Our ref:
FOI22/182; CM22/22832
23 September 2022
BE
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear BE
Freedom of Information Request FOI22/182 – Decision letter
I am writing to advise you of my decision regarding 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).
Background details of your request
On 4 August 2022, you made your request for documents to the department. Following clarification, on
10 August 2022, you confirmed the fol owing scope:
(1) Question Time Briefs (QTB) prepared by the Attorney-General’s Department (the department) for
the Attorney-General’s Office (the Office), excluding portfolio agencies, for sitting days 27 July to
4 August 2022.
Cleared briefs provided by the department to the Office are included (showing tracked changes from
the previous cleared version), but uncleared working drafts held within the department are not.
Duplicates wil be excluded, along with documents which are assessed as functionally duplicate (for
example, where the only update has been to things like date, formatting or minor
editorial/grammatical changes but no substantive text changes).
(2) The department’s current QTB index (as at 4 August 2022).
Fol owing our acknowledgement of your request on 11 August 2022, the department commenced
processing your request. Preliminary processing steps, including searching for and obtaining documents
and conducting consultations within the department, were undertaken.
As outlined in our letter to you of 5 September 2022, following these preliminary processing steps and
analysis of the material within scope, we determined that processing your request with the scope you
confirmed on 10 August 2022 would substantial y and unreasonably divert the resources of this
department.
The department provided you with a notice of intention to practical y refuse the request, and asked you to
consider narrowing the scope of your request. The processing of your FOI request was suspended as at that
date. On 7 September 2022 you agreed to narrow the scope of your request to part 2 only – the
department’s QTB index as at 4 August 2022.
Your agreement to narrow the scope of your request means that a practical refusal reason no longer exists.
Accordingly, the time period for processing your request resumed, and a decision in relation to this request
was due on 19 September 2022.
My decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to freedom of
information requests made to the department.
I have identified one document that falls within the scope of your request. I did this by making inquiries of
staff likely to be able to identify relevant documents and arranging for comprehensive searches of relevant
departmental electronic holdings. In this case, a member of the department’s Ministerial and Executive
Support Section searched the department’s Parliamentary Document Management System and extracted
the final version of the QTB index that was sent from the department to the Attorney-General’s Office.
In making my decision regarding access to this document, I have considered:
• the terms of your request
• the content of the document identified
• the provisions of the FOI Act, and
• the FOI Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner (the Guidelines).
I have decided to grant access in part to one document. I have decided to remove material that may be
regarded as irrelevant to your request under s 22(1) of the FOI Act.
Section 22 of the FOI Act provides that if an agency decides to give access to a document that would
disclose information that would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to the request, and it is possible for
the agency to prepare a copy (an
edited copy) of the document, modified by deletions, the agency
must prepare the edited copy and give the applicant access to it.
In deciding to delete material which would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant to a request, the FOI
Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) (the Guidelines) provide
at paragraph 3.95 that:
It is important for agencies to keep in mind that the implicit purpose of s 22 is to facilitate access to
information promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost through the deletion of material that can
readily be deleted, and that an applicant has either agreed or is likely to agree that the material is
irrelevant
I have excluded material under s 22(1) on the basis that it is out of scope of your request, which sought the
question time brief index for the department and not portfolio agencies. The excluded material comprises
index entries for portfolio agencies.
Additional information
Your review rights under the FOI Act are set out at
Attachment A to this letter.
The document to which I have decided to grant partial access under the FOI Act is at
Attachment B.
Freedom of Information request FOI22/182 – Decision letter Page 2 of 4
Questions about this decision
If you wish to discuss this decision, the FOI case officer for this matter is Dana, who can be reached on
(02) 6141 6666 or by email to xxx@xx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
xxxxx Christensen
Director
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section
Attachments
Attachment A:
Review rights
Attachment B: Document
Freedom of Information request FOI22/182 – Decision letter Page 3 of 4
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 s 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 s 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 fol owing 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 at https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-
complaints/information-commissioner-review/.
Freedom of Information request FOI22/182 – Decision letter Page 4 of 4
