Dear Dr Dehm,

I am reaching out to you to clarify the request you made under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) dated 16 December 2020.

Specifically, you have sought access to:

[Documents containing:]

1. All email communications from or to Scott Stephens that mention the
“Zionist Federation of Australia”, “ZFA” and/or Dr Bren Carlill, created
or received from June 2020 onwards;

2. All email communications relating to the publication of Samah Sabawi’s
opinion piece on ABC Religion and Ethics report, entitled “If Israel’s
annexation goes ahead, can any response make a difference?” in July 2020,
created or received from June 2020 onwards; and

3. Any communications (electronic or otherwise) between the Embassy of
Israel in Australia and ABC management concerning ABC online publications
or online news content in 2020.

Currently your request appears too broad for us to process. Our 30-day
response period begins once we have refined your request to what is
considered ‘valid’ under the FOI Act. A valid request would involve a
search that is achievable in a reasonable amount of time with reasonable
resourcing. Could you please narrow the scope to allow us to practically
conduct a search of the documents and avoid an unreasonable diversion of
resources?

I refer to points 1 and 2 of your request. Without a defined subject the
search would involve email archive searches of the entire staff at the
ABC. I also suggest narrowing point 2 to a keyword search similar to that
in point 1.

Please note that in seeking to clarify your request I am not making
representations regarding the existence of any documents, or whether
access to them will be granted.

If you would like further assistance in refining your request or to
discuss over the phone, please feel free to let us know.

Kind regards

[1]ABC Gukby Sim

FOI Coordinator (Tue-Thurs)

Corporate Governance, Privacy & FOI Legal Assistant (Fri)

ABC Legal
E: [2][email address]

P: 02 8333 5853
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the
First Australians
and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and
work.

show quoted sections

Dear Dr Dehm,

I refer to my letter of 17 December 2020 in which I sought to clarify your
request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the FOI Act).

You had requested access to the following documents:

[Documents containing:]

1. All email communications from or to Scott Stephens that mention the
“Zionist Federation of Australia”, “ZFA” and/or Dr Bren Carlill, created
or received from June 2020 onwards;

2. All email communications relating to the publication of Samah Sabawi’s
opinion piece on ABC Religion and Ethics report, entitled “If Israel’s
annexation goes ahead, can any response make a difference?” in July 2020,
created or received from June 2020 onwards; and

3. Any communications (electronic or otherwise) between the Embassy of
Israel in Australia and ABC management concerning ABC online publications
or online news content in 2020.

I have not heard from you in relation to that request for clarification.

If you would like to proceed further, please provide the further
information requested so that we are able to effectively and efficiently
identify and locate all relevant documents.

Please note that if I do not hear from you by 28 January 2021 I will
assume you no longer wish to pursue this FOI request, and will take no
further steps to process your application.

If you need assistance in clarifying the below or preparing a valid
request, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Yours sincerely

Gukby

[1]ABC Gukby Sim

FOI Coordinator (Tue-Thurs)

Corporate Governance, Privacy & FOI Legal Assistant (Fri)

ABC Legal
E: [2][email address]

P: 02 8333 5853
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the
First Australians
and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and
work.

From: FOI ABC
Sent: Thursday, 17 December 2020 4:47 PM
To: Sara Dehm <[FOI #6979 email]>
Cc: Todd Buttsworth <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - ABC reporting on Palestine
and Israel in 2020

Dear Dr Dehm,

I am reaching out to you to clarify the request you made under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) dated 16 December 2020.

Specifically, you have sought access to:

[Documents containing:]

1. All email communications from or to Scott Stephens that mention the
“Zionist Federation of Australia”, “ZFA” and/or Dr Bren Carlill, created
or received from June 2020 onwards;

2. All email communications relating to the publication of Samah Sabawi’s
opinion piece on ABC Religion and Ethics report, entitled “If Israel’s
annexation goes ahead, can any response make a difference?” in July 2020,
created or received from June 2020 onwards; and

3. Any communications (electronic or otherwise) between the Embassy of
Israel in Australia and ABC management concerning ABC online publications
or online news content in 2020.

Currently your request appears too broad for us to process. Our 30-day
response period begins once we have refined your request to what is
considered ‘valid’ under the FOI Act. A valid request would involve a
search that is achievable in a reasonable amount of time with reasonable
resourcing. Could you please narrow the scope to allow us to practically
conduct a search of the documents and avoid an unreasonable diversion of
resources?

I refer to points 1 and 2 of your request. Without a defined subject the
search would involve email archive searches of the entire staff at the
ABC. I also suggest narrowing point 2 to a keyword search similar to that
in point 1.

Please note that in seeking to clarify your request I am not making
representations regarding the existence of any documents, or whether
access to them will be granted.

If you would like further assistance in refining your request or to
discuss over the phone, please feel free to let us know.

Kind regards

[3]ABC Gukby Sim

FOI Coordinator (Tue-Thurs)

Corporate Governance, Privacy & FOI Legal Assistant (Fri)

ABC Legal
E: [4][email address]

P: 02 8333 5853
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the
First Australians
and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and
work.

show quoted sections

Dear Dr Dehm,

FOI REQUEST - REFERENCE NUMBER 202021-022

I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) in your clarification email of 21
January 2021. Thank you for discussing your request with us and refining
as discussed. Specifically, you have sought access to the following:

1. Email communications, created or received from June 2020 onwards, from
or to Scott Stephens that are retrieved using the search terms: “Zionist
Federation of Australia”, “ZFA” or Dr "Bren Carlill";

2. Email communications, created or received from June 2020 onwards, from
or to Scott Stephens, relating to the publication of Samah Sabawi’s
opinion piece on ABC Religion and Ethics report, entitled “If Israel’s
annexation goes ahead, can any response make a difference?” in July 2020,
that are retrieved using the search terms "Sabawi" or "Palestine"; and

3. Communications (electronic or otherwise) between the Embassy of Israel
in Australia and the relevant ABC management concerning ABC online
publications or online news content in 2020.

I confirm that the 30 day statutory period for processing your request
commenced from the your clarification was received, being 21 January 2021.

Subject to any suspension of the processing period or extension of the
time for deciding this application, the ABC is required to make a
determination in relation to this application by 22 February 2021. Please
note that processing charges may be imposed and that consultation with
third parties may be required. If it is necessary to seek agreement to pay
charges or to consult with third parties, additional processing time is
provided under the FOI Act. You will be advised of any charges as well as
any need to consult third parties in relation to your request.

Please note that the ABC is required by the FOI Act to publish accessed
information on its website within 10 working days after the release of the
documents to the FOI applicant.

You should also be aware that by making an FOI request, you may be
providing personal information to the ABC. The ABC will manage any such
information in accordance with the ABC’s Privacy Policy. Details of that
policy are available on the ABC’s website:
[1]http://about.abc.net.au/abc-privacy-poli.... Please note that personal
information (such as your name) may be disclosed in the course of
processing this request, for instance for the purposes of consultation or
internal reporting.

I will consider your request and provide you with a decision as soon as
practicable.

Kind regards

Gukby

[2]ABC Gukby Sim

FOI Coordinator (Tue-Thurs)

Corporate Governance, Privacy & FOI Legal Assistant (Fri)

ABC Legal
E: [3][email address]

P: 02 8333 5853
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the
First Australians
and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and
work.

show quoted sections

Dear Dr Dehm

Attached is the ABC’s decision in relation to your FOI request.

Please contact me should you have any questions.

Kind regards

Todd

[1]ABC Todd Buttsworth

FOI and Corporate Governance Advisor

ABC Legal
P: 02 8333 3312

M: 0410 604 851

 
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the
First Australians
and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and
work.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/enter/emailsi...