Aviation Secuirty ID Card (ASIC) issuance and refusal statistical data
Dear Department of Home Affairs,
I am requesting disclosure of any documents containing statistics concerning Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) administration.
The ASIC scheme was implemented by the Attorney-Generals Department in 2001. The scope of this request includes reports in any medium showing annualised counts of initial issuances, renewals, withdrawn applications and refusals over the 21 years of the scheme’s operation; or documents containing statistical data which could be used to assemble those counts if they don’t already exist.
I’m willing to negotiate over varying that scope in the interests of efficiency once you’ve had a chance to identify any responsive documents.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Newton
** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **
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Information updated 11 January 2022
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OFFICIAL: Sensitive
Personal-Privacy
In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 22/10/01339
File Number: OBJ2022/28101
Dear Mark Newton,
Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request
This letter acknowledges that on 24 October 2022 the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) received your request to access documents held by the Department under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). This letter also provides important information about your request.
Scope of request
You have requested access to the following:
I am requesting disclosure of any documents containing statistics concerning Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) administration.
The ASIC scheme was implemented by the Attorney-Generals Department in 2001. The scope of this request includes reports in any medium showing annualised counts of initial issuances, renewals, withdrawn applications and refusals over the 21 years of the scheme’s operation; or documents containing statistical data which could be used to assemble those counts if they don’t already exist.
Due to the broad nature of this request, the Department has interpreted the scope as:
I am requesting disclosure of any documents containing statistics concerning Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) administration.
The ASIC scheme was implemented by the Attorney-Generals Department in 2001. The scope of this request includes reports in any medium showing annualised counts of initial issuances, renewals, withdrawn applications and refusals over the 21 years of the scheme’s operation.
Your request has been allocated FOI request number FA 22/10/01339 . Please include your FOI request number in all correspondence with the Freedom of Information Section.
Timeframe
The timeframe for processing a request is 30 days from the day we receive your request, as set out in the FOI Act.
Your review rights in relation to your request are available on the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
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Contacting the FOI Section
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Kind regards,
FOI Officer - Geoff
Freedom of Information
Department of Home Affairs
E: [Department of Home Affairs request email]
Personal-Privacy
OFFICIAL: Sensitive
OFFICIAL
In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 22/10/01339
File Number: OBJ2022/28101
Dear Mark Newton
I refer to your request to access documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), which the Department of Home Affairs
(the Department) received on 24 October 2022.
As provided under section 29 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) and the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982 (the
Regulations), I have determined that payment is required for this request
to be processed.
Preliminary assessment of charges
I have assessed the work the Department would need to do to process your
request, taking into account the time that would be spent by the relevant
business areas in producing documents from the Department’s computer
systems under section 17 of the FOI Act and assessing the documents for
release. I have calculated the charge as follows:
Search and retrieval: (6 hours 45 minutes @ $15 per hour) = $101.00
Decision making: No charge
(no charges are applied for the first five hours of decision-making)
Total: $101.00
(charge has been rounded down to the nearest whole dollar amount)
Next steps
Within 30 days of this email you must:
• pay the charge or optional deposit indicated in the attached
invoice for your request to proceed, or
• write to the Department if you believe the charge has been wrongly
assessed, should be reduced or not imposed, or
• withdraw your request.
Your request will not be processed until you take one of these actions.
Your request will be withdrawn if you do not take action with 30 days.
Option 1: Pay the charge or an optional deposit
You can either pay the full amount now, or a deposit of $25.00.
If you choose to pay a deposit, you will be liable to pay the remainder of
the charges once the Department has made its final decision on your access
request.
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accepted the Department’s decision to impose the charge.
If the Department does not make a decision on your request within the
statutory time limit, we will refund your payment.
Details of how to pay are contained in the attached invoice.
Option 2: Write to the Department to contend charges are incorrect or
should be waived or reduced
You can contest the charge on the grounds that the charge was not properly
calculated, or:
• that payment of the charge, or part of it, would cause you
financial hardship
• that giving access to the documents is in the general public
interest, or in the interest of a substantial section of the public.
This is not an exhaustive list and the Department may consider any other
relevant matters.
Please set out your reasons as clearly as possible and provide supporting
evidence.
The Department has a statutory timeframe of 30 days from the date of your
response to make a decision to reduce or not impose a charge. We will
notify you of our charges decision in writing.
Option 3: Withdraw your request
To withdraw your request, please send an email to
[1][Department of Home Affairs request email] or reply to this email stating that you wish to
withdraw the request.
If you withdraw your request, we will close your request and no charges
will be incurred.
Timeframe for your response
You must respond to this notice within 30 days, which is by Monday, 12
December 2022.
If you do not provide a written response within this timeframe your
request will be deemed withdrawn under section 29(2) of the Act. No
charges will be incurred.
Legislation and further information
A copy of the FOI Act is available at
[2]https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2...
Information about how we calculate charges can be seen at: [3]We consider
your Freedom of Information request (homeaffairs.gov.au)
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner also provides
information about charging at: [4]What charges may apply? - Home
(oaic.gov.au)
Contact
Please contact [5][Department of Home Affairs request email] if you have any questions about
this notice.
Yours sincerely
[signed electronically]
Simon
Position Number 60156398
Senior FOI Officer | Freedom of Information Section
FOI & Records Management Branch | Legal Group
Department of Home Affairs
E: [6][Department of Home Affairs request email]
OFFICIAL
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References
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4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
5. mailto:[Department of Home Affairs request email]
6. mailto:[Department of Home Affairs request email]
Dear Simon,
I would like to contend that the charges are incorrect or should be waived or reduced.
1. The charges are incorrect.
The information I am seeking is basic statistical data which underpins KPIs for the ASIC system. It defies belief that it would take nearly 12 hours of labour (including the first 5 hours of uncharged labour) to locate and retrieve this information. It is the kind of information which ought to be (and, I assert, very likely is) readily available to ASIC program management.
It is so inconceivable that the information I have requested is hard to find that I think this estimate of the time required to retrieve it is a gross over-estimate, and I would like you to reassess them.
2. The assessment of charges has not been provided in accordance with the Act.
Subsection 29(b) of the Act stipulates that in relation to charges I should have "... written notice stating: ... the basis on which the assessment is made."
While you have estimated 11 hours 45 minutes of search and retrieval time, you have not stated the basis on which that assessment has been made.
Why will it take 11 hours and 45 minutes? Am I paying for the consequences of poor record keeping within the agency, such that trivial searches take a long time to accomplish?
Am I paying for a large volume of documents?
Am I paying for the consequence of a pro-forma estimate, where the decision maker is picking a number out of the air based on previous experience of how much time similar requests have cost in the past?
Having read your letter, I am in the dark about the basis on which the assessment that this request will take 11 hours 45 minutes and $101 has been made, and I am unable to judge whether or not that's reasonable.
I consequently contend that your notice is deficient with respect to subsection 29(b) of the Act, and I ask that you please provide me with written notice of the basis upon which this assessment has been made.
3. Scope negotiation.
In my initial approach, I said, "I’m willing to negotiate over varying that scope in the interests of efficiency once you’ve had a chance to identify any responsive documents."
You have invoiced me for charges arising from this request without any further communication. I therefore have no opportunity to improve the efficiency of this request by limiting its scope.
I'm interested in receiving the information I require. I'm not interested in receiving (or having the Department waste time assessing) information I don't require. It will serve the efficiency of the FOI system and minimize its cost if it is possible that the information I require can be obtained from a one-page document at minimal cost by slightly varying the terms of my request, or from within an obscure report that's already been published and which can be accessed at no charge.
4. Public interest.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia (AOPA) is participating in policy consultation regarding the operation of the ASIC system.
One of the items of controversy is whether the system in its present form is serving its aims and purposes.
During the operation of the ASIC system, people with known criminal associations have passed criminal background checks and obtained ASICs which have enabled them to work in sensitive areas of Australian airports. Several examples:
https://www.theage.com.au/national/bagga...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-11/h...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Also during the operation of the ASIC system, several tens of thousands of pilots with no criminal record whatsoever have had to disclose dossiers of personal information to private companies and pay more than $200 every two years to repeat an ASIC criminal background check which does nothing more than confirm what everyone already knows.
The information I have requested enables analysis of how often ASICs are issued to known criminals and how much ASICs issued to non-criminals costs the Australian aviation industry, for the purpose of informing development of effective and efficient policy.
The general public at large is entitled to know if the ASIC system is faulty. The General Aviation pilot community, which is a substantial section of the public, is entitled to know if they're personally funding a system that serves no practical purpose.
Sound policy development and criticism, necessarily supported by this FOI request, is in the public interest, and therefore qualifies for a section 29(5)(b) fee waiver.
I await your consideration of these matters.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Newton
OFFICIAL
In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 22/10/01339
File Number: OBJ2022/28101
Dear Mr Newton,
I refer to your FOI request to waive the original assessment of charge received on 10 November 2022, in relation to FOI request FA 22/10/01339 seeking access to the following:
" I am requesting disclosure of any documents containing statistics concerning Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) administration.
The ASIC scheme was implemented by the Attorney-General’s Department in 2001. The scope of this request includes reports in any medium showing annualised counts of initial issuances, renewals, withdrawn applications and refusals over the 21 years of the scheme’s operation. "
The Department has made a decision on this request. Please find attached the decision.
Kind regards,
Simon
Position Number 60156398
Senior FOI Officer | Freedom of Information Section
FOI & Records Management Branch | Legal Group
Department of Home Affairs
E: [Department of Home Affairs request email]
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 22/10/01339
File Number: OBJ2022/28101
Dear Mr Newton,
FOI request FA 22/10/01339
I refer to your FOI request received on 24 October 2022, seeking access to
the following:
I am requesting disclosure of any documents containing statistics
concerning Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) administration.
The ASIC scheme was implemented by the Attorney-Generals Department in
2001. The scope of this request includes reports in any medium showing
annualised counts of initial issuances, renewals, withdrawn applications
and refusals over the 21 years of the scheme’s operation; or documents
containing statistical data which could be used to assemble those counts
if they don’t already exist..
The Department has made a decision on this request. Please find attached
the documents released under the FOI Act.
This request has now been closed.
Kind regards,
Simon
Position Number 60156398
Senior FOI Officer | Freedom of Information Section
FOI & Records Management Branch | Legal Group
Department of Home Affairs
E: [1][Department of Home Affairs request email]
OFFICIAL
Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately. This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.
The Department of Home Affairs and ABF respect your privacy and have
obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.
Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Department of Home Affairs request email]