FOI request handling and training materials
Dear Attorney-General's Department,
I hereby request, under the Freedom of Information Act (1982), copies of all non-public training, procedure and policy materials relating to the handling of FOI requests by the Department's staff or representatives at the time of this letter.
Yours faithfully,
G King
UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon
I hereby acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) dated 9 January 2013.
Your request will be processed as quickly as possible.
With regards,
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section Attorney-General's Department
UNCLASSIFIED
Good morning Mr / Mrs King
Referring to your FOI request of 9 January 2013, our decision is attached.
With regards,
AGD FOI & Privacy
[AGD request email]
Dear Attorney-General's Department,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Attorney-General's Department's handling of my FOI request 'FOI request handling and training materials'.
I find it disingenuous to claim the department maintains zero internal training, procedure or policy material relating to the handling of
FOI requests. For example, is there no formal induction process for new FOI officers?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/fo...
Yours faithfully,
G King
UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon Mr/Mrs King
I hereby acknowledge your request for Internal Review under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) dated 29 January 2013.
The review will be conducted as quickly as possible.
Kind Regards
Margarita Constant
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
A: +61 (2) 6141 3291 +: [email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr King
I refer to your request of 29 January 2013 for an internal review of Mr
Logan Tudor’s decision made in response to your FOI request of 9 January
2013. I have carried out such an internal review and my decision is set
out below.
In your original request you asked for copies of ‘all non-public training,
procedure and policy materials relating to the handling of FOI requests by
the Department’s staff representatives at the time of this letter’. That
was interpreted by Mr Tudor as a request for material used and referred to
by Departmental decision makers when making their decisions under the FOI
Act. That was, in my view, a legitimate and reasonable interpretation.
He therefore advised you, quite correctly, that the documents actually
used and referred to by decision makers when making their determinations
are the public ones to which he directed your attention.
However, I note that in your email requesting an internal review of Mr
Tudor’s decision, you have specifically sought documents provided to new
starters in this section. I have, therefore, attached the documents
which, along with documents referred to Mr Tudor, are provided to new
starters to help them understand the FOI processes and procedures involved
and the relevant legislation and principles. While they are not used or
referred to by decision makers when making actual decisions, they
nevertheless help our new starters gain an insight into, and understanding
of, the FOI process in general.
I trust the documents are useful.
Regards.
Malcolm Bennett | Director
Freedom of Information & Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel
Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 2550 E: [1][email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/[email address]%20
Peter Timmins left an annotation ()
G King, You'll find that training is done by the Australian Government Solicitor's-a separate agency. And that the AGS is entirely exempt from the FOI act.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/c...
Exclusions such as this should be looked at as part of Dr Hawke's current review. Don't hold your breath.
Even if AGS was covered there would likely be a claim that the training materials are exempt because they contain information that has a commercial value that would be destroyed or diminished by disclosure. There is no public interest test in that exemption. Another issue Dr Hawke should look at.
Cheers.
Peter Timmins.
Open and Shut
www.foi-privacy.blogspot.com.au