Documents prepared for hearing before Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
This is a request for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth).
Please provide any documents by return email.
I request any and all documents prepared for Ms Angelene Falk's use (whether or not they were actually used) in a hearing before the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 30 August 2023 in relation to the state of the Commonwealth's freedom of information system.
Yours faithfully,
Stoyan
Your email has been received by the Office of Australian Information
Commissioner.
FOI requests to the OAIC
Please note that this email address is only used for making requests to
obtain access to a document held by the OAIC pursuant to the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act). We will only action and respond to
emails making FOI requests to the OAIC. For information on how to make an
FOI request to the OAIC, and to ensure that your request complies with the
requirements of the FOI Act, please refer to the FOI page on the OAIC’s
website at:
[1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/access-...
Once your request has been assessed by the OAIC, and registered on our
system, a separate acknowledgement email will be sent to you with a
reference number.
The OAIC does not hold all documents of other Commonwealth government
agencies, other state government agencies, or private organisations.
Accordingly:
1) if you are seeking to access documents of a particular
Commonwealth agency, you will need to make your request directly to the
relevant agency. For example, if you are requesting a copy of your visa
records, please make an FOI request and send it to the Department of Home
Affairs.
2) if you are seeking to access documents of a state or local
government agency, as each Australian state and territory also have
separate FOI legislation that governs information held by state government
agencies, please contact the relevant agency as to how to make an
application to access the documents. For example, if you are seeking
access to police report from NSW Police Force, it is governed by the
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act), and you
will need to contact NSW police to find out how to make a GIPA application
for the police report.
3) if you are seeking to access documents of a private organization,
which the FOI Act does not apply to, please contact the organization
directly to find out how to access the documents you are seeking. For
example, if you are seeking to access to hospital records or your medical
centre records, please contact these organisations directly.
Enquiries and other matters
If your email relates to any of the following, please utilise our online
forms instead, which are available at
[2]https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/contact...
- Enquiry
- Privacy Complaint
- Notifiable Data Breach
- Consumer Data Right Complaint
- FOI Complaint
- Freedom of Information Review
- Agency FOI Extension of Time Requests
- Speech requests.
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/access-...
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/contact...
Our reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
You FOI request was received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 30 August 2023. This means that a decision on your
FOI request is currently due on 29 September 2023.
Scope of your request
Your FOI request was made in the following terms:
I request any and all documents prepared for Ms Angelene Falk's use
(whether or not they were actually used) in a hearing before the Senate's
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 30 August 2023 in relation
to the state of the Commonwealth's freedom of information system.
I note that Angelene Falk appeared before the Senate’s Legal and
Constitutional Affairs Committee on 29 August 2023 and I have interpreted
your reference to the 30 August 2023 as a reference to 29 August 2023. In
order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will exclude
duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in later
email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process, unless we seek your permission. However, documents that are
within the scope of your request that we may need to consult third parties
about may contain your personal information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires the OAIC to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
The current decision due date for your request is 29 September 2023. We
will advise you if this timeframe is otherwise extended.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss your FOI request, please contact me on my
contact details set out below.
Yours sincerely
[1][IMG] Laura Moffat
Paralegal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [2][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[3]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[OAIC request email]
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...
Our reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Freedom of Information request
Preliminary searches in relation to your request has identified that a
briefing pack was prepared for Angelene Falk appearance before the
Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee (Senate Committee) on
29 August 2023. As such, I have interpreted your request as being for the
briefing pack including additional material and supplementary folder. I
consider that these consist of the documents prepared for Angelene’s Falk
use before the Senate Committee. Before proceeding on this basis, I am
seeking confirmation of the interpretation of the scope of your request.
Please confirm the scope of your request or alternatively if you do not
respond by Thursday 7 September 2023 I will proceed on this basis.
If I do no hear from you by this date, I will assume that you do not
object to this interpretation of the FOI request and will continue to
process the request according to this interpretation. No further action is
then required from you.
If you wish to discuss any of the above please feel free to reach out to
me by way of reply email.
Regards,
Yours sincerely
[1][IMG] Emily Elliott
Senior Lawyer
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [2][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[3]Subscribe to Information Matters
From: OAIC - FOI
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2023 2:59 PM
To: [FOI #10641 email]
Subject: FOIREQ23/00174 – Acknowledgement of your FOI request to the OAIC
Our reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
You FOI request was received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 30 August 2023. This means that a decision on your
FOI request is currently due on 29 September 2023.
Scope of your request
Your FOI request was made in the following terms:
I request any and all documents prepared for Ms Angelene Falk's use
(whether or not they were actually used) in a hearing before the Senate's
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 30 August 2023 in relation
to the state of the Commonwealth's freedom of information system.
I note that Angelene Falk appeared before the Senate’s Legal and
Constitutional Affairs Committee on 29 August 2023 and I have interpreted
your reference to the 30 August 2023 as a reference to 29 August 2023. In
order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will exclude
duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in later
email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process, unless we seek your permission. However, documents that are
within the scope of your request that we may need to consult third parties
about may contain your personal information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires the OAIC to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
The current decision due date for your request is 29 September 2023. We
will advise you if this timeframe is otherwise extended.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss your FOI request, please contact me on my
contact details set out below.
Yours sincerely
[4][IMG] Laura Moffat
Paralegal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [5][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[6]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[OAIC request email]
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
5. mailto:[OAIC request email]
6. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...
Dear Emily,
The briefing pack (including additional material and supplementary folder) that you have referred to sounds like what I am after. I am happy for you to process my FOI request on the basis that the briefing pack (including additional material and supplementary folder) is what falls within the scope of my request.
Yours sincerely,
Stoyan
Good morning Stoyan,
Thank you for clarifying your request. Withing the briefing pack there is a large number of documents, including a number of publicly available documents. For your reference I have attached the index for each the briefing, supplementary and additional material (please note each is in a separate tab). I would like to confirm that you seek access to:
- all documents, including publicly available documents;
- all documents, excluding publicly available documents (we would be happy to provide you links to the documents); or
- a specific set of documents.
If you could confirm the documents you are seeking access to by cob Monday 11 September 2023 it would be greatly appreciated. If you do not respond, we will interpret your request for all documents, including publicly available documents.
Regards,
Emily Elliott
Senior Lawyer
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people, cultures and Elders past and present.
Subscribe to Information Matters
Dear Emily,
Thank you for sending the index to the briefing pack to me. It's very useful. I can see that the briefing pack does, indeed, contain documents that are in the public domain. For example, I can see that public submissions to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee are included (highlighted in yellow under the subheading submissions).
At this stage and subject to what I have to say below, I think the most sensible approach would be to limit my request to "all documents, excluding publicly available documents".
Looking at this index, I am particularly interested in:
a) FOI Hearing Brief - Key statistics
b) FOI Hearing Brief - OAIC APS Census Results
c) FOI Hearing Brief - Staffing Figures
d) FOI Hearing Brief - Legal Matters
e) FOI Hearing Brief - Branch Budgets
f) FOI IC review table -numbers, finalisation times, outcomes
g) Agency FOI statistics
h) FOI Complaints
i) Department of Home Affairs – Compliance with Processing
j) FOI Change of government and official ministerial documents of a Minister
k) FOI OAIC Monitoring, guidance, engagement and IPS guidelines
l) FOI Extension of time applications
m) National Cabinet
n) Deemed Decisions
o) IC Review Procedure Direction
p) Proposed amendments to FOI Act – contact with AGD
q) Proposed legislative amendments as at August 2023
r) OAIC Governance Structure
s) SES Staff Caps and attachments
t) Corporate
u) the totality of the "FOI Operations" documents (it appears to have 15 parts).
To the extent that any of these (or parts of them) are publicly available documents, I still would like to be provided with them as part of my FOI request.
Yours sincerely,
Stoyan
Thanks Stoyan for your response.
We will process your request for all documents, excluding publicly available documents noting the parts that you would like included even if they contain publicly available information.
Regards,
Emily Elliott
Senior Lawyer
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people, cultures and Elders past and present.
Subscribe to Information Matters
Good afternoon Stoyan,
We are well progressed in processing your request, but it is a large request (over 500 pages) and it would assist us if you would agree to a short extension until 13 October 2023.
Section 15AA of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 allows the processing time for an FOI request to be extended for no more than 30 days with the agreement of the applicant. If you could please advise by 1pm tomorrow, 29 September 2023 if you agree to the extension it would be appreciated.
Regards,
Emily Elliott
Senior Lawyer
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people, cultures and Elders past and present.
Subscribe to Information Matters
Dear Emily,
I understand. Happy to agree to the proposed extension of time. I look forward to receiving the documents on Friday 13 October 2023.
Yours sincerely,
Stoyan
Your email has been received by the Office of Australian Information
Commissioner.
FOI requests to the OAIC
Please note that this email address is only used for making requests to
obtain access to a document held by the OAIC pursuant to the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act). We will only action and respond to
emails making FOI requests to the OAIC. For information on how to make an
FOI request to the OAIC, and to ensure that your request complies with the
requirements of the FOI Act, please refer to the FOI page on the OAIC’s
website at:
[1]https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/access-...
Once your request has been assessed by the OAIC, and registered on our
system, a separate acknowledgement email will be sent to you with a
reference number.
The OAIC does not hold all documents of other Commonwealth government
agencies, other state government agencies, or private organisations.
Accordingly:
1) if you are seeking to access documents of a particular
Commonwealth agency, you will need to make your request directly to the
relevant agency. For example, if you are requesting a copy of your visa
records, please make an FOI request and send it to the Department of Home
Affairs.
2) if you are seeking to access documents of a state or local
government agency, as each Australian state and territory also have
separate FOI legislation that governs information held by state government
agencies, please contact the relevant agency as to how to make an
application to access the documents. For example, if you are seeking
access to police report from NSW Police Force, it is governed by the
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act), and you
will need to contact NSW police to find out how to make a GIPA application
for the police report.
3) if you are seeking to access documents of a private organization,
which the FOI Act does not apply to, please contact the organization
directly to find out how to access the documents you are seeking. For
example, if you are seeking to access to hospital records or your medical
centre records, please contact these organisations directly.
Enquiries and other matters
If your email relates to any of the following, please utilise our online
forms instead, which are available at
[2]https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/contact...
- Enquiry
- Privacy Complaint
- Notifiable Data Breach
- Consumer Data Right Complaint
- FOI Complaint
- Freedom of Information Review
- Agency FOI Extension of Time Requests
- Speech requests.
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/access-...
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/contact...
OAIC reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Please see attached decision, documents and schedule of today’s date on
behalf of the delegate for the main documents for your FOI request.
You will also receive 2 additional emails with supplementary and
additional documents.
Kind Regards,
[1][IMG] Laura Moffat
Paralegal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [2][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[3]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[OAIC request email]
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...
OAIC reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Please see attached documents and schedule of today’s date on behalf of
the delegate for the additional documents for your FOI request.
The final supplementary documents will be sent in another email.
Kind Regards,
[1][IMG] Laura Moffat
Paralegal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [2][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[3]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[OAIC request email]
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...
OAIC reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Please see attached documents and schedule of today’s date on behalf of
the delegate for the supplementary documents for your FOI request.
This is the final bundle and schedule for your FOI Request.
Kind Regards,
[1][IMG] Laura Moffat
Paralegal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [2][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[3]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[OAIC request email]
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...
OAIC reference: FOIREQ23/00174
Dear Stoyan,
Please see attached decision, documents and schedule of today’s date on
behalf of the delegate for the main documents for your FOI request.
You will also receive 2 additional emails with supplementary and
additional documents.
Kind Regards,
[1][IMG] Laura Moffat
Paralegal
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
E [2][OAIC request email]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[3]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[OAIC request email]
3. https://www.oaic.gov.au/engage-with-us/n...