Final reports

John Smith made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Home Affairs

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

Waiting for an internal review by Department of Home Affairs of their handling of this request.

Dear Department of Home Affairs,

I wish to obtain a copy of all final reports delivered to the department, by either the firm McKinsey & Co, or Boston Consulting Group; since 18 September 2013.

Additionally, I wish to obtain a copy of all powerpoint presentations delievered to the department by either of those firms, since 18 September 2013.

Please narrow this request to only documents delivered by either of those groups to the department, stored in either a PDF, powerpoint, or word document format.

Yours faithfully,

John Smith

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **

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Information updated 21 October 2019

 

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FOI, Department of Home Affairs

UNCLASSIFIED

In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 20/03/00730
File Number: OBJ2020/8141

Dear Mr Smith

Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request
I refer to your correspondence received on 12 March 2020 seeking access to documents held by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

You have requested access to the following:
I wish to obtain a copy of all final reports delivered to the department, by either the firm McKinsey & Co, or Boston Consulting Group; since 18 September 2013.

Additionally, I wish to obtain a copy of all powerpoint presentations delievered to the department by either of those firms, since 18 September 2013.

Please narrow this request to only documents delivered by either of those groups to the department, stored in either a PDF, powerpoint, or word document format. .

Your request was received by the Department on 12 March 2020 and has been allocated FOI request number FA 20/03/00730 . Please include your FOI request number in all correspondence with the Freedom of Information Section.

Timeframe for receiving your decision
The statutory timeframe for processing a request is 30 days from the date upon which your application was received by the Department.

Your review rights in relation to your request are available on the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner here.
Exclusion of staff details

The Department’s policy 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.

Duplicate documents
If the FOI decision-maker deems a document to be a duplicate, they will not assess those pages as part of your FOI request. This means that if a there is a decision to release the document to you, you will receive only one copy, even if multiple copies of that document exists.

Publication of document
Where documents are released to you in response to your request, the Department may be required to publish these documents on its website within 10 working days in accordance with section 11C of the FOI Act. Publication will not be required where the documents contain personal or business affairs information.

Contacting the FOI Section
Should you wish to discuss your request you may contact the FOI Section at [DIBP request email].

Yours sincerely

FOI Officer
Freedom of Information
FOI & Records Management Branch | Data Division
Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs | www.homeaffairs.gov.au
E: [DIBP request email]

UNCLASSIFIED

show quoted sections

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED

In reply please quote:

FOI Request:         FA 20/03/00730

File Number:          OBJ2020/8141  

Dear Mr Smith,

I refer to your email dated 12 March 2020 in which you request access to
documents held by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

I am writing to tell you that I intend to refuse your request on the basis
that a practical refusal reason exists. However, before I make a final
decision to do this, you have an opportunity to revise your request to
remove the practical refusal reason. This is called a ‘request
consultation process’. You have 14 days to respond to this notice.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

FOI Officer

Freedom of Information

FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division

Corporate and Enabling Group

Department of Home Affairs | Email: [DIBP request email]

 

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
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obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.  

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

Dear FOI,

I note that under the FOIA guidelines, poor record-keeping practices are not a valid reason for a department to refuse an FOI request on the basis of a practical refusal reason.

You may narrow my request to only include final reports, and final powerpoint presentations by McKinsey. I hope that makes the FOI request more reasonable and practicable.

If my request is still refused after this narrowing of the request I intend to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

UNCLASSIFIED

Good morning Mr Smith

Thank you for your email below. I note that you have agreed to revise the scope of your request to final reports and final powerpoint presentations by McKinsey. The timeframe of your request is from 18 September 2013 to the date your request was received.

As at 30 June 2019, the Department’s workforce comprised 13,257 ongoing and 798 non-ongoing staff in every state and territory and in 114 locations around the world. (2018-19 Annual Report [p.181]).

The Department has 4,500 electronic systems, platforms and applications including communications tools, and its TRIM document management system alone consists of approximately 222TB of data. In addition, the Department holds 628,000 cartons of physical records.

The practical refusal reason in this matter does not exist as a result of poor record keeping. It exists because the quantity of data held by the Department is extensive. To ensure that a decision maker could sign-off on a decision that all documents relevant to your request had been identified, a search of all of the Department’s information holdings would have to be undertaken. That would be both a substantial and an unreasonable diversion of the resources of this Department from its other operations.

It should also be noted that during the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) global pandemic, as the Department focuses its efforts on managing the impact of COVID-19 on its critical services and employees, I consider that such a diversion or resources would be particularly unreasonable.

If you are unable to provide us with further details of the particular subject matter of the reports that you wish to seek records for, the Department maintains that a practical refusal reason exists in this request, and we will proceed on that basis.

Alternatively, if you would like to limit your request to relevant records identified in reasonable searches of the Department’s primary document management system HPETRIM, we would be in a position to proceed with that request on the basis that the search of one primary system would not be an unreasonable diversion of resources.

With kind regards
Freedom of Information Section
FOI and Records Management Branch
Data Division | Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs
E: [DIBP request email]

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Dear FOI,

I agree to limit my request to relevant records identified in reasonable searches of the Department’s primary document management system HPETRIM.

Given the recent public interest in the use of the consultancy firm McKinsie by government departments, as evidenced by these two example articles; I ask that the ordinarily applicable FOI fees be waived in this instance.

https://www.michaelwest.com.au/mckinsey-...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/us/mc...

Yours sincerely,
John Smith

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

UNCLASSIFIED

Good morning,

I refer to your request received on 12 March 2020 for access to documents under the FOI Act.

The current due date for your request is 11 April 2020.

Due to the number of requests currently being processed by our office, we will not be able to finalise your request by the original due date.

The department is continuing to work through its FOI case load as quickly as possible. COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. As the Department focuses its efforts on managing the impact of COVID-19 on its critical services and employees, other non-critical services may not be delivered within expected timeframes. We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this period.

In order for the Department to complete the process of retrieving all 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 30 days. This would extend the due date for your request to 11 May 2020.

It would assist the Department in managing its FOI caseload if you could provide a response to this request by close of business, Friday 10 April 2020.

If you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI section on the details below.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Officer
Freedom of Information
FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division
Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs | Email: [DIBP request email]

UNCLASSIFIED

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

I agree to the extension.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

John Smith left an annotation ()

Request is not actually delayed at this point, as I have agreed to an extension up to 11th May

Dear FOI,

This request is now overdue.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

Dear FOI,

Is this FOI request being actioned?

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

Dear FOI,

This request remains overdue. Is it being actioned?

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

Dear FOI,

Hello, I am requesting a response to this request.

Is the department planning on actioning this request?

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

Dear FOI,

It is clear that the department is still recieving emails from righttoknow.org.au, as the department has been engaging in correspondence recently with other FOI requests that have been made.

(e.g. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/l... )

Is there an explanation as to why this FOI request is being neglected by the department?

I would rather not have to involve the courts/OAIC in actioning this request.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Smith

Apologies for the late reply. Thank you for agreeing to an extension of time to process your FOI request.

The Department is committed to processing your request as quickly as possible. A decision on access will be made on your request and you will be notified of this as soon as possible.

Kind regards

FOI Officer
Freedom of Information (FOI) Section | FOI and Records Management Branch
Data Management Division | Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs
E: [DIBP request email]

UNCLASSIFIED

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you I await the outcome.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

Dear FOI,

This request is now extremely overdue. Under the FOIA, as I have not recieved a decision by the due date, I am no longer legally required to pay a fee in relation to this request.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

Dear FOI,

As this response is long overdue, and I have not recieved further acknowledgement, I am now referring this FOI request to the OAIC.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Smith

 

FOI request FA 20/03/00730

 

I refer to your FOI request received on 12 March 2020, seeking access to
the following:

'Final reports and final powerpoint presentations by McKinsey held on the
Department’s primary document management system HPETRIM.'

 

The Department has made a decision on this request. Please find attached
the decision record.

 

This request has now been closed.

 

Kind regards

FOI Officer

Freedom of Information (FOI) Section | FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Management Division  | Corporate and Enabling Group

Department of Home Affairs

E: [1][DIBP request email]

 

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
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this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
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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

Visible links
1. mailto:[DIBP request email]

Dear FOI,

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

FOI Reviews mailbox, Department of Home Affairs

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED

In reply please quote:

FOI Request: FA 20/06/00447-R1

File Number: OBJ2020/19008

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

I refer to your correspondence dated 17 July 2020 in which you request
that the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) review its decision
on access to documents dated 16 June 2020 under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

 

Please find attached decision letter in relation to this matter.

 

Kind regards

 

Internal Review Officer

FOI Section

FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Division

Strategy & Law Enforcement Group

Department of Home Affairs | [1]www.homeaffairs.gov.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED

 

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

Visible links
1. http://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/

Dear FOI Reviews mailbox,

You have sent the refusal of FA 20/06/00447-R1 to the wrong email address.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

FOI Reviews mailbox, Department of Home Affairs

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Smith

The above email address is noted in our files as being the contact for FA20/06/00447.

Would you like me to send the decision record to a different email address?

Kind regards

Rebecca

Assistant Director
FOI Section
FOI and Records Management Branch
Data Division
Strategy & Law Enforcement Group
Department of Home Affairs | www.homeaffairs.gov.au

UNCLASSIFIED

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Reviews mailbox,

I made the request for FA20/06/00447 under a different address.

This email address is for request FA 20/03/00730. Its no problem, I am notified.

But just wanted to let you know in case there is an issue causing DHA emails to be misdirected.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

FOI Reviews mailbox, Department of Home Affairs

UNOFFICIAL

In reply please quote:

FOI request: FA 20/06/00821-R1

File number: OBJ2020/19987

 

Dear Mr Smith

This email is to acknowledge that the Department of Home Affairs (the
Department) has received your request for an internal review of an access
refusal decision under section 54 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the FOI Act).

The decision under review is the Department’s decision of 5 August 2020.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

The statutory timeframe for processing an internal review request is 30
days from the date on which the request was received by the Department.
The Department received the internal review request on 5 August 2020.  

Review rights

Your review rights in relation to your internal review request are
available on the website of the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner [1]here.

Contacting the FOI Section

Should you wish to discuss your request you may contact the FOI Section at
[2][email address].

 

Kind Regards,

 

Karen

FOI and Records Management Branch

Data Division

Strategy & Law Enforcement Group

Department of Home Affairs

 

Email: [3][email address]

 

 

UNOFFICIAL

 

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

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]

Dear FOI Reviews mailbox,

You have sent the reply email to the wrong address. This email address is for FA 20/03/00730 , and you are emailing about FA 20/06/00821-R1.

In any event, thank you for acknowledging my request for internal review.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith