Disclosure Log on NBN Co’s website.
If you have any questions or need to discuss your FOI application, please feel free to contact the writer via email on
xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Sincerely,
An Vo
Associate Legal Counsel FOI, Privacy & Knowledge Mgmnt
PHONE
(02) 9926 1900
FAX
(02) 9926 1901
PAGE
2
EMAIL
xxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
WEB
www.nbnco.com.au
LEVEL 11, 100 ARTHUR STREET, NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060
NBN Co Limited ACN 136 533 741 © NBN Co 2013
