Defence Force Aid to the Civil Power Requests
Dear Department of Defence,
I Hereby request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982,
Existing documents containing requests for the invoking of 'military aid to the civil power' within the Commonwealth of Australia, that would be contained in the category of Defence Force Aid to the Civil Power (DACP), for which to date has not been made publicly available in Australia. Including but not limited to requests from State or Territory Governments, Foreign Governments, Military Government or occupation.
I also request that the charges associated with this request be waived on public interest grounds.
Yours faithfully,
Ben Garrett
UNCLASSIFIED
Good morning
Thank you for your email. Your email has been forwarded for consideration/action.
Someone from our office will be in contact.
Kind regards
Nicole Hanna
FOI Operations Officer
Ministerial and Executive Coordination and Communication Division Department of Defence | CP1-6-001| PO Box 7910 | Canberra BC ACT 2610 | (02) 6266 2210 | Email [email address]
http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon Mr Garrett,
1. I refer to your request, dated 25 September 2014, in
which you sought access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act). In particular you sought access to:
“Existing documents containing requests for the invoking of 'military aid
to the civil power' within the Commonwealth of Australia, that would be
contained in the category of Defence Force Aid to the Civil Power (DACP),
for which to date has not been made publicly available in Australia.
Including but not limited to requests from State or Territory Governments,
Foreign Governments, Military Government or occupation.”
Scope of Request
2. Upon receipt of your request, our office undertook
inquiries with the relevant areas in Defence in relation to the documents
you are seeking. I was advised that the areas considered the scope of
this request to be too broad. The areas advised that they would require
more specific information about the term ‘existing documents’. As it
currently stands, the decision maker would be required to undertake
searches of all documents, electronic and hard copy, within the Department
for any mention of this matter. It would simply not be possible for the
decision maker to certify that he or she has identified every copy of
every single document in the Department’s possession, which falls within
the scope of the request, without conducting a search of every hard copy
file and all individuals electronic communication records in the
Department of Defence. It is considered that the workload involved in
conscientiously attempting to do so would involve a substantial and
unreasonable diversion of resources of the agency, whether relevant
documents were identified or not.
3. Further, you have not identified a timeframe for the
request. Finally, I was also advised that the term Defence Force Aid to
Civil Power (DACP) is not a term in recent use within Defence.
Practical Refusal Reason
4. Taking the above into consideration, under section
24AA of the FOI Act and for the purposes of section 24 of the FOI Act,
Defence considers that a “practical refusal reason” exists in relation to
your FOI request. Specifically, Defence considers that the work involved
in processing the request in its current form, would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of Defence from its other operations.
In particular, a very significant amount of resources would have to be
diverted from other Defence activities to identify, locate and collate the
documents within Defence, and to decide whether to grant, refuse or defer
access to the large number of documents to which your request relates, or
to grant access to edited copies of such documents, including resources
that would have to be used to examine the documents, or to consult with
any person or body in relation to the request, and to make copies, or
edited copies, of the documents, and to notify any interim or final
decision on the request.
5. This diversion would constitute a significant drain
on the resources of the areas involved and would have an unreasonable,
substantial and adverse effect on the ability of those areas to conduct
their normal business and in fact would make it virtually impossible for
the affected areas to carry out their normal functions.
Consultation
6. Consequently, in accordance with section 24AB of the
FOI Act, Defence is required to consult with you advising of the intention
to refuse access to your request in its current form.
7. In accordance with paragraph 24AB(2)(c) of the FOI
Act, I am the nominated person with whom you should contact with a view of
agreeing to one of the following options:
a. withdraw your request;
b. revise your request; or
c. indicate that you do not wish to revise your request;
8. You should note that, in accordance with section
24AB(9) of the FOI Act, Defence is only required to undertake the above
consultation process once, and that you are required to contact me within
14 days of receipt of this notice. Should you require further time to
respond, please contact me to discuss.
Action required
9. If you do not contact me or
[1][email address] by 15 October 2014, or an additional
period of time is not agreed, your request will be withdrawn.
Point of contact details
10. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any
questions in relation to this matter.
Regards
Theresa Stinson
Assistant Director - Media Case Management FOI
Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division
Building F065
Level 2-012
Gallipoli Barracks
ENOGGERA QLD 4051
Ph: (07) 3332 6359
Alternative email: [2][email address]
Website:[3]http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/index.htm
Privacy Statement:[4]http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
FOI Act: [5]http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C0...
FOI Guidelines:
[6]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence
and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the Crimes Act 1914.
If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the
sender and delete the email.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/index.htm
4. http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
5. http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C0...
6. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
Dear MRS Theresa Stinson,
In an attempt to assist the department I wish to clarify my FOI request as follows,
The following website link from the Parliament of Australia website, states that there there are two types of civil assistance that ADF may provide: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...
1. Defence Assistance to the Civil Community (DACC). This is the provision of Defence Force personnel, equipment, facilities or capabilities to perform emergency tasks which are primarily the responsibility of civil authorities or organisations, and for which the civilian community lacks the necessary equipment or resources; and
2. Defence Aid to the Civil Power (DACP). This is the provision of Defence Force aid to civil law authorities in the performance of law enforcement tasks.
Using the above information as a reference the information that I seek is for instances other than those that have been made publicly available, when a request has been made for the provision of Defence Force aid to civil law authorities in the performance of law enforcement tasks within Australia, regardless of whether the request was granted or not.
An example of such an instance that is known publicly would be when a request was made and military forces were deployed in February 1978 following the Sydney Hilton bombing, 2,000 armed soldiers were deployed to Bowral and Mittagong to protect the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting and to protect the road and rail links between Sydney and the Southern Highlands.
Requests such as the above made by the NSW State Government that are known to the public have been limited throughout Australia's history, therefore I do not consider this request to be too broad.
I formally revise my FOI request as follows,
I hereby request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 documents in the possession of the Department of Defence other than those that have been made publicly available, which contain requests from State or Territory Governments, Foreign Governments, Military Government or occupation for,
the provision of Defence Force aid to civil law authorities in the performance of law enforcement tasks within Australia, regardless of whether the request was granted or not.
I also request that the charges associated with this request be waived on public interest grounds.
Yours sincerely,
Ben Garrett
UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon Mr Garrett,
Please find attached the decision relating to FOI 087/14/15, along with a
copy of your rights of review.
Kind regards
Theresa Stinson
Assistant Director - Media Case Management FOI
Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division
Building F065
Level 2-012
Gallipoli Barracks
ENOGGERA QLD 4051
Ph: (07) 3332 6359
Alternative email: [1][email address]
Website:[2]http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/index.htm
Privacy Statement:[3]http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
FOI Act: [4]http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C0...
FOI Guidelines:
[5]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence
and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the Crimes Act 1914.
If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the
sender and delete the email.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/index.htm
3. http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
http://www.defence.gov.au/FOI/privacy.asp
4. http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C0...
5. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...