14 February 2023
Nathan Barton
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
nbn ref: FOI2223030.003
Dear Nathan
Request for Information
I am writing in relation to your correspondence to
nbn’s FOI Officer email address on 25 January 2023
seeking:
“
copies of documents pertaining to the condition and serviceability of NBN technologies servicing
Grieve Rd Rochedale QLD including estimated service life, and repair/replacement requirements
and schedules”.
The
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act) provides that members of the public have a
general right of access to specific documents, subject to certain exemptions. Under
section 15(2) of the
FOI Act, a valid FOI request must state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act
and provide such information concerning the requested documents as is reasonably necessary to enable
nbn to identify them, among other things.
nbn’s Commercial Activities Carve-out I refer you to
nbn’s commercial activities carve-out (
CAC) or carve-out from the application of the FOI
Act and refer you t
o section 7(3A) and Part II of Schedule 2 of the FOI Act. Please be aware that
documents that are in relation to
nbn’s “commercial activities” are not subject to the operation of the FOI
Act and would be exempt from release. The following link summarises and provides
general background
information concerning
nbn’s commercial activities carve-out. That background document references
two reviews by the Australian Information Commissioner that considered
nbn’s CAC: the
Internode
Decision (in January 2012) and the
Battersby Decision (in July 2013).
While I am not making a formal decision and have not reviewed any documents, I note that there is a
distinct possibility that documents falling within the terms of this request may be subject to the CAC,
among other exemptions from release.
Scope of Request
Your request seeks “
copies of documents pertaining to the condition and serviceability of NBN
technologies servicing” a specified road. It is not clear to me what you are seeking by this. Are you
seeking only documents that include the data types listed later in your request, being “
estimated service
life, and repair/replacement requirements and schedules”? In this regard, what do you mean by
“
repair/replacement requirements and schedules”?
Please also clarify what you mean by “NBN technologies”. Do you mean the
nbn™ network itself?
In addition, the subject timeframe in respect of which these documents may have been generated is not
defined.
Level 13, 100 Mount Street, North Sydney NSW 2060
Phone (02) 9926 1900
© 2023 nbn co limited I ABN 86 136 533 741
Fax (02) 9926 1901
Web nbn.com.au
Do you instead seek information as to condition/serviceability of
nbn’s network rather than documents as
such? If so, please list the types of information you seek if there are any in addition to those listed in
your request. If you are seeking documents, are you seeking a single document, such as the latest
document, that contains the relevant information or “
all documents” containing that information?
As currently drafted, the terms of your request are not sufficiently clear and the documents that fall within
the parameters of the request are therefore not reasonably identifiable. Accordingly, your FOI request,
in its current form, is invalid. Until you clarify those terms,
nbn will not formally acknowledge your
request, and the statutory period for completing this request will not commence. In that regard, please
inform me if there is a specific document, or set of documents, which you are seeking – at least to the
extent that you can identify them.
In light of the time likely to be required to process this request in its current form, I am also of the opinion
that it would most likely be an unreasonable diversion of
nbn’s resources, per
sections 24 and 24AA of
the FOI Act. This is because there are various types of documents that may fit within the scope of your
request. Moreover, a request for “all documents” would require
nbn staff to undertake searches through
all of its hard copy, digital and email records of more 5000 staff members and a significant number of
consultants working with
nbn.
As a starting point, it may be helpful to specify a given work area at
nbn, such as only documents held
by our Contact Centre. Otherwise, I would be happy to discuss how to best clarify the scope of the
request – and feel free to call me on the number below.
FOI Processing Period and Charges
The statutory period for processing an FOI application is 30 days, subject to any suspension of the
processing period or extension of the time for deciding the application. Please also note that
nbn may
impose processing charges in relation to FOI requests. You will be advised of any charges in relation to
your request.
For your reference, processing charges for FOI applications are set by regulation and may be found at
nbn’s website – and, in particular, its
FOI page. The following hyperlink outlines
nbn’s approach to
processing charges: Submission to the Office of the Australian Information Commission
er Charges
Review. In particular,
nbn supports – and will generally apply – Recommendation 24 in the
Hawke
Review into FOI Legislation, (
the Hawke Review) as a benchmark in reviewing FOI applications. For
your reference, Recommendation 24 suggests a 40-hour ceiling for all FOI processing charges. More
information about charges under the FOI Act is available on the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner’s (
OAIC) website and in part 4 of the OAIC
FOI Guidelines.
Disclosure Log
In accordance with the FOI Act,
nbn is required to publish documents provided to FOI applicants within
10 working days after release. The information you seek may be published in full (as released to you) or
with some additional redactions as per section 11C of the FOI Act. For further information and other
details, please visit our
Disclosure Log on nbn’s website.
Please feel free to contact me on (02) 9031 3022 if you have any questions, or if you would like to
discuss your request.
Yours sincerely
Rohan Singh
Freedom of Information Officer
Level 13, 100 Mount Street, North Sydney NSW 2060
Phone (02) 9926 1900
© 2023 nbn co limited I ABN 86 136 533 741
Fax (02) 9926 1901
Web nbn.com.au