6 April 2022
Alexander
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
ACMA file reference: ACMA2022/129
Dear Alexander
Request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982
I refer to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act)
received by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) on
8 March 2022 in which you sought access to:
“the current Declarations of Public Interest documents or the equivalent
current public interest disclosures for:
Nerida O'Loughlin
Creina Chapman
James Cameron
Chris Jose
Fiona Cameron
Anita Jacoby
Delia Rickard
Anna Brakey” (the officeholders).
I also refer to my letters to you dated 18 March 2022 and 29 March 2022 about
your request.
Scope of your request
As noted in my letters, I assume, from your description of documents, that you
seek access to the current declarations or disclosures of interests made by the
officeholders individually in compliance with their statutory obligations, which
help to identify and manage any conflicts of interest in a way that serves the
public interest.
In my letters I asked you to let me know if my assumption as to the scope of
your request is incorrect. I also indicated that if you want access to other
documents, you wil need to give sufficient information to enable the ACMA to
identify those documents.
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In my letter dated 29 March 2022, I asked for a response by close of business
on 1 April 2022 and indicated that, if I did not receive a response within that
timeframe, I would process your request on the basis that my assumption as to
the scope of your request is correct and that you do not want access to other
documents. As I did not receive a response within that timeframe, I am
processing your request on that basis.
Third party consultation
A number of documents identified as falling within the scope of your request
contain personal information about other individuals (the relevant documents).
Subsection 47F(1) of the FOI Act provides that a document is conditionally
exempt if its disclosure under that Act would involve the unreasonable
disclosure of personal information about any person. Subsection 11A(5) of the
FOI Act provides that an agency must give an applicant access to a document
sought that is conditionally exempt at a particular time unless (in the
circumstances) access to the document at that time would, on balance, be
contrary to the public interest.
The individuals whose personal information is contained in the relevant
documents may reasonably wish to make a contention that the documents are
conditionally exempt under subsection 47F(1) and that access to the documents
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest for the purposes of
subsection 11A(5). Consequently, the ACMA is required, in accordance with
section 27A of the FOI Act, to give those individuals a reasonable opportunity to
make submissions in support of that contention.
I have therefore written to the individuals to give them this opportunity in relation
to the relevant documents.
Timeframe for processing your request
To enable the third party consultation referred to above to occur, the statutory
timeframe for processing your request has, in accordance with subsection 15(6)
of the FOI Act, been extended by a further period of 30 days.
The decision on access wil be made as soon as practical, but in any event by 9
May 2022, unless the timeframe is further extended under the FOI Act. You wil
be notified should there be any further extension.
If you have any questions, please contact me at
xxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours faithfully
Marilyn Woolford
Authority Secretariat
Of ice of the Chair
Authorised decision-maker under the FOI Act
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