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Decisions made personally by former Minister the Hon Karen Andrews MP under s 501(3)

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Dear Department of Home Affairs,

1. How many decisions did the Hon Karen Andrews MP personally make under s 501(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?

2. How many decisions were accompanied by a recommendation from the Department of Home Affairs (under any other denomination) to the Hon Karen Andrews MP that a visa not be cancelled under s 501(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), out of the decisions referred to in question 1 above?

Please note that:
- a “document” can be requested under section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act);
- the term “document” is defined under section 4 of the FOI Act as including: “any article or material from which sounds, images or writings are capable of being reproduced with or without the aid of any other article or device; any article on which information has been stored or recorded, either mechanically or electronically; any other record of information”;
- the information sought falls under the definition of “document”. For instance, the information sought is a “record of information”.

Yours faithfully,

MJJ

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

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Thank you

Information updated 11 January 2022

 

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FOI, Department of Home Affairs

OFFICIAL: Sensitive
Personal-Privacy

In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 22/08/00151
File Number: OBJ2022/21170

Dear MJJ

Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request

I refer to your correspondence received on 29 July 2022 seeking access to documents held by the Department of Home Affairs (the Freedom of Information & Records Management Branch) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

Scope of request

You have requested access to the following:

1. How many decisions did the Hon Karen Andrews MP personally make under s 501(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?

2. How many decisions were accompanied by a recommendation from the Department of Home Affairs (under any other denomination) to the Hon Karen Andrews MP that a visa not be cancelled under s 501(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), out of the decisions referred to in question 1 above?

Your request was received by the Freedom of Information & Records Management Branch on 29 July 2022 and has been allocated FOI request number FA 22/08/00151.

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 here.

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Charges are based on the amount of time the Department spends on your request. Charges can range from $10 to over $1,000 depending on the complexity and scope of your request. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner reported that across the public service, the average charge notified was $335.50 in 2020-21.

If a charge applies, you will be issued with a Notice of Charge that explains the charge and your options.

Detailed information about FOI charges that may apply to your FOI request is available on the Department’s website.
We do not provide personal details of staff

The Department’s practice is to exclude the personal details of staff not in the Senior Executive Service (SES), as well as the direct contact details of SES staff, contained in documents that fall within scope of an FOI request. If you require personal details of non-SES officers, or direct contact details of SES staff, please inform us so the decision maker may consider your request. Otherwise we will take it that you agree to that information being excluded from the scope of your request. However names of staff that have previously been released in departmental correspondence may be disclosed.

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To reduce or withdraw your request, contact the FOI section at [Department of Home Affairs request email] and include your FOI request number.

FOI Officer Michelle
Freedom of Information
Department of Home Affairs
E: [Department of Home Affairs request email]

Personal-Privacy
OFFICIAL: Sensitive

show quoted sections

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

OFFICIAL

In reply please quote:

FOI Request: FA 22/08/00151

File Number:OBJ2022/21170

 

Dear MJJ

 

I refer to your request received on 29 July 2022 for access to documents
under the FOI Act. You have requested access to the following:

 

1. How many decisions did the Hon Karen Andrews MP personally make under s
501(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)?

 

2. How many decisions were accompanied by a recommendation from the
Department of Home Affairs (under any other denomination) to the Hon Karen
Andrews MP that a visa not be cancelled under s 501(3) of the Migration
Act 1958 (Cth), out of the decisions referred to in question 1 above?

The current due date for your request is Sunday 28 August 2022, in effect,
Monday 29 August 2022.

In order for the Department to complete the decision-making process in
relation to the documents that fall within the scope of your request, the
Department will require additional time to process your request.

The Department seeks your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI Act to
extend the timeframe for the processing of your request by 7 days. This
would extend the due date for your request to Sunday 4 September 2022.
However, as this date falls on a non-working day, section 36(2) of the
Acts Interpretation Act 1901 provides that the latest date the Department
may issue a decision would be the next working day, which is Monday 5
September 2022.

It would assist the Department in managing its FOI caseload if you could
provide a response to this request by close of business, Thursday 25
August 2022.

If you wish to discuss this matter further, please contact me on the
details below.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Guy

Position no. 60103474

Freedom of Information Section

FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division

Strategy & National Resilience Group

E: [1][Department of Home Affairs request email]

Department of Home Affairs - [2]www.homeaffairs.gov.au

OFFICIAL

 

 

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References

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FOI, Department of Home Affairs

2 Attachments

OFFICIAL

Dear MJJ

 

FOI request FA 22/08/00151

 

I refer to your FOI request received on 29 July 2022, seeking access to
the following:

1. How many decisions did the Hon Karen Andrews MP personally make under s
501(3) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)? 
 
2. How many decisions were accompanied by a recommendation from the
Department of Home Affairs (under any other denomination) to the Hon Karen
Andrews MP that a visa not be cancelled under s 501(3) of the Migration
Act 1958 (Cth), out of the decisions referred to in question 1 above?

The Department has made a decision on this request. Please find attached
the decision record and document released under the FOI Act.

 

Please note that to process your FOI request, the Department needs to find
all related documents across many systems containing millions of records
and assessing each for potential harms such as privacy and commercial
sensitivity prior to making a decision.

 

Given the diversion of resources from other work, the FOI Act allows
Commonwealth Departments to charge you for providing access to documents
that do not contain an applicant’s personal information. In this instance,
the Department has chosen to waive any charges that would ordinarily be
applicable to this request.

 

For future FOI applications, if the Department  decides you are liable to
pay a charge, we will send you a preliminary assessment of the charge
payable and how much deposit you will need to pay if we are charging you.
Any decision to issue charges will be done in accordance with the FOI Act
and the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019. You may pay the
charge or tell us why you think the charge has been wrongly assessed and
should be reduced or waived. You may also choose to withdraw your request.
The Department will provide documents to you once the charge has been paid
in full.

 

For more information about charges, visit our [1]website or review the
[2]information provided by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner.

 

This request has now been closed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Guy

Position no. 60103474

Freedom of Information Section

FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division

Strategy & National Resilience Group

E: [3][Department of Home Affairs request email]

Department of Home Affairs - [4]www.homeaffairs.gov.au

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

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2. https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/zFllCZ...
3. mailto:[Department of Home Affairs request email]
4. http://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are MJJ please sign in and let everyone know.