LEX2977
Andrew
By email: RighttoKnow
Dear Andrew
FOI Request: Freedom of Information Request No. LEX2977
Your FOI Request
On 20 May 2022 you wrote to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) seeking access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to:
al documents relating to the preparation and making of the Commonwealth Electoral (COVID
Enfranchisement) Amendment Regulations 2022, including any ministerial briefs and internal
or external correspondence.
On 3 August 2022, you agreed to a narrow the scope of the FOI request to:
Documents of the fol owing kinds/descriptions that relate to the preparation and making of the
Commonwealth Electoral (COVID Enfranchisement) Amendment Regulations 2022:
letters, drafts of legislation, drafts of explanatory material, policy tables, policy papers,
executive briefs and ministerial briefs
any external email correspondence between staff of the AEC and 1) relevant ministers, 2)
staff of relevant ministerial offices, 3) staff of the Department of Finance
You also agreed to extend the timeframe of this FOI request to 20 July 2022 to al ow the AEC further
time to process your request (s 15AA FOI Act).
Fol owing this, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner granted a further extension to
19 August 2022 on the basis that the request is complex and voluminous (s 15AC FOI Act).
We thank you for your cooperation and understanding in this regard.
I am writing to you today to give you my decision in relation to the documents within scope for this
FOI request.
Identification of Documents
I identified 15 documents that fel within the scope of your FOI Request (the ‘Relevant Documents’).
The schedule of documents in Attachment A provides a description of each of the Relevant
Documents and the access decision for each of the Relevant Documents.
I did this by contacting the relevant business areas and requesting a copy of al relevant documents.
10 Mort Street, Canberra ACT 2601 P 02 6271 4411 F 02 6215 9999
www.aec.gov.au
Decision
With regard to the Relevant Documents identified in Attachment A, I have decided:
Refuse access: Documents 1-15.
More information, including my reasons for my decision, is set out in Attachment B.
Review Rights
You are entitled to seek review of this decision. Attachment C sets out your rights to apply for review
if you are dissatisfied with my decision.
Yours sincerely
Wil iam Muel er
Principal Government Lawyer
Legal and Procurement Branch
19 August 2022
10 Mort Street, Canberra ACT 2601 P 02 6271 4411 F 02 6215 9999
www.aec.gov.au