24 February 2022
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Greg,
Request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
I refer to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) received by the
eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) on 31 January 2022.
As you know, your request is for:
'All policy documents, guidelines and procedures that purport to apply to the eSafety
Commissioner, employees of her office, or contractors of her office, relating to:
• communication and media announcements
• official use of social media by the Commissioner, her office, or media/comms staff
• process for release of public documents and engaging in public consultation.
This should include both documents formulated within the eSafety Office, and
documents created by other government agencies which the eSafety Office applied,
circulated to staff, or considered itself bound by.’
eSafety received your correspondence dated 14 February 2022 clarifying your request.
eSafety will include publicly available documents in our possession when processing your
request.
Third party consultation
Individual communications plans and guides for specific eSafety projects or announcements
have been captured by your request.
A number of these documents contain personal information about third persons.
Pursuant to section 47F(1) of the FOI Act, a document is conditionally exempt if its
disclosure under this Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information
about any person.
A number of documents that fall within the scope of your request also contain information
about the business or professional affairs of third persons.
P: 3399287
1800 83
80 176
E: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
esafety.gov.au
Pursuant to section 47G(1) of the FOI Act, a document is conditionally exempt in certain
circumstances where its disclosure would disclose information concerning a person in
respect of his or her business or professional affairs or concerning the business, commercial
or financial affairs of an organisation or undertaking. Under section 47G(1)(a), this applies
where the disclosure of the information would, or could reasonably be expected to,
unreasonably affect that person adversely in respect of his or her lawful business or
professional affairs or that organisation or undertaking in respect of its lawful business,
commercial or financial affairs.
The individuals whose personal information and/or information concerning their business or
professional affairs appears in these documents may reasonably wish to contend that the
information is exempt under sections 47F or 47G of the FOI Act. As such, in accordance with
sections 27 or 27A of the FOI Act, eSafety is required to give them a reasonable opportunity
to make submissions in relation to the application of the exemption.
I will therefore be writing to the relevant individuals in relation to the documents that contain
their personal information and/or information concerning their business or professional
affairs.
Timeframe for processing
To enable this third-party consultation, the statutory time period for processing your request
has been extended by an additional 30 days in accordance with subsection 15(6) of the FOI
Act. You should therefore expect a decision regarding your request by 1 April 2022.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Kind regards,
FOI Coordinator
eSafety Commissioner
E
: xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx T: 1800 880 176
W: www.esafety.gov.au
P: 3399287
1800 83
80 176
E: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
esafety.gov.au