limited drop boxes to circumvent the open access principles of Right to Know of
government information.”
Decision
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I have decided to refuse your request for documents under s 24A of the FOI Act on the basis
that al reasonable steps have been taken to find the documents you requested but no
documents exist.
Reasons for decision
Material taken into account
In making my decision, I have had regard to the fol owing:
• your freedom of information request dated 4 December 2022;
• the FOI Act, in particular section 24A;
• the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of the FOI
Act (the FOI Guidelines), specifical y paragraphs [2.33] – [2.34] and [3.85];
• searches conducted by the OAIC’s Freedom of Information Dispute Resolution line areas.
Documents cannot be found or do not exist – s 24A
I have refused your request for documents under s 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that al
reasonable steps have been taken to find the documents and no documents exist.
Section 24A provides:
Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not exist or have not
been received
Document lost or non-existent
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) al reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency's or Minister's possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
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Searches Undertaken
In conducting searches for documents relevant to your request, I consulted with the OAIC’s
Freedom of Information Dispute Resolution line area.
The line area provided the fol owing responses to the scope of your request:
“I have undertaken a search and I have not found any relevant documents that fal within
the scope of this request.
Specific details of the searches I have undertaken are:
1. Searching content manager for relevant documents using the search terms ‘drop
box’, ‘dropbox’, ‘sigbox’, ‘file shar*)
2. I have reviewed the Disclosure log desktop review Disclosure Log Desktop Review -
Home (oaic.gov.au) and there is no mention in that report of agencies using drop
boxes.
3. I have reviewed agency comments in the disclosure log desk top review container
folder in content manager and there are no comments or documents relevant to
agencies using drop boxes.
4. I have searched Resolve for general enquiries and our responses using the terms
‘drop box’, ‘dropbox’, ‘sigbox’, ‘file shar* and ‘disclosure log’.”
“I have conducted a search of the FOIDR mailbox [inbox and actioned items] based on the
terms ‘drop box’, ‘dropbox’, ‘file share’ and ‘file sharing’ and could not locate any relevant
records. The only results produced under the term ‘dropbox’ were notifications from
agencies to the OAIC about delivery of submissions or documents to the OAIC via dropbox
for the purposes of an IC review application.
I have also conducted a search of Enquiry files in Resolve based on each of the above
search terms in the Summary screen, however this only produced one FOI-related result in
2021 [EN21/04905] which is not relevant, as it was an enquiry from an agency about
delivering documents to the OAIC using a dropbox. No FOI-related results were produced in
2022, or in previous years 2019 or 2020. [There were a small number of privacy-related
enquiries with respect to the handling of personal information through use of drop box
platforms, but this is not relevant to the FOI request].
In relation to the FOI applicant’s enquiry ‘what steps [the OAIC] is taking or intends to take
to rein in this intentional use of these one use time limited drop boxes’, I am not aware of
any investigations having been undertaken into this issue nor any regulatory advice on the
issue.
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I have also reviewed FOI complaints and IC reviews summary fields based on these terms
which did not yield any results. The issue strings in FOI complaints and IC review files do not
capture this particular issue so there appears no utility in undertaking a search of issues.”
“I have undertaken searches through my inbox using the terms drop box , dropbox ,
sigbox , file shar*. I have not found any documents within the scope of the request.”
I have reviewed the numerous searches undertaken by the line area and am satisfied that no
documents relevant to your request were found. Based on the searches conducted and the
information before me at this time, I am satisfied that no documents exist within the scope
of your request on the OAIC’s systems.
Conclusion
Based on the advice of the Freedom of Information Dispute Resolution line area who
conducted the various searches and the terms of your request, I am satisfied that all
reasonable steps have been taken to find documents that fal within the scope of your
request and that the documents do not exist.
Therefore, I refuse your request for access to documents under s 24A of the FOI Act on the
basis that no documents exist.
Your review rights are outlined on the fol owing page.
Yours sincerely
Alessia Mercuri
Lawyer
3 January 2023
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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 usual y 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.
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Applications for IC review can be submitted online at:
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.
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