Documents relating to Recovery Plan for the Endangered Species - Abbott's Booby (Papasula abbotti) on Christmas Island

Richard Smith made this Freedom of Information request to Department of the Environment and Energy

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

The request was successful.

Richard Smith

Dear Department of the Environment and Energy,

The Abbotts Booby (Papasula abbotti) is an endangered bird that breeds only on Christmas Island.

As a bird native to our country, Australia has an obligation to protect and restore the population. Australia also has international obligations to protect the Abbott’s booby under the Japan/Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (1974).

My recent enquiries appear to suggest that the last recovery plan for this species, developed in 2004, ceased to be in effect from 1/10/2015.

I therefore request the following Government Information documents:

a) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to protect, restore and enhance the breeding habitat of the Abbott's Booby;

b) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to manage threats posed by the Yellow crazy ant to
the Abbotts Booby;

c) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to monitor and assess the likely impact of developing fisheries in the Christmas Island;

d) Documents describing the last population count of Abbotts Booby (Papasula abbotti) undertaken by the Department of the Environment and Energy, including number of birds, date the count was undertaken and methodology of the population count;

e) Documents describing the Department of the Environment and Energy's Abbotts Booby population monitoring program;

f) Any Document assessing the impact on the population of Abbotts Boobys of the construction of the Immigration Detention Centre on and adjacent to National Park land on Christmas Island in 2002; and

g) Any Document assessing the impact on the population of Abbotts Boobys of the subsequent operation of the Immigration Detention Centre on and adjacent to National Park land on Christmas Island between 2002 and 20 March 2017;

h) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to Identify feeding habitat of Abbotts Booby adults and juveniles and develop appropriate management responses to any threats identified; and

i) Documents regarding the Department of the Environment and Energy's most recent activities in relation to assessing the appropriateness of revising the 2004 Abbotts Booby Recovery Plan.

If this can be answered as informal request, please do so.

Otherwise, please proceed with this as a formal request under the Freedom of Information principles & framework, i.e. the Freedom of Information Act 1982 & other associated guidelines and regulations.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Smith

FOI Contact Officer, Department of the Environment and Energy

Dear Mr Smith

The Department of the Environment and Energy acknowledges receipt of your request on 21 March 2017.

The Department is required to process valid requests within 30 days after the day a request was received. This 30 day processing period may be extended under certain circumstances, for example, where the Department decides it reasonable to consult with third parties. If the processing period is extended, the applicant will be informed of the extension and the reasons for it.

As at the date of writing, we have not scoped your request. If it is a valid request under the FOI Act the statutory deadline for providing a decision on this request is 20 April 2017.

The Department makes two assumptions that affect the scope of your request. These are set out below.

It is the usual practice of the Department:
• not to disclose the personal information of junior officers or the personal contact details of senior officers of the State or Federal governments (including those of the Department). The names of senior officers will generally be released. Your request will be processed on the assumption that you do not intend to capture these details within its scope.
• not to release duplicates of any document captured within the scope of the request. Further, where two documents fall within the scope one differs from the other only with respect to minor editorial changes (such as spelling or grammar corrections), only the later version of the document will be treated as within scope. Your request will be processed on the assumption that you do not intend to capture duplicates or documents that the Department considers duplicates (as per the above explanation) within the scope of your request.

Please inform us if you do not agree to your request being processed by the Department on the above assumptions.

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be published online on our disclosure log.

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

If you have any questions, please contact the FOI team on (02) 6274 2098.

Regards

FOI Contact Officer | Climate Change, Science and Corporate Legal Section |General Counsel Branch Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: (02) 6274 2098
e: [Department of the Environment and Energy request email]

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Smith [mailto:[FOI #3270 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 21 March 2017 3:39 PM
To: FOI Contact Officer <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Documents relating to Recovery Plan for the Endangered Species - Abbott's Booby (Papasula abbotti) on Christmas Island

Dear Department of the Environment and Energy,

The Abbotts Booby (Papasula abbotti) is an endangered bird that breeds only on Christmas Island.

As a bird native to our country, Australia has an obligation to protect and restore the population. Australia also has international obligations to protect the Abbott’s booby under the Japan/Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (1974).

My recent enquiries appear to suggest that the last recovery plan for this species, developed in 2004, ceased to be in effect from 1/10/2015.

I therefore request the following Government Information documents:

a) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to protect, restore and enhance the breeding habitat of the Abbott's Booby;

b) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to manage threats posed by the Yellow crazy ant to the Abbotts Booby;

c) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to monitor and assess the likely impact of developing fisheries in the Christmas Island;

d) Documents describing the last population count of Abbotts Booby (Papasula abbotti) undertaken by the Department of the Environment and Energy, including number of birds, date the count was undertaken and methodology of the population count;

e) Documents describing the Department of the Environment and Energy's Abbotts Booby population monitoring program;

f) Any Document assessing the impact on the population of Abbotts Boobys of the construction of the Immigration Detention Centre on and adjacent to National Park land on Christmas Island in 2002; and

g) Any Document assessing the impact on the population of Abbotts Boobys of the subsequent operation of the Immigration Detention Centre on and adjacent to National Park land on Christmas Island between 2002 and 20 March 2017;

h) Documents describing the latest Department of the Environment and Energy's assessment of efforts undertaken to Identify feeding habitat of Abbotts Booby adults and juveniles and develop appropriate management responses to any threats identified; and

i) Documents regarding the Department of the Environment and Energy's most recent activities in relation to assessing the appropriateness of revising the 2004 Abbotts Booby Recovery Plan.

If this can be answered as informal request, please do so.

Otherwise, please proceed with this as a formal request under the Freedom of Information principles & framework, i.e. the Freedom of Information Act 1982 & other associated guidelines and regulations.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Smith

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

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #3270 email]

Is [Department of the Environment and Energy request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Department of the Environment and Energy? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...

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://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

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.

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

hide quoted sections

Richard Smith

Dear FOI Contact Officer,

Thank you for your reply of 31 March 2017.

I refer to the two assumptions that the Department has indicated it will be applying to its processing of my request for Government Information.

Regarding the Department's policy of excluding names and contact details of junior Departmental staff, while I recognise that this is a restriction to release of FOI documents over and above the requirements set out in the Act, on consideration of the Government Information subject to this request, I do not object to the Department's adherence to its internal policy.

I will however raise an objection, if the reason for not releasing any documents identified to be in the scope of my request for Government Information solely rests on the fact that they contain names and contact details of junior Departmental staff.

Considering the assumption that the Department does not intend to capture duplicates or documents that the Department considers duplicates, I also do not object to the request being processed according to this assumption.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Smith

FOI Contact Officer, Department of the Environment and Energy

1 Attachment

Good afternoon

 

Please find attached decision letter with regards to your FOI request
received by the Department of the Environment and Energy on 21 March 2017.

 

I have shared the documents for release with you via Sigbox (the dropbox
used by our Department). You should have received an email from Sigbox
with a link to the documents.

 

If you have any issues accessing the documents or have any questions
please don’t hesitate to contact the Department’s FOI team.

 

Kind regards

 

 

FOI Officer

General Counsel Branch
Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: (02) 6274 2603 
e: [1][Department of the Environment and Energy request email]

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Department of the Environment and Energy request email]

Department of the Environment and Energy

1 Attachment

[1][IMG]
Department of the Environment and Energy Notification
New items have been shared with you

Dear [FOI #3270 email]

The following items have recently been shared with you using Department
of the Environment and Energy SIGBOX.

File/Folder Name Shared By
[2]FOI 170312 - Attachment C - [email address]
documents for release.pdf

[3]Click here to sign in to SIGBOX.

To access these items:

 1. Click the link above to open the Sign-in page.
 2. Enter your email address and password and click the Sign in button.

If you do not have a password, click 'Don't have a password?' on the
sign-in screen for further instructions

Regards
Department of the Environment and Energy

This email was automatically sent from Department of the Environment and
Energy. Please do not reply to this email. If you want to contact
Department of the Environment and Energy about this message, please
contact Department of the Environment and Energy support at
[4]https://docs.sig-box.com/index.html .
©2017 DEW.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/foiextract20191115-1987-5ox226#
2. https://dew.sig-box.com#/1/secureObjects... 170312 - Attachment C - documents for release.pdf
3. https://dew.sig-box.com/
4. https://docs.sig-box.com/index.html

Department of the Environment and Energy

1 Attachment

[1][IMG]
Department of the Environment and Energy Notification
Your one-time access link to shared content

Dear [FOI #3270 email]

To access content shared with you, click the one-time access link below.

[2]View shared content

Or, paste this link into your browser:
[3]https://dew.sig-box.com/login#username=f...
Be aware that this access link is only valid for 20 minutes and can only be used once.

If you cannot successfully sign in to Department of the Environment and Energy SIGBOX using this access link, open
your original 'shared file/folder' email notification and follow the steps in this notification to obtain a new
one-time access link.

Regards
Department of the Environment and Energy

This email was automatically sent from Department of the Environment and
Energy. Please do not reply to this email. If you want to contact Department
of the Environment and Energy about this message, please contact Department
of the Environment and Energy support at
[4]https://docs.sig-box.com/index.html .
©2017 DEW.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/foiextract20191115-1987-1sqqqek#
2. https://dew.sig-box.com/login#username=f...
3. https://dew.sig-box.com/login#username=f...
4. https://docs.sig-box.com/index.html

Richard Smith

Dear Department of the Environment and Energy FOI Officer,

RE: FOI Request No. 170312

Thank you for your reply of 19th April 2017.

I have started to review the 437 pages of documents that the Department has released under my FOI request.

The documentation you have released appears to be comprehensive and substantially addresses my specific requests.

I therefore consider my FOI request for Government Information closed.

Thank you for your assistance & prompt attention to my request for Government Information.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Smith

FOI Contact Officer, Department of the Environment and Energy

1 Attachment

[Uploading documents supplied by the authority, downloaded by the requester, and provided to Right To Know administrators]