Australian Government
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
16 April 2015
FOI Request FA 15/03/00336
File Number ADF2015/8721
Sent by email to
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Pinar Yilmaz
Freedom of Information – notice that applicant is liable to pay a charge (s.29(1))
This letter refers to your request received on 4 March 2015 seeking access under the
Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the following documents:
“I am asking the department to disclose any relevant documents in relation to
Terrorist Vicken Hovsepian’s entry to Australia, including but not limited to the
incoming passenger card filled by this terrorist Vicken Hovsepian when he entered in
Australia clearly showing his answer to the question : “ Do you have any criminal
conviction/s?”.
I am writing to advise you of my decision that you are liable to pay a charge for processing
this request. I am an officer authorised under s.23(1) of the Act to make decisions in relation
to FOI requests, including the decision to impose a charge.
As provided under s.29 of the Act and the
Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations
1982 (the Regulations), I have undertaken a preliminary assessment of the amount of charges
you are liable to pay and have assessed that to be $82.40.
Basis for my preliminary assessment of the charge
I have assessed the work the department would need to do to process your request and have
calculated the following breakdown of charges.
Document estimate
The documents within the scope of your request
include an email chain and pax cards.
Number of relevant documents: 5 documents
Number of relevant pages: 14 pages
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 BELCONNEN ACT 2616 • Telephone 02 6264 1111 • Facsimile 02 6225 6970 • Website: www.immi.gov.au
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Processing charges
Search and retrieval
Task
Time (hours)
Cost @ $15/hr
Search and retrieval of relevant electronic and registry files
0.33
$5.00
Search and retrieval of relevant pages in file
1.50
$22.50
Preparation of schedule of documents
0.25
$3.75
Search and retrieval subtotal
2.08
$31.25
Decision making
Task
Time (hours)
Cost @ $20/hr
Examination of documents
1.17
$23.33
Preparation of documents for release
1.17
$23.33
Consultation with third parties
2.00
$40.00
Preparation of notice of access decision
3.22
$64.48
Decision making subtotal (before deduction of 5 free hours)
7.56
$151.15
Decision making subtotal (after deduction of 5 free hours)
2.56
$51.15
Estimated totals and deposit
Estimated total
$82.40
Deposit required
$20.00
The time you have to respond and what you need to do
The Act provides you with 30 days to respond, in writing, to this notice, which is Saturday 16
May 2015. However, as this date falls on a non-working day, s.36(2) of the
Acts
Interpretation Act 1901 provides that the latest date you may respond is the next working day,
which is Monday 18 May 2015.
Therefore, by
Monday 18 May 2015 you must do one of the following things:
• agree to pay the charge;
• contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not
imposed and explain your reasons; or
• withdraw your request.
In deciding whether a charge should be reduced or not imposed, s.29(5) of the Act requires
me to take into account:
• whether payment of the charge, or part of it, would cause you financial hardship
• whether giving access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the
interest of a substantial section of the public
• any other relevant matter.
Please note that if you do not provide a written response by Monday 18 May 2015 your
request will be taken to have been withdrawn (by you) under s.29(2) of the Act.
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Payment
As the charge exceeds $25, you will be required to pay a deposit of $20 if the charge is
imposed.
The deposit will be refunded if the department fails to make a decision on your request within
the statutory time limit. The deposit can be paid by cheque, money order, credit card or
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
Cheques and money orders should be made payable to "Collector of Public Monies DIBP"
and sent to:
Freedom of Information Section
Department of Immigration & Border Protection
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2616
If you wish to pay by credit card, please fill out the attached credit card authorisation form and
forward to Freedom of Information Section at the above address, or email to xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
If you wish to pay by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) the department’s bank account details are
as follows:
Bank:
CBA
BSB:
062987
Account Number:
10016044
Account Name:
DIBP Official Administered Direct Credit Receipts Account
When making the transfer you will need to quote the number of your request - FA
15/03/00336 - so that your payment can be identified by our Finance area. Failure to do so
may result in payments not being identified as FOI related and could result in processing
delays.
Please advise FOI when you have made the payment made by direct credit so that we can
contact the Finance area and they can issue a receipt. You should also be aware that payments
by direct credit are not processed in real time. There is at least a one day delay between
somebody paying money into the department's account and notification of the payment via
our bank account statement.
Processing period suspended
The period for processing your request is suspended from the day that you are deemed to have
been ‘notified’ of the charge and resumes on:
• the day you indicate that you ‘agree’ to pay the charge or
• the day on which this agency makes a decision not to impose a charge.
You may indicate your agreement to pay the charge by either paying the deposit or paying the
charge in full.
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Contacting the FOI Section
If you wish to discuss this matter, I can be contacted using the details provided below.
Yours sincerely
Simone Stanley
Authorised decision maker
Freedom of Information Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Email xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
