OFFICIAL

Dear James Smith

Acknowledgement

I refer to your correspondence of 2 November 2023 seeking access to
documents held by the Department of Defence (Defence), under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). This email is to advise you that your
request has been received and allocated for Case Management.

The scope of your request is:

…the fitness standards to be met and tests to be passed as required of
full time and reserve Army personnel for those over 50 years of age and
holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher.

Please could you provide a table by age, rank, full time or reserve
employment showing whether the relevant demographic passed, failed or did
not complete the relevant fitness test, from 1 January 2021 to date.

Disclaimer

Where staff details are captured in documents within the scope of your FOI
request, this information will be redacted; this includes private email
addresses, signatures, personnel (PMKeyS) numbers and mobile telephone
numbers, unless you specifically request such details. Defence excludes
duplicates of documents and any documents sent to or from you.
Furthermore, Defence only considers final versions of documents.

Charges

Defence may impose a charge for the work involved in providing access to
the documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Charges)
Regulations 2019. We will notify you if your request attracts a charge.
Please note that there is no charge for documents that contain the
personal information of the applicant.

Timeframe

The statutory timeframe to provide you with a decision on your request
ends on 2 December 2023. This period may be extended if we need to consult
with third parties, or for other reasons. We will advise you if this
happens.

Please note that where the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public
holiday, the timeframe will expire on the next working day. This is in
accordance with the FOI Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner under section 93A of the FOI Act.

Disclosure Log

Documents released under the FOI Act may be published on Defence’s
disclosure log, located on our website.

Contact Details

We will contact you via the email address you have provided. Please advise
if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.

I am the Case Manager for this request. Should you have any questions
relating to your request, please do not hesitate to contact me via email:
[1][email address].

Kind regards

Erin
FOI Case Manager
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

[2]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...

OFFICIAL

Good morning James

I am writing in relation to your request for documents under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) for the following:

…the fitness standards to be met and tests to be passed as required of
full time and reserve Army personnel for those over 50 years of age and
holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel or higher.

Please could you provide a table by age, rank, full time or reserve
employment showing whether the relevant demographic passed, failed or did
not complete the relevant fitness test, from 1 January 2021 to date.

The current statutory deadline for you to receive a response to your
Defence FOI request is 2 December 2023.

Due to the processing demands associated with your request our office is
seeking your agreement to a 21-day extension of the statutory deadline
under section 15AA [extension with agreement] of the FOI Act. This is
required so that we may sufficiently consider all information relevant to
the scope of your request to ensure a robust decision on access is made.
We will endeavour to process your request as soon as we can.

Should you agree, the statutory deadline for you to receive a response to
your request will expire on 23 December 2023.

It would be much appreciated if you could confirm your agreement to this
extension of time via e-mail by 5:00pm 28 November 2023.

If you have any questions regarding this matter please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Kind regards,

Erin
FOI Case Manager
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

[1]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...

OFFICIAL

Dear James,

Please find attached the Decision and documents relating to Defence FOI
406/23/24. 

FOI Disclosure Log

In accordance with the requirements of section 11C of the FOI Act, Defence
is required to publish details of information released under the FOI Act.
Defence publishes identified documents relating to finalised requests
within ten working days of receipt by the applicant. Defence will also
publish the statement of reasons with privacy deletions. 

Review Rights

If you disagree with the decision made by the Department of Defence or the
Minister under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), you can
ask for the decision to be reviewed. You may want to seek review if you
sought certain documents and were not given full access, if your
application to have your personal information amended was not accepted or
your comments in response to formal consultation were not accepted.

You must apply in writing and should include a copy of the notice of the
decision provided and the points to which you are objecting and why.  You
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner, within 60 days of
receiving your decision.

Further information about the external review process or how to make a
complaint to the Information Commissioner is available:

Online: [1]www.oaic.gov.au

Post: GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2000

Email: [2][email address]

Kind regards,

Erin
Freedom of Infomation
Media and Information Disclosure Branch

Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division

Department of Defence

[3]Freedom of information requests | About | Defence

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.defence.gov.au/about/accessi...