Awareness of MassChallenge interests
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Legal Branch
GPO Box 2013
Canberra ACT 2601
ATT FOI Coordinator
I am requesting access to information under the Freedom of Information Act.
BACKGROUND
MassChallenge was awarded this ad hoc grant through the Entrepreneurs' Programme-
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/6... (GRANT)
[Name Hidden] was the Australian country manager/facilitator of MassChallenge until October 2019-
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielleesmi... (ENGAGEMENT)
Throughout this time, [Name Hidden] was delivering the Incubator Support Initiative (ISI) grant program to Incubators/Accelerators under the Entrepreneurs' Programme (EP) as managed by-
- Charlotte Tressler - AusIndustry Support for Business (AISB) Head of Division;
- Emma Greenwood - EP General Manager, later a/g AISB Head of Division; and
- Andrew Lewis - a/g EP General Manager; and
- Zoe Naden - ISI Manager/Delegate (OFFICIALS).
REQUEST
For each of the OFFICIALS, I am requesting the date of the earliest email correspondence that was received from anyone for any reason and that alludes to (a) the GRANT and/or (b) the ENGAGEMENT.
To be clear, I am requesting only the dates such email correspondence (a and b) as received by each of the OFFICIALS.
For example, an output as follows will suffice-
Charlotte Tressler, GRANT, 5/4/2018
Charlotte Tressler, ENGAGEMENT, 2/3/2018
Emma Greenwood, GRANT, 5/4/2018
Emma Greenwood, ENGAGEMENT, 2/3/2018
etc.
For expediency, simply searching for MassChallenge and/or [Name Hidden] across OFFICIALS' emails may be efficient.
DELIVERY
via righttoknow.org.au
-Menzies
Dear Menzies
The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the department)
has received your Freedom of Information request of 2 December 2020
(attached).
This correspondence is to acknowledge receipt of your request. Currently a
decision is due to you by 1 January 2021. However, this timeline may be
effected by the requirement to undertake consultation with affected third
parties or if the department determines you are liable to pay a charge in
relation to your request. You will be notified by the Minister’s Office or
the department if charges are liable or if third party consultation is
required.
Personal information
For documents that fall within the scope of the request, it is the
practice of the department to withhold:
· the names, signatures and contact details of junior staff; That
is:
o Commonwealth staff who are not in the Senior Executive Service (SES);
and
o Ministerial staff below the level of Chief of Staff; and
· the mobile phone numbers of SES officers.
The names and other details of SES officers will be released unless the
information is exempt from disclosure.
Confirmation from you that you are not seeking ‘personal information’ (ie.
the names and contact details of any individuals, or any information that
could reasonably identify an individual) may enable a more timely and cost
effective processing of your request.
Therefore, could you please clarify if you a seeking access to personal
information in the documents relating to:
· third parties; and
· Commonwealth staff.
If you are not seeking access to any personal information, you can simply
reply to this email with ‘no personal information requested’.
If you are seeking access to specific types of personal information, could
you please specify.
Request for extension of time
Please note that the department shuts down from 25 December 2020 to 4
January 2021.
To assist in the processing your request, we seek your agreement to a 10
day extension under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the department will notify the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner of the extension of time, and the decision on
your request would then be due to you on or before Monday 11 January 2021.
Could you please confirm your agreement to this extension at your earliest
convenience but no later than Tuesday 15 December 2020.
If you have any questions, please contact the FOI team.
Regards
FOI Team
Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital
GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [1][Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]
Dear Menzies
We refer to your FOI request of 2 December 2020 (attached) to the
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the department).
Current status of FOI request:
As you are aware, on 9 December 2020 the department sought your agreement
to an extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act, to which you
did not respond.
As such, your request has been deemed refused, as the department has not
provided you a decision within the statutory timeframe.
The department still intends to issue you a decision in relation to your
FOI request. At this time, We are unable to provide you with an expected
date of decision.
The FOI team will keep you updated as the matter progresses.
Scope clarification:
We note that you have previously made a similar information request – ref
67329. In relation to that request, the decision maker advised you that
“The department understands that this request seeks a document bearing the
dates of certain correspondence sent by identified officers of the
Department. No documents exist falling within the scope of this request”.
On this basis, you withdrew your request.
It is not clear to us how your existing request differs from your previous
request, other than the addition of the two additional staff members.
Could you please confirm whether you would like the department to treat
this request as being a request for the email correspondence instead of a
request for date information? Because we suspect there may only be a small
number of relevant documents, the department is willing to proceed on this
basis. Please note that if we proceed we will consider the entirety of any
identified document to be irrelevant to the request except for the date.
Please confirm if this request is a request for email correspondence at
your earliest convenience but no later than 8 January 2021.
Regards
FOI Team
Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital
GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [1][Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]
I agree to treat the request as one for combined documents that include the requested dates as the only relevant parts.
-Menzies
Our reference: RQ21/00218
Agency reference: LEX 67646
Menzies
Sent by email: [1][FOI #6942 email]
Extension of time application by the Department of Industry, Science,
Energy and Resources
Dear Menzies
I write to advise that on 25 January 2021, the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (the OAIC) received an application from Ms Emily
Hill of Minter Ellison Lawyers on behalf of the Department of Industry,
Science, Energy and Resources (the Department) for an extension of time,
to process your FOI request.
The Department has applied for an extension of time under s 15AC of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) because it has been unable to
finalise your request within the initial decision period.
The Department has advised the OAIC that:
· On 2 December 2020, the Department received your request
· On 4 December 2020, searches commenced
· on 9 December 2020, the Department requested a 15AA extension of
time from you, however a response was not received
· on 16 December 2020, the line area sought further information to
finalise searches
· on 5 January 2021, the Department contacted you to clarify the
scope of your request
· on 8 January 2021, a revised search minute was sent to the line
area
· the Department have advised that you have made eight separate
FOI requests relating to similar subject matter, of which the Department
has also received a large volume of requests since June 2020
· due the voluminous amount of requests, significant amount of
resources has been devoted to processing these requests
· the Department further advises that due to the Christmas/new
year shutdown period, this caused a delay in processing your request, and
additional time is required to finalise the request.
The Department has requested an extension to 24 February 2021. I will take
any comments you may have to make into account when deciding the
application.
Please respond to this email by close of business 29 January 2021. If I do
not hear from you by this date, the decision maker will make a decision on
the basis of the information provided to me by the Department.
You will be notified of the decision once the matter has been finalised.
Further information about extension of time requests may be found on our
website at [2]Extensions of time.
Contact
If you have any questions regarding this email please contact me on (02)
9284 9847 or via email [3][email address]. Please quote OAIC
reference number at the top of this email in all correspondence.
Yours sincerely
[4][IMG] Jasmin Clarke | Assistant
Review and Investigation
Advisor
Freedom of information
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[5]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9847 |
[6][email address]
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Matters
References
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Our reference: RQ21/00218
Agency reference: LEX 67646
Menzies
Sent by email: [1][FOI #6942 email]
Extension of time under s 15AC
Dear Menzies
Please find attached a decision of today’s date for an extension of time
from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
Sincerely
[2][IMG] Jasmin Clarke | Assistant
Review and Investigation
Advisor
Freedom of information
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[3]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9847 |
[4][email address]
[8]Subscribe [9]Subscribe to
[5]Facebook | [6]LinkedIn | [7]Twitter | icon Information
Matters
References
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2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
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Dear Menzies
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request of 2
December 2020.
Should you have any queries regarding this matter, please contact the FOI
team.
Regards
FOI Team
Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital
GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [1][Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]
- Thanks for providing these.
- Can you please advise which documents allude to the "GRANT" and which to the "ENGAGEMENT"?
- if you could let me know to avoid further requests for the same documents.
- Menzies
Dear Menzies
- Page 1, email to Emma Greenwood 1/7/2019 refers to (a) the GRANT
- Page 3, email to Zoe Naden 1/7/2019 refers to (a) the GRANT
- Page 6, email to Andrew Lewis 24/6/2020 refers to (b) the ENGAGEMENT
Regards
FOI Team
Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital
GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources | www.industry.gov.au
Supporting economic growth and job creation for all Australians
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OFFICIAL