FOI 54669
Request consultation notice due to existence of a practical refusal
reason under section 24AB of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 24AB consultation notice Suzanne (Position Number 62210871),
Information Access Officer, Information Access Unit, Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch,
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Applicant:
Mr Arthur Jordan
Decision date:
12 December 2022
FOI reference number:
LEX 54669
Sent by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Jordan,
Freedom of Information Request: LEX 54669
Purpose of this notice
1. The purpose of this notice is to advise you (as required under section 24AB of the
Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act)) that I intend to refuse your request on the basis that a
practical refusal reason exists, as defined by section 24AA of the FOI Act.
2. Based on the terms of your request, and from initial searches undertaken to respond to your
request, I am of the view that a practical refusal reason exists because:
a. Processing your request, as best the Department can understand the terms, is likely to
result in a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources from
its other operations (section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act).
Authority to make decision
3. I, Suzanne (Position Number 62210871), Information Access Officer, Information Access
Unit, Client Rehabilitation Access Branch, am an officer authorised by the Secretary of the
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Department to make decisions about access to documents in the possession of the
Department in accordance with section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Scope of your request
4. On 9 November 2022, you made a request for access to documents in the possession of the
Department. Your request sought access to:
‘…[On 02 Mar 22, Alison Hale of DVA stated in a letter the fol owing:-
"We wil bear your views in mind when providing advice to the Government about
veterans’ legislation reform." As there has been a change of Government since May
2022, I seek a copy of the Department’s Incoming Government Brief for 2022. I also
seek any and all documents between the Department to the Minister(s) relating to
all instances of ". . providing advice to the Government about veterans’ legislation
reform" for the last three (3) years. Any private details can be redacted, but NOT
business details of Australian Public Servants and other related Staff including but
not limited to names, email address and business phone numbers. These are to be
treated as "in scope"…’
5. On 16 November 2022, the Department acknowledged your request via email.
6. The Department contacted you on 2 December 2022, requesting an extension of time.
7. You have agreed to an extension of 14 days, with the new decision date due by 23 December
2022.
Power to refuse a request
8. Section 24 of the FOI Act provides that if the Department is satisfied that a practical refusal
reason exists in relation to a request, the Department must undertake a consultation
process with you, and if, after that consultation process, the Department remains satisfied
that the practical refusal reason stil exists, the Department may refuse to give you access to
the documents subject to the request.
9. However, before I make a decision to refuse your request you have an opportunity to revise
your request to remove the practical refusal reason. This is called a ‘request consultation
process’. Due to the Christmas shutdown period, you have 12 days to respond to this notice
in one of the ways set out below at page 6. As mentioned below, you can request more time
to consider and respond to this notice. Please let me know if you would like additional time
to respond.
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When does a practical refusal reason exist (section 24AA of the FOI Act)
10. The practical refusal reason applicable to your request is that:
a. processing your request, as best the Department can understand the terms, is likely to
result in a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources from
its other operations (section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act).
Request is substantial
11. Under section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act, the Department must have regard to the resources
that would have to be used for:
• identifying, locating or col ating the documents within the filing system of the
agency;
• 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
with any person or body in relation to the request);
• making a copy or an edited copy, of the document; and
• notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
12. Further, the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of
the FOI Act (
FOI Guidelines) identify matters that may be relevant when deciding whether
processing the request will unreasonably divert an agency’s resources from its other
functions. These include:
• the staffing resources available to the agency for FOI processing;
• the impact that processing a request may have on other work in the agency,
including FOI processing;
• whether an applicant has cooperated in framing a request to reduce the processing
workload;
• whether there is a significant public interest in the documents requested; and
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• other steps taken by an agency or minister to publish information of the kind
requested by an applicant.
13. Section 24AA(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to
a request for documents if the work involved in processing the request would substantial y
and unreasonably divert the resources of the department from its other operations.
14. The part of your request which I have determined to be voluminous for the purposes of
section 24AA(1)(a) fol ows:
‘…I also seek any and all documents between the Department to the Minister(s) relating
to all instances of ". . providing advice to the Government about veterans’ legislation
reform" for the last three (3) years. Any private details can be redacted, but NOT
business details of Australian Public Servants and other related Staff including but not
limited to names, email address and business phone numbers. These are to be treated
as "in scope"…’
15. As the scope of your request is broad and the date period of your request is for the last
three years, a 5% sample of documents found to be within scope has been conducted by the
relevant business area.
16. Documents found to be ‘in scope’ within Parliamentary Document Records (PDRs) have been
searched for using search criteria ‘legislation reform’ and ‘legislative reform’.
17. Using the above search criteria, a total of 204 PDRs were returned, with 10 PDRs further
reviewed for the purposes of the 5% sampling.
18. These 10 PDRs include a total of 44 documents and 553 associated pages.
19. Two sampled PDRs would require al business areas within the Department to review the
documents to assess for sensitivities, with the other 8 PDRs requiring assessment by at least
one other business area.
20. Based on the sample size of 10 PDRs and the associated 553 pages, the average number of
pages per PDR equals 55.
21. 204 (total number of PDRs) x 55 (average number of pages) equals 11,220 pages.
22. A significant amount of time would be required for the relevant business area to pull and
col ate the documents in scope, and review these documents to identify sensitivities.
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23. In addition to this, I estimate that 187 hours of processing time would be required for the
Information Access Unit (IAU) to process with this request once al documents within scope
have been collated and business sensitivities noted. The reasons for this are as follows:
• It is roughly estimated that there are approximately 11,220 pages of material
relevant to your request in over 204 PDR documents.
• As there are approximately 11,220 pages in scope, assuming this material can be
converted, collated, analysed and a decision made at an average of 1 minute per
page, this equates to approximately 187 (11,220/60) hours of processing time.
• A statement of reasons will need to be provided to you. I anticipate that it would
take approximately 2 hours to draft the statement of reason for this decision.
• Further time would then be required for the release bundle to undergo quality
assurance and additional time to apply redactions to the release bundle.
24. Taking these factors into account, I have concluded the request is substantial.
Request is unreasonable
25. I have also considered whether the substantial resource burden would be unreasonable
having regard to the following:
• Approximately 187 hours
of processing time is, at face value, an unreasonable
burden for a single FOI request, for a single business area, taking into account the
need to process multiple requests at any given time, and the impact such a burden
would have on responding to other FOI applicants and for the relevant business
area to undertake their designated duties.
• Due to the broad nature of your request, the relevant business area would be
required to spend a significant amount of time and resources in document retrieval
and scoping activities.
26. Taking the above factors into account, I am of the view that the request as it currently stands
is unreasonable, as well as substantial.
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Ways you can revise the scope of your request
27. You now have an opportunity to revise your request so that the grounds for a practical
refusal are removed.
28. Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more
manageable or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by
providing more specific information about exactly what documents you are interested in, we
wil be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive resources to
process documents you are not interested in.
29. For example, you may want to consider:
• providing further clarification about the information/specific documents you are seeking
access to; and /or
• narrowing the scope of documents to a more specific time period
30. Please note that even if you do modify your request, it is possible that a practical refusal
reason under section 24AA may still exist and the Department may need further time to
process your revised request. This will depend on the revision you agree to make. As far as is
reasonably practicable, we are happy to provide you with further information to assist you in
revising your request so that it removes the practical refusal grounds.
Next steps
31. Before the end of the consultation period, which is
COB 23 December 2022 (being 12 days
from receiving this notice due to the Christmas shutdown period), you must do one of the
following, in writing:
• withdraw the request;
• make a revised request; or
• indicate that you do not wish to revise the request.
32. During this period, you can ask me for help to revise your request. If you revise your request
in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal grounds outlined above, we will
recommence processing it.
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33. If you indicate you do not wish to revise your request, the Department wil proceed to make
a decision on whether to refuse the request on the grounds that processing your request wil
result in a diversion of the Department’s resources under section 24(1) of the FOI Act.
34. If you do not respond in one of these ways within 12 days (by
COB 23 December 2022 due to
the Christmas shutdown period), the request wil be taken to have been withdrawn pursuant
to section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act.
35. If you need more time to respond, please contact the Information Access Unit via the below
contacts, within the 12 day period to discuss an extension of time.
Suspension of processing time
36. Please note under section 24AB(8) of the FOI Act, the time for processing your FOI request is
suspended from the day you receive this notice until the day you do one of the things listed
above.
37. An extract of the provisions of the FOI Act that are relevant to this notice are set out at
Schedule 1.
Contact us
38. If you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the Information Access
Unit using the following details:
Post:
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne (Position Number 62210871)
Information Access Officer
Information Access Unit
Client Rehabilitation and Access Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
12 December 2022
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FOI 54669
Schedule 1
Schedule of relevant provisions in the FOI Act
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Requests for access (as related to the requirements for requests)
Persons may request access
(1) Subject to section 15A, a person who wishes to obtain access to a document of an agency
or an official document of a Minister may request access to the document.
Requirements for request
(2)
The request must:
(a)
be in writing; and
(aa) state that the request is an application for the purposes of this Act; and
(b)
provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably necessary to
enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister, to identify it; and
(c)
give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the applicant (for
example, by providing an electronic address to which notices may be sent by
electronic communication).
(2A) The request must be sent to the agency or Minister. The request may be sent in any of the
following ways:
(a)
delivery to an officer of the agency, or a member of the staff of the Minister, at the
address of any central or regional office of the agency or Minister specified in a
current telephone directory;
(b)
postage by pre-paid post to an address mentioned in paragraph (a);
(c)
sending by electronic communication to an electronic address specified by the
agency or Minister.
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Power to refuse request--diversion of resources etc.
(1)
If an agency or Minister is satisfied, when dealing with a request for a document, that a
practical refusal reason exists in relation to the request (see section 24AA), the agency or
Minister:
(a)
must undertake a request consultation process (see section 24AB); and
(b)
if, after the request consultation process, the agency or Minister is satisfied that
the practical refusal reason still exists--the agency or Minister may refuse to give
access to the document in accordance with the request.
(2)
For the purposes of this section, the agency or Minister may treat 2 or more requests as a
single request if the agency or Minister is satisfied that:
(a)
the requests relate to the same document or documents; or
(b)
the requests relate to documents, the subject matter of which is substantially the
same.
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24AA When does a practical refusal reason exist?
(1)
For the purposes of section 24, a practical refusal reason exists in relation to a request for a
document if either (or both) of the fol owing applies:
(a)
the work involved in processing the request:
(i)
in the case of an agency--would substantial y and unreasonably divert the
resources of the agency from its other operations; or
(ii) in the case of a Minister--would substantially and unreasonably interfere
with the performance of the Minister's functions;
(b)
the request does not satisfy the requirement in paragraph 15(2)(b) (identification
of documents).
(2)
Subject to subsection (3), but without limiting the matters to which the agency or Minister
may have regard, in deciding whether a practical refusal reason exists, the agency or
Minister must have regard to the resources that would have to be used for the fol owing:
(a)
identifying, locating or collating the documents within the filing system of the
agency, or the office of the Minister;
(b)
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:
(i)
examining the document; or
(ii)
consulting with any person or body in relation to the request;
(c)
making a copy, or an edited copy, of the document;
(d)
notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
(3)
In deciding whether a practical refusal reason exists, an agency or Minister must not have
regard to:
(a)
any reasons that the applicant gives for requesting access; or
(b)
the agency's or Minister's belief as to what the applicant's reasons are for
requesting access; or
(c)
any maximum amount, specified in the regulations, payable as a charge for
processing a request of that kind.
24AB What is a request consultation process?
Scope
(1)
This section sets out what is a request consultation process for the purposes of section 24.
Requirement to notify
(2)
The agency or Minister must give the applicant a written notice stating the following:
(a)
an intention to refuse access to a document in accordance with a request;
(b)
the practical refusal reason;
(c)
the name of an officer of the agency or member of staff of the Minister (the
contact person ) with whom the applicant may consult during a period;
(d)
details of how the applicant may contact the contact person;
(e)
that the period (the consultation period ) during which the applicant may consult
with the contact person is 14 days after the day the applicant is given the notice.
Assistance to revise request
(3)
If the applicant contacts the contact person during the consultation period in accordance
with the notice, the agency or Minister must take reasonable steps to assist the applicant
to revise the request so that the practical refusal reason no longer exists.
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(4)
For the purposes of subsection (3), reasonable steps includes the fol owing:
(a)
giving the applicant a reasonable opportunity to consult with the contact person;
(b)
providing the applicant with any information that would assist the applicant to
revise the request.
Extension of consultation period
(5)
The contact person may, with the applicant's agreement, extend the consultation period by
written notice to the applicant.
Outcome of request consultation process
(6)
The applicant must, before the end of the consultation period, do one of the fol owing, by
written notice to the agency or Minister:
(a)
withdraw the request;
(b)
make a revised request;
(c)
indicate that the applicant does not wish to revise the request.
(7)
The request is taken to have been withdrawn under subsection (6) at the end of the
consultation period if:
(a)
the applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice; or
(b)
the applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
Consultation period to be disregarded in calculating processing period
(8)
The period starting on the day an applicant is given a notice under subsection (2) and
ending on the day the applicant does one of the things mentioned in paragraph (6)(b) or (c)
is to be disregarded in working out the 30 day period mentioned in paragraph 15(5)(b).
Note: Paragraph 15(5)(b) requires that an agency or Minister take al reasonable steps to notify an applicant of a
decision on the applicant's request within 30 days after the request is made.
No more than one request consultation process required (9)
To avoid doubt, this section only obliges the agency or Minister to undertake a request
consultation process once for any particular request.
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Document Outline
