Our Ref
LEX 424
DW
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear DW
Your Freedom of Information request - consultation
I refer to your request, directed to the Office of the Minister for Employment and Workplace
Relations and Minister for the Arts on 23 August 2022, for access under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the fol owing documents:
… the Minister’s incoming Minister’s brief that was prepared by the Department, and any
preceding department before the Machinery of Government Changes which came into effect
July 1 2022.
On 30 August 2022, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (department)
accepted a transfer of your request from the Minister’s Office under section 16 of the FOI
Act on the basis that the subject matter of your request is more closely connected with the
functions of the department.
Practical refusal reasons
I am writing to you, under section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act to notify you of my intention to
refuse your request, because I am satisfied that practical refusal reasons exist under
subparagraphs 24AA(1)(a) and 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act.
Scope of your request
Following the Administrative Arrangements Order made by the Governor-General, on 1 July
2022, the former Department of Education, Skil s and Employment was renamed the
Department of Education and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations was
established.
As a result of these recent machinery of government changes, the workplace relations
portfolio was also transferred to the department from the Attorney-General’s Department,
GPO Box 9828, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | dewr.gov.au | ABN 96 584 957 427
along with responsibility for the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme from the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Subsection 15(2) of the FOI Act provides that a ‘… request must provide such information as
is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency… to identify the
document that is requested’.
It is not clear whether the scope of your request is limited to the incoming Minister’s brief
that was prepared by the former Department of Education, Skills and Employment, or if it
also extends to incoming briefing material prepared by the Attorney-General’s Department
and/or the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in relation to the portfolio
responsibilities that were formally transferred to the department on 1 July 2022.
I further note that your request was sent to the department through the Right to Know
website, but it was addressed to the Office of the Minister for Employment and Workplace
Relations and Minister for the Arts. It is not clear whether you are also seeking incoming
government briefing prepared in relation to the Minister’s capacity as the Minister for Arts,
or whether it is limited to the incoming Minister’s brief that was presented to the Hon. Tony
Burke MP by the former Department of Education, Skil s and Employment on 1 June 2022.
Size of your request
I have consulted with departmental officers in the Finance and Budget Division regarding the
number and nature of briefs held by the department which are likely to be relevant to your
request, and the work involved in processing your request.
Noting that the scope of your request is unclear, the department has considered the
incoming Minister’s brief that was prepared by the former Department of Education, Skills
and Employment for Minister Burke for the purposes of estimating the work involved in
processing your request.
This brief alone contains over 600 pages. Due to the significant volume of material, the
sensitive nature of incoming Ministers’ briefs and the need to undertake extensive
consultation, I estimate that processing your request would take more than 60 hours.
Suggestions for clarifying and narrowing the scope of your request
A targeted and limited revised scope is more likely to remove the practical refusal reason
and al ow the department to process your request.
To assist you in clarifying and narrowing your request, you may wish to consider limiting the
scope of your request to the incoming Minister’s brief that was presented to the Hon. Tony
Burke MP by the former Department of Education, Skil s and Employment on 1 June 2022.
In addition to the above, you may also wish to limit the scope of your request for the
incoming Minister’s brief so that it relates to a specific issue or issues relevant to the
department’s portfolio responsibilities, particular election commitment, or a portion of the
incoming government brief prepared by a particular area of the department. In this regard,
you may wish to review the department’s Organisation Chart, available here:
https://www.dese.gov.au/about-us/resources/organisation-chart-dewr.
At this time, you may also wish to consider excluding attachments and those parts of the
incoming Minister’s brief that have been published on the department’s disclosure log:
https://www.dese.gov.au/about-us/corporate-reporting/freedom-information-foi/foi-
disclosure-log.
Action required from you under the FOI Act
Before I make a final decision on your request, you can submit a revised request.
Under the FOI Act, you must do one of the fol owing things in the next 14 days:
• make a revised request;
• tel us that you do not want to revise your request; or
• withdraw your request.
Contact officer
I am the contact officer for your request. During the consultation period you can contact me
to ask for help revising your request by emailing
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Your response wil be expected by
20 September 2022. If I do not receive a response from
you, your request wil be taken to be withdrawn by the operation of the FOI Act.
Further assistance
If you have any questions, please email xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Claudia
Authorised decision maker
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
6 September 2022
Attachment A
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation
to an FOI request if the work involved in processing the request would substantial y and
unreasonably divert the resources of the department from its other operations.
Section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act sets out certain factors which the department must consider
when determining whether providing access in relation to a request would substantial y and
unreasonably divert resources. The department must specifically have regard to the
resources that would have to be used for:
• identifying, locating or col ating the documents
• 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 in
relation to the request
• making a copy, or an edited copy, of the document
• notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
Section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act provides that the request is taken to have been withdrawn at
the end of the consultation period if:
• the applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice
• the applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
Section 24AB(6) says that the applicant must, before the end of the consultation period, do
one of the following, by written notice to the agency or Minister:
• withdraw the request
• make a revised request
• indicate that the applicant does not wish to revise the request.
Document Outline
