Council to locate and identify documents they have access to.

Scott, of the family Chapman made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Postal Corporation

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Australian Postal Corporation should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Scott, of the family Chapman

Dear Australian Postal Corporation representative,

I comprehend that you provide a government function to supply postal services within 'Australia'.

1. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly defines the boundaries/borders/limits of 'Australia' (in the land-based geographical sense) with regard to the Australian Postal operating services/jurisdiction, within the context of the principal function to supply postal services within 'Australia'.

2. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly defines the boundaries/borders/limits of the 'Commonwealth of Australia', in the land-based geographical sense. Make it known if the Australian Postal Corporation does not operate under/within the 'Commonwealth of Australia' jurisdiction.

3. Please provide access to the document(s)/procedure that defines how the Australian Postal Corporation deals with potential postal fraud within postal services.

4. Please provide access to the document(s)/details of the known position of 'Postmaster general', complete with identified operating jurisdiction.

5. Please provide access to the document(s) that defines the accepted language style/wording used by the Australian Postal Corporation for all received letters/articles for postal services. Please cite the specific clause/section of the styles manual used by your services. For example, do you accept an address written in a foreign style? or do you only accept addresses (place names) that follow the rules of Standard English grammar?

6. When a postal address is inside the letter/article (through a clear window), please provide the document that clearly explains that this is considered the same/acceptable as an address written ON the outside of the letter/article etc.

7. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly defines what 'Australia Post' is.

8. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly articulates whether the Australian Postal Corporation operates as a public entity or a private organization.

9. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly articulates the relationship between the Australian Postal Corporation and the government.

I do not require any disclosure of private information, such as non-public names, addresses, telephone numbers etc. I do not require any plans, drawings, photographs etc. If you believe that any document violates section 33, section 34(1) or section 23(3)(c), then you must redact that information as in accordance with Sect 22 prior to presenting the required material.

Kind regards,
Scott, of the family Chapman [without title of 'Mr']
All unalienable rights reserved and non waived

foi, Australian Postal Corporation



Thank you for your email to Freedom of Information (FOI) at Australia
Post.

 

If your request meets the requirements for a valid FOI request, an
acknowledgement will be sent to you within 14 days.

 

 

foi, Australian Postal Corporation

1 Attachment

Dear Scott,

Find attached correspondence in reply to your Freedom of Information request received by Australia Post on 17 November 2020.

Regards,

Anna Oliver
Freedom of Information Officer
Australia Post

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott, of the family Chapman <[FOI #6900 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 17 November, 2020 2:39 PM
To: foi <[Australia Post request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Council to locate and identify documents they have access to.

Expecting this email? If suspicious click on the 'Report Phishing' button in Outlook. If you are using a shared mailbox, forward it to [email address]<mailto:[email address]>

Dear Australian Postal Corporation representative,

I comprehend that you provide a government function to supply postal services within 'Australia'.

1. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly defines the boundaries/borders/limits of 'Australia' (in the land-based geographical sense) with regard to the Australian Postal operating services/jurisdiction, within the context of the principal function to supply postal services within 'Australia'.

2. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly defines the boundaries/borders/limits of the 'Commonwealth of Australia', in the land-based geographical sense. Make it known if the Australian Postal Corporation does not operate under/within the 'Commonwealth of Australia' jurisdiction.

3. Please provide access to the document(s)/procedure that defines how the Australian Postal Corporation deals with potential postal fraud within postal services.

4. Please provide access to the document(s)/details of the known position of 'Postmaster general', complete with identified operating jurisdiction.

5. Please provide access to the document(s) that defines the accepted language style/wording used by the Australian Postal Corporation for all received letters/articles for postal services. Please cite the specific clause/section of the styles manual used by your services. For example, do you accept an address written in a foreign style? or do you only accept addresses (place names) that follow the rules of Standard English grammar?

6. When a postal address is inside the letter/article (through a clear window), please provide the document that clearly explains that this is considered the same/acceptable as an address written ON the outside of the letter/article etc.

7. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly defines what 'Australia Post' is.

8. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly articulates whether the Australian Postal Corporation operates as a public entity or a private organization.

9. Please provide access to the document(s) that clearly articulates the relationship between the Australian Postal Corporation and the government.

I do not require any disclosure of private information, such as non-public names, addresses, telephone numbers etc. I do not require any plans, drawings, photographs etc. If you believe that any document violates section 33, section 34(1) or section 23(3)(c), then you must redact that information as in accordance with Sect 22 prior to presenting the required material.

Kind regards,
Scott, of the family Chapman [without title of 'Mr'] All unalienable rights reserved and non waived

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The information contained in this email communication may be proprietary, confidential or legally professionally privileged. It is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. Australia Post does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this email communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, virus or interference.

If you are not the addressee or intended recipient please notify us by replying direct to the sender and then destroy any electronic or paper copy of this message. Any views expressed in this email communication are taken to be those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically attributes those views to Australia Post and is authorised to do so.

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Scott, of the family Chapman

Dear Anna

Thank you for the very comprehensive response you provided to my information request. I commend you for the diligent work thus far. However, there appear to be some gaps in the information. This may be due to my request not providing enough emphasis on the defined point/information I was requesting, so I apologize in advance. Can you provide additional clarity for,

Point 1 & 2, Re; Define 'Australia' and 'Commonwealth of Australia' in a land-based geographical sense.
Unfortunately, I fail to see the nexus between the 'states' & areas named as 'internal Territory' and the mainland mass known as Terra Australis incognita [excluding the external Territories]. When considering the known public policy interpretation rules, I note the information you provided specifically 'excludes' the states of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, the internal territories of the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory. I note, although there is no express exclusion, exclusion is implied. Therefore the material you recorded under 'Section 12' would not apply in this case.

Notwithstanding the information above, I refer you to the recognized rules of statutory interpretation, in particular the use of the word 'include', which provides an implied exclusion argument whenever there is reason to believe that if the legislature had meant to 'include' a particular thing within the ambit of its legislation, it would have referred to that thing expressly. Because of this expectation, the legislature’s failure to mention the thing becomes grounds for inferring that it was deliberately 'excluded'. 

Refer to - Constitutional Principles and Coherence in Statutory Interpretation - Justice Perram, 11 November 2016, Federal court of Australia.
"But consider the law of statutory interpretation. Although there are rules of law in statutory interpretation, much of this field of law is not made up of rules of law at all but rather by non-binding principles of interpretation. There are long lists of these principles in the textbooks. To cite just six well-known ones:"
- "express reference to one matter excludes reference to another matter [30]".... "The 'expressio unius est exclusio alterius' rule"

Source- https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/digital-law-...

The 'jurisdiction' information you provided also appears to affirm that authority of the 'Commonwealth/Australia/Commonwealth of Australia refers to a 'Territory' "otherwise acquired by the Commonwealth" only and not the mainland in a geographical sense.

Point 3, Re; Define the document how the Australian Postal Corporation deals with potential postal fraud within postal services.
I was requesting a copy of the fraud handling procedures of the Australian Postal Corporation, I'm sorry if that was not clear. However Section 12 would not apply to the unpublished information.

I believe I have received 'Postal fraud', would you be able to provide me the information about how I can utilize your 'confidential reporting mechanisms'.

Point 4, define the 'Postmaster general' and operating jurisdiction.
I comprehend that there is no 'Postmaster general' for the mainland mass known as Terra Australis incognita [excluding the external Territories].
Furthermore, the Australian Postal Corporation does not operate under the jurisdiction of the 'Postmaster general' and as such has no related material. Please make it known if this is incorrect.

Point 5, define the accepted language style/wording used by the Australian Postal Corporation, with respect to the rules of Standard English grammar.
I refer you to the box marked 'The State or Territory abbreviation' (on the document you provided) and the wording "It must be in UPPER CASE letters and not contain punctuation or underlining."
I will highlight to you that words written in 'all caps' or 'upper case', whether an abbreviation or otherwise, do not follow the rules of Standard English grammar. Relevantly, can you provide the information requested i.e. "Please cite the specific clause/section of the styles manual used by your services?" Foreign languages (not English) would require translation, the question is what language style writes places names written in 'all caps' or 'upper case'? As it is not English. I don't believe this information is published and therefore Section 12 is irrelevant.

Point 6, postal address marked 'inside' the letter/article (through a clear window) only, is it accepted? Please note the specific words used, the relevant words are 'in' and 'inside'.
Section 12 does not apply to unpublished material. You provided information for postal addresses marked 'on' a letter/article not 'inside'. Can you please provide the relevant information?
If you do not hold the requested information what should I do if I receive letters 'without' an address 'on' the envelope? Who would I refer that question/matter to and why do you accept such posted articles with no address on it?

Point 7, define what ‘Australia Post’ is.
From the information you provided, I comprehend that ‘Australia Post’ is an organization/entity referred to as the "Australian Postal Corporation". Please make it known if this is incorrect.

Point 8, Re; the Australian Postal Corporation operates as a public entity or a private organization.
Notwithstanding point 7, Section 12 is irrelevant as I was previously requesting if you could provide the corporate structure chart (or equivalent information) for the Australian Postal Corporation entity/government business enterprise?

Point 9, the relationship between the Australian Postal Corporation and the government.
Unfortunately, the general links you provided appears to be unrelated to the request. Therefore Section 12 (the links) do not apply, can you provide the structural chart (or equivalent information) for the Australian Postal Corporation entity and how it fits in the ‘government business enterprise’ structure?
Further to the information, you provided that business is conducted under the Minister for Communications and the Minister for Finance. Please provide the organizational relationship structure information between all the relevant entities/interested parties, as this does not appear to be published information.

Thanks for your continued professional consideration,
Kind Regards
Scott, of the family Chapman

Scott, of the family Chapman

Dear Anna

I have an update/information that may help you, regarding Australian place names and correct styling, "Spell official place names correctly. Follow style rules so people recognise names for other public places."
and "National principles for naming are intended to provide consistency across the country. "
https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/style-rul...

Does the Australian Postal Corporation use the Australian Government Publishing Service Style Manual? The hard copy sixth edition of the Style manual for authors, editors and printers has now been superseded.

Please note to check official place names and style them correctly refer to the Australian Place Names dataset.
https://placenames.fsdf.org.au/

Note: any characters in a box remove it from the document it is on.
Refer to the 'exclusion clause' being 'the Four Corners Rule' Law and Legal Definition (including characters in boxes on documents)
In contract law, the four corners rule is the doctrine that “the meaning of a document is to be gathered from the entire (or all four corners) document.”
https://definitions.uslegal.com/f/four-c...

Four Corners of an Instrument - Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
The principle that a document's meaning should be derived from the document itself, without reference to anything outside of the document (extrinsic evidence), such as the circumstances surrounding its writing or the history of the party signing it.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/four_cor...

Thanks
Scott, of the family Chapman

foi, Australian Postal Corporation

Dear Scott,

I refer to correspondence received from you on both 7 December and 14 December 2020.

Pursuant to the definitions of section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (“FOI Act”), an applicant can apply only for existing documents of an agency. This means that under the FOI Act, Australia Post is not required to create documents, collate information from various sources, provide explanations, commentaries or interpretations of information.

I remind you of your review rights if you would like a review of the formal decision provided to you on 7 December 2020. The Rights of Review can be found on the decision. By way of reminder, they are:

Rights of Review

If you would like a review of the formal decision you have the right under law to seek either;
(i) An internal review by writing within 30 days of receiving this letter to Australia Post, FOI Review Officer, Legal Services Group, GPO Box 1777, Melbourne VIC 3001, [Australia Post request email]; or
(ii) A review of this decision by writing within 60 days of receiving this letter to the Information Commissioner, GPO 5218, Sydney NSW 2001, Fax: 02 9284 9666, [email address].

Regards,

Anna Oliver
Freedom of Information Officer
Australia Post

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott, of the family Chapman <[FOI #6900 email]>
Sent: Monday, 14 December, 2020 11:15 PM
To: foi <[Australia Post request email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Council to locate and identify documents they have access to.

Expecting this email? If suspicious click on the 'Report Phishing' button in Outlook. If you are using a shared mailbox, forward it to [email address]<mailto:[email address]>

Dear Anna

I have an update/information that may help you, regarding Australian place names and correct styling, "Spell official place names correctly. Follow style rules so people recognise names for other public places."
and "National principles for naming are intended to provide consistency across the country. "
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Does the Australian Postal Corporation use the Australian Government Publishing Service Style Manual? The hard copy sixth edition of the Style manual for authors, editors and printers has now been superseded.

Please note to check official place names and style them correctly refer to the Australian Place Names dataset.
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://plac...

Note: any characters in a box remove it from the document it is on.
Refer to the 'exclusion clause' being 'the Four Corners Rule' Law and Legal Definition (including characters in boxes on documents) In contract law, the four corners rule is the doctrine that “the meaning of a document is to be gathered from the entire (or all four corners) document.”
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://defi...

Four Corners of an Instrument - Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary The principle that a document's meaning should be derived from the document itself, without reference to anything outside of the document (extrinsic evidence), such as the circumstances surrounding its writing or the history of the party signing it.
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Thanks
Scott, of the family Chapman

-----Original Message-----

Dear Scott,

Find attached correspondence in reply to your Freedom of Information request received by Australia Post on 17 November 2020.

Regards,

Anna Oliver
Freedom of Information Officer
Australia Post

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #6900 email]

This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Australia Post is committed to providing our customers with excellent service. If we can assist you in any way please telephone 13 13 18 or visit our website.

The information contained in this email communication may be proprietary, confidential or legally professionally privileged. It is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. Australia Post does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this email communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, virus or interference.

If you are not the addressee or intended recipient please notify us by replying direct to the sender and then destroy any electronic or paper copy of this message. Any views expressed in this email communication are taken to be those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically attributes those views to Australia Post and is authorised to do so.

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

hide quoted sections