Decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I have identified four documents within the scope of your request. I have decided to grant
access to these documents in full, which are currently publicly available on the OAIC website.
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If you require us to provide you with a PDF copy of these documents please kindly let us know.
External complaints
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) publishes an operational policy
for the management of external complaints about the behaviour of OAIC employees or
contractors.
2
Complainants are encouraged to raise concerns about the behaviour of staff members with
the staff member concerned. Staff members should attempt to resolve the complaint with the
individual directly.
Where the complainant prefers to raise the matter with someone other than the staff member
involved, or where the attempt to resolve the matter with the staff member involved has been
unsuccessful, the complainant should be provided with the contact details of the staff
member’s manager.
The complaint must be assessed by the manager of the staff member about whom the
complaint is made. The investigator assigned to the complaint will prepare a short, written
plan for investigation. All investigations must be quick, confidential and impartial.
Privacy complaints
The OAIC publishes an operational policy for the management of privacy complaints about the
OAIC.
3 The policy applies to any officer of the OAIC who receives a complaint from an
individual alleging that the OAIC has interfered with their privacy.
The policy outlines:
• The process for handling a first instance complaint about an act or practice on the
part of the OAIC that may be an interference with the privacy of an individual
• The role of the OAIC's privacy officers
• The process for managing a complaint made under s 36 about an act or practice of
the OAIC
1 https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2 https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/our-corporate-information/operational-information/external-
complaints-about-oaic-employees-or-contractors-overarching-policy
3 https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/our-corporate-information/operational-information/privacy-
complaints-about-the-oaic
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• The legal basis for appointing an external investigator to conduct an investigation
under s 40(1) and the role of the external investigator
• The role of Legal Services team and Corporate Services Branch in procuring and
appointing the external investigator
• The role of the relevant Assistant Commissioner or Principal Director in
progressing the s 36 privacy complaint
• Supporting the officer about whom a privacy complaint is made.
FOI complaints
Part 11 of the FOI Guidelines
4 outlines how the Information Commissioner can conduct an
investigation in response to a complaint made under s 70 of the FOI Act into action taken by
any agency in the performance of its powers under the FOI Act.
The investigation procedure is outlined at [11.21] – [11.57]. The powers of the Information
Commissioner in respect of complaint investigations are outlined below.
• The Information Commissioner may obtain information from any officer of an agency,
and make any inquiry, that he or she thinks is relevant to the investigation (s 76(2)).
• The Information Commissioner has a limited power to enter premises to carry out an
investigation or to inspect documents on the premises (s 77(1)).
• The Information Commissioner has certain compulsory powers:
o to require production of information and documents
o to require production of exempt documents
o to require a person to attend to answer questions and to take an oath or
affirmation
Information Commissioner (IC) reviews
Part 10 of the FOI Guidelines
5 covers the broad principles and procedures in the Information
Commissioner review process as set out under Part VI of the FOI Act. The general procedure
for conducting IC reviews is outlined at [10.52] – [10.60].
The Information Commissioner may conduct an IC review in whatever way the Information
Commissioner considers appropriate (s 55(2)(a)) and must use as little formality and
technicality as possible (s 55(4)(a)). This may include:
• using alternative dispute resolution methods or any other appropriate technique (s
55(2)(b));
• allowing a person to participate by any means of communication (s 55(2)(c));
• obtaining information from any person and make any inquiries that the Information
Commissioner considers appropriate (s 55(2)(d)); and
4 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-guidelines/part-11-complaints-and-investigations
5 https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-guidelines/part-10-review-by-the-information-
commissioner
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• giving written directions about the conduct of the IC review, both generally and in
particular IC reviews (s 55(2)(e)).
The steps for conducting an IC review are outlined at [10.100] – [10.115].
Conclusion
Please see the following page for information about your review rights and information about
the OAIC’s disclosure log.
Yours sincerely
Margaret Sui
Senior Lawyer
26 August 2022
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If you disagree with my decision
Internal review
You have the right to apply for an internal review of my decision under Part VI of the FOI Act.
An internal review will be conducted, to the extent possible, by an officer of the OAIC who was
not involved in or consulted in the making of my decision. If you wish to apply for an internal
review, you must do so in writing within 30 days. There is no application fee for internal
review.
If you wish to apply for an internal review, please mark your application for the attention of
the FOI Coordinator and state the grounds on which you consider that my decision should be
reviewed.
Applications for internal reviews can be submitted to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Alternatively, you can submit your application by email to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or by fax on 02
9284 9666.
Further Review
You have the right to seek review of this decision by the Information Commissioner and the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
You may apply to the Information Commissioner for a review of my decision (IC review). If you
wish to apply for IC review, you must do so in writing within 60 days. Your application must
provide an address (which can be an email address or fax number) that we can send notices to,
and include a copy of this letter. A request for IC review can be made in relation to my
decision, or an internal review decision.
It is the Information Commissioner’s view that it will usually not be in the interests of the
administration of the FOI Act to conduct an IC review of a decision, or an internal review
decision, made by the agency that the Information Commissioner heads: the OAIC. For this
reason, if you make an application for IC review of my decision, and the Information
Commissioner is satisfied that in the interests of administration of the Act it is desirable that
my decision be considered by the AAT, the Information Commissioner may decide not to
undertake an IC review.
Section 57A of the FOI Act provides that, before you can apply to the AAT for review of an FOI
decision, you must first have applied for IC review.
Applications for IC review can be submitted online at:
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https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=ICR
Alternatively, you can submit your application to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Or by email to xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or by fax on 02 9284 9666.
Accessing your information
If you would like access to the information that we hold about you, please contact
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx. More information is available on the Access our information page on our
website.
Disclosure log
Section 11C of the FOI Act requires agencies to publish online documents released to members
of the public within 10 days of release, except if they contain personal or business information
that would be unreasonable to publish.
Since the documents are available on the OAIC website, the documents will not be published
on our disclosure log.
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