31 March 2022
By Email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Alex,
Freedom of Information Request
The purpose of this letter is to formally acknowledge receipt of your request under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act) that the eSafety Commissioner (
eSafety) received on 22 March
2022.
Scope of your request
I understand your request is for:
‘Any emails, correspondence, or records of correspondence from the eSafety commissioner or
final documents that include the phrase "Trusted Digital Identity" or "TDIF"’
covering the period:
• 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2022.
I understand your request relating to eSafety documents and any correspondence or record of
correspondence from the Commissioner herself.
eSafety will assume that you do not require the details of public servants, which we will therefore
redact on relevance grounds pursuant to section 22 of the FOI Act.
We would like to discuss and seek further information about your request.
Our concern with your request is how broad it is in scope. Therefore, we are seeking to clarify the
scope of your request, in order to move forward with your request.
Practical refusal reason
As you may know, an agency may refuse a request under the FOI Act if a practical refusal reason
exists. A practical refusal reason exists if:
• in the case of an agency, the work involved in processing the request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations (section
24AA(1)(a)(i)), or
• a request does not sufficiently identify the requested documents (section 24AA(1)(b)).
P: 1800 880 176
E: xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
esafety.gov.au
Under section 24 of the FOI Act, if an agency believes they may need to refuse access to a request,
they are to request a consultation process with the applicant. The consultation period runs for 14 days.
Under section 24AB(8), the consultation period is to be disregarded in working out the 30 day period
for processing an FOI request under section 15(5)(b).
Pursuant to section 24 of the FOI Act, we may need to refuse your request. We would therefore like to
consult with you and assist you to revise the scope of your request so that a practical refusal reason
does not exist.
Revising your request
The email headline of your request refers to the ‘Trusted Digital Identity Bill 2021’ but your request
itself as set out in the body of your email does not make any reference to this Bill. We wanted to
confirm whether your request related to the Trusted Digital Identity Bill 2021, or the Trusted Digital
Identity Framework. Your clarification of this will assist in determining the scope of your request.
We are also seeking your approval to exclude documents that are out of scope but are captured in our
searches due to their attachment to an email or vice versa. If you agree to this revision in scope we
will only exclude documents that do not contain the phrases set out in your request.
Charges
The processing charges which eSafety is entitled to charge are prescribed in the
Freedom of
Information (Charges) Regulations 2019. These charges include:
• searching and retrieving ($15 per hour)
• making a decision on access ($20 per hour after the first five hours, which are for free)
• photocopying a writ en document (10 cents per page)
• making a copy of a writ en document other than a photocopy ($4.40 per page)
• postage or delivery (an amount not exceeding cost of postage or delivery)
• transcribing ($4.40 per page)
• supervising, if the applicant wishes to inspect ($6.25 per half an hour, or part thereof).
eSafety wil , in accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act, advise you if you are liable to pay any
charge and provide a preliminary assessment of those charges.
Next steps
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your request with you.
Please contact the FOI Coordinator at
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx to nominate a time to discuss and refine
your request, or if you have any questions about your request.
esafety.gov.au
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
esafety.gov.au