20 April 2022
Sarath
BY EMAIL: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
In reply please quote:
FOI Request:
FA 22/03/00245
File Number:
OBJ2022/7194
Dear Sarath
Decision on Internal Review – Freedom of Information Act 1982
I refer to your correspondence dated 28 March 2022 in which you requested that the Department of
Home Affairs (the Department) review its decision on access to documents dated 15 March 2022
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:
Please let me know the invitations issued by NSW government for the following occupations
under SC190 for current financial year so far i.e. 2021-2022.
Total number of invitations issued for
1)
Software engineer (261313)
2)
261312 Developer Programmer
3)
263111 Computer Network and Systems Engineer
4)
261111 ICT Business Analyst
5)
261112 Systems Analyst
6)
261212 Web Developer
7)
261211 Multimedia Specialist
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Original decision on access dated 15 March 2022
The Department conducted reasonable searches and found no documents that fell within the scope
of your original request. As such, a decision was made under section 24A of the Act to refuse access
to the documents sought.
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Casselden 2 Lonsdale Street MELBOURNE
GPO Box 241 MELBOURNE VIC 3000 • Telephone: 131881
• www.homeaffairs.gov.au
3
Request for internal review
On 28 March 2022, you requested the Department review its decision dated 15 March 2022. The
terms of your review request were as follows:
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Home Affairs' handling of my FOI
request 'Total number of invitations issued for the following occupations by NSW
Government for 190 skil ed program for the financial year 2021-2022'.
It is really disappointing that home affairs do not have information regarding invitations
issued by state governments
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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 refuse your request under section
24A of the FOI Act.
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Information considered
In reaching my decision, I have considered the following:
• the scope of your request
• the Department’s original decision of 15 March 2022 and the evidence gathered for that
decision
• your submissions in relation to your reasons for requesting an internal review
• advice from Departmental officers with responsibility for matters relating to the document 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 affirm the original decision of the Department dated 15 March 2022 (“the original
decision”) to refuse access under section 24A of the FOI Act
I have provided the reasons for my decision below.
8
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,
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including searches of computer systems to determine whether documents can be produced from
these systems in accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act
8.1 Additional searches for documents and application of Section 17 of the FOI Act
The searches undertaken by the Department for 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 information requested by you is 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 was able to produce a document containing the information sought
by you from this data
• the processes involved in producing a document.
Outcome of searches
The business area has advised that:
• the Department does not hold the relevant information in a discreet document
• The Department of Home Affairs publishes the Skil Select dashboard to provide statistics
about the Skil Select Program to the public
• Skil Select data is hosted on external servers owned by the Department of Education, Skil s
and Employment (DESE) and the Department does not have direct access to this data other
than the dashboard.
As the information to which you seek access is known to be contained in non-discrete form in the
SkillSelect system I now give consideration to whether section 17 of the FOI Act applies to the
request.
Whether the Department can produce written document containing information in discrete form
The relevant Departmental business area has confirmed that:
The Department of Home Affairs publishes the Skil Select dashboard to provide statistics about the
Skil Select Program to the public. The Skil Select data is hosted on external servers to the
Department and the Department does not have access to this data, beyond the Skil Select
dashboard. Where information sought is not available through the Skil Select dashboard in the form
requested, producing a document containing the information would involve the Department arranging
for DESE, as operators of the Skil Select system, to extract the data from the system.
That process involves interrogating tables of data, which requires writing individual report codes to
obtain the bespoke data request. Development of additional code does not fall under the existing
maintenance arrangements/contracts with DESE. The Department is required to submit a Project
Change Request (PRC) to DESE for all requests for data. I
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(1)(c)(i) applies to this request, I am guided by
ABE and
Department of Home Affairs (Freedom of information) ALCmr25924 March 2022) where the
Information Commissioner found that in regard to data hosted on the Skil Select System:
the following factors indicate that the Department does not have an effective means of
producing a document by the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to
it:
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•
the Skil Select data is hosted on external servers owned by DESE and the Department does
not have direct access to this data
•
additional code would be required to generate documents containing the information
requested and the code would need to be written by DESE, as operators of the Skil Select
System
•
the production of the requested information is governed by the arrangements specified in the
MOU between the Department and DESE
•
The development of the code does not fall under the existing maintenance arrangements
and therefore requires a Project Change Request, along with a costing assessment,
allocation of staffing resources and additional funding.
As he same limitations above considered by the Information Commissioner apply to your request, -
I am satisfied that the information you seek is not ordinarily available by use of the Department’s
computer systems. I am therefore satisfied that section 17(1) (c) of the FOI Act does not apply to
your access request.
I note that you wil be able to find the data you requested in the Skil Select dashboard by making a
series of searches/interrogation so that you wil be able to collect the data although in a format other
than that you requested.
8.2 Section 24A refusal of access to documents that cannot be found or do not exist
Before the Department can make a decision under section 24A, it must be also be satisfied that it
has taken all reasonable steps to locate relevant documents.
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’.
In accordance with Paragraph 3.89 of the FOI Guidelines, the Department’s searches for
documents had regard to:
• the subject matter of your request
• the capacity of the Department’s reporting systems
• the record management systems in place
• the individuals within an agency who may be able to assist with the location of documents,
and
• the age of the documents.
Having considered the searches conducted, the outcomes of these searches and the advice received
from the relevant business area, 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 subject matter of your request indicates that the information is not held in discrete
documents but is held on the SkillSelect computer system.
• that the business area consulted was best placed to advise of the Department’s capacity to
produce documents from the SkillSelect computer system that contained the data requested.
• the advice from this business area that the Department was unable to produce a document
using the ordinary use of its computer systems.
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I have therefore decided that the Department has taken all reasonable steps to find a Document that
falls within the scope of the request as it was required to do by section 24A of the FOI Act, and that:
• a discrete document does not exist
• the Department cannot produce a written document containing the information by the use of
a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available, as would otherwise be required
by section 17 of the FOI Act.
I am accordingly refusing your request under section 24A(1) of the FOI Act.
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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.
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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/.
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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.
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Contact
Should you wish to discuss my decision, please do not hesitate to contact via email at
xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Antonette
Position Number 60016903
Authorised Decision Maker
FOI Reviews Team
Department of Home Affairs
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Document Outline