Reference:
FOI 22/27
Contact:
FOI Team
e-mail:
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Ginette Van Praag
By email only:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Ginette
Freedom of Information Request – FOI 22/27
On 23 March 2022, the Department of Finance (Finance) received your email requesting
access to the following under the Commonwealth
Freedom of Information Act 1982
(FOI Act):
1. Please provide copies of the approved floor plans, layout and infrastructure (plumbing,
wiring, ventilation and piping) building plans for the residential cabins currently in situ and
undergoing construction for all Centres for National Resilience in Australia - All States and
Territories.
2. Please provide all supporting evidence in your possession that these Centres for National
Resilience are an essential part of National Infrastructure for managing quarantine of
persons.
3. Please provide all supporting evidence in your possession relating to the use of these Centres
for National Resilience in the absence of a declared state of emergency.
4. Please provide all supporting evidence in your possession relating to the function of
pipework connecting to the ventilation systems in cabins including what would be connected
to such pipework once these cabins are installed in situ.
5. Please provide all supporting evidence in your possession relating to evacuation procedures
of cabin residents in the event of an emergency.
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with notice that the work involved in processing
your request in its current form would substantially and unreasonably divert Finance’s
resources from its other operations. This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’ (s 24AA). The
purpose of the practical refusal is to ensure that the capacity of agencies to discharge their
normal functions are not undermined by processing requests that are unreasonably
burdensome.
On this basis, I intend to refuse access to the documents you requested. However, before I
make a final decision to do this, you have an opportunity to revise your request. This is
called a ‘request consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You
have
14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below. Your response is
due on or before
Thursday, 21 April 2022.
One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603 Internet www.finance.gov.au
Authorised decision-maker
I am authorised by the Secretary of Finance under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make
decisions in relation to FOI requests.
Why I intend to refuse your request
Under section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act, I must have regard to the resources that would have
to be used by Finance for:
identifying, locating or collating the documents within the filing system of the
agency or the office of the Minister
deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a document to which the request
relates, or to grant access to an edited copy of such a document (including resources
that would have to be used for examining the document or consulting with any
person or body in relation to the request)
making a copy or an edited copy, of the document
notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
I have decided that a practical refusal reason exists because your request requires Finance to:
review approximately 865 files consisting of a minimum of one page per file,
relevant to your request, estimated to take a minimum of 107 hours to review and
make an access decision
a significant number of pages will likely require redactions and
your request relates to documents that contain extensive third party information,
which requires Finance to undertake third party consultation, and to consider any
objections to release submitted by those third parties.
Request consultation process: clarifying the terms of your request
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more
manageable or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by
providing more targeted or specific information about exactly what documents you are
interested in, so that Finance will be able to pinpoint the documents quickly and avoid using
excessive resources to process documents you are not interested in.
Further action required
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in writing:
withdraw your request
revise your request
tell us that you seek to proceed with your original request
The consultation period runs for 14 days and starts on the day after you receive this notice.
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During this period, you are welcome to seek assistance from the Contact Officer I have
listed below to revise your request. If you revise your request in a way that adequately
addresses the practical refusal grounds outlined above, Finance will recommence processing
your request.
Please note, the time taken to consult with you regarding your request is not taken into
account for the purposes of the 30 day statutory processing period in which Finance is
required to finalise your FOI request.
If you do not respond electing to do one of the three options listed above during the
consultation period or you do not consult the contact person during this period, the FOI Act
deems your request to have been withdrawn.
Contact Officer
If you would like to revise your request or have any questions, the Contact Officer for this
request is:
Jonathan Messieh
FOI Officer
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Approved for electronic transmission
Hew Atkin
Assistant Secretary
Quarantine Infrastructure Delivery
Department of Finance
7 April 2022
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