Our ref:
FOI22/107; CM22/7081
23 June 2022
Joanna
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Joanna
Freedom of Information Request FOI22/107 – Decision letter
The purpose of this letter is to give you a decision about your request for access to documents under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) which you submitted to the Attorney-General's
Department (the department).
Your request
On 24 May 2022, you requested access to:
(1) the number of grant(s) of parole to Commonwealth offenders in the last ten years;
(2) the number of refusal(s) of Commonwealth parole release in the last ten years; and
(3) the number of Commonwealth offenders who have been released at their full-time date
without parole in the last ten years.
Please note this does not include consideration of release for offenders who meet
s.19ALB(2) of the Crimes Act 1914.
On 2 June 2022, the department wrote to you to advise that the terms of your request in its current
form were broad and would require extensive searching of the department’s holdings. The
department sought that you limit the timeframe of your request to the last two or three years to
enable the department to process your request.
On 3 June 2022, you revised the scope of your request to the last four years.
On 9 June 2022, the department acknowledged your revised request seeking access to:
documents in the possession of the department that provide statistical information about:
(1) the number of grant(s) of parole to Commonwealth offenders in the last four years;
(2) the number of refusal(s) of Commonwealth parole release in the last four years; and
(3) the number of Commonwealth offenders who have been released at their full-time date
without parole in the last four years.
A decision in relation to your request is due on 23 June 2022.
My decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to
freedom of information requests made to the department. Section 17 of the FOI Act relevantly
provides that:
(1)
Where:
(a)
a request…is made in accordance with the requirements of subsection
15(2) to an agency;
(b)
it appears from the request that the desire of the applicant is for
information that is not available in discrete form in written documents of the
agency; and
(c)
the agency could produce a written document containing the information
in discrete form by:
(i)
the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily
available to the agency for retrieving or collating stored information…
the agency shall deal with the request as if it were a request for access to a written
document so produced and containing that information and, for that purpose, this
Act applies as if the agency had such a document in its possession.
In accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act, the department has used its computer systems
to produce one document which contains information falling within the scope of your
request. The information produced in the document existed in the possession of the
department in June 2022 when your FOI request was received.
I have decided to grant access to this document in full.
Additional information
Your review rights under the FOI Act are set out at
Attachment A to this letter.
The schedule of documents at
Attachment B sets out brief information about the document within
the scope of your request and my decision in relation to access to the document.
The document to which I have decided to grant full access under the FOI Act is at
Attachment C.
Freedom of Information request FOI22/107 – Decision letter Page 2 of 3
Questions about this decision
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOI case officer for this matter is Claire, who can be
reached on (02) 6141 6666 or by email to
xxx@xx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Alaina Mitchell
A/g Assistant Secretary
International Cooperation
Attachments
Attachment A: Review rights
Attachment B: Schedule of documents
Attachment C: Document
Freedom of Information request FOI22/107 – Decision letter Page 3 of 3
Attachment A - FOI Review rights
If you are dissatisfied with the decision of the Attorney-General’s Department (the department), you
may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner review of the decision.
The department encourages applicants to consider seeking internal review as a first step as it may
provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), applications for internal review
must be made in writing within 30 days of the date of the decision letter, and be lodged in one of
the following ways:
email: xxx@xx.xxx.xx
post: Freedom of Information and Privacy Section
Strategy and Governance Branch
Attorney-General’s Department
3-5 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600
An officer of the department other than the officer who made the original decision will complete the
internal review within 30 days of receipt of your request.
Providing reasons you believe internal review of the decision is necessary will facilitate the
completion of the internal review.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review my decision. An application for review by the Information Commissioner must be made in
writing within 60 days of the date of the decision letter, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
online: https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR 10
email: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
More information about Information Commissioner review is available on the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner website. Go to https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-
information/reviews-and-complaints/information-commissioner-review/
FOI Review rights
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