Dear CR

Thank you for your request dated 7 January 2024 seeking access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

This email sets out some information about how your request will be
processed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Scope of request:

You have sought access to:

 1. A list of all FOI requests received by the department relating to the
2023 Hamas-Israel Conflict. The list should include the reference
number and date of receipt for each request.

 2. All correspondence between the department and FOI applicants regarding
the above-mentioned requests.

 3. All internal correspondence exchanged within the department regarding
the above-mentioned requests.

 4. All correspondence between the department and any external parties
regarding the above-mentioned requests.

 5. All correspondence between FOI applicants and any external parties
regarding the above-mentioned requests. For example, communications
with the OAIC or the AAT, if applicable.

Please include any email attachments as they form part of the scope of
this request.

Please exclude the following information:

I. Personal information of FOI applicants.
II. Personal information of departmental staff.
III. Personal information of any third parties.
IV. Duplicate content.

If consultation with a third party is deemed necessary where documents
affect privacy under s 27A of the Act, I respectfully request to be
notified first so that I may consider revising or narrowing the scope of
my request to avoid such consultation if possible.

Informal consultation:

Before we undertake searches for documents relevant to your request, you
may wish to revise the scope of your request.

In relation to part 1 of your request, the FOI Act gives a right of access
to documents that already exist, the department is not required to create
a new document to satisfy an FOI request (such as lists). You may wish to
refine your FOI request by removing the part of the request for a list of
documents or revising the wording of this request.

In relation to the remainder of your request, as currently worded may
constitute a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the department’s
resources from its other operations. Since 1 October 2023 the department
has received over 20 FOI requests relating to the 2023 Hamas-Israel
Conflict, capturing hundreds of emails and attachments relating to the
processing of each request. You may wish to refine your FOI request to a
particular date range or particular request.

As currently worded, your request specifies multiple forms of
correspondence, including with third parties. Whilst you have excluded
personal information of FOI applicant’s and third parties, consultations
with over 20 third parties would be required to fulfil this request. You
may wish to refine your FOI request by limiting the correspondence types
and/or limiting the amount of third parties.

Please advise us by COB Wednesday 10 January 2024 whether you wish to
revise your request. 

If we do not hear from you the department will begin processing your
request as currently worded and may be required to consult you under
section 24AB of the FOI Act.

Timeframe for receiving our decision:

We received your request on 7 January 2024 the 30-day statutory period for
processing your request commenced from the day after that date. The period
of 30 days may be extended in certain circumstances. We will advise you if
any extension of time is required.

Charges:

Please note that the department may issue charges for processing FOI
requests. We will advise you of any relevant charges when we are in a
position to estimate the resources required to process your request.

Disclosure log:

Please note that, with some exceptions (such as personal information),
documents released under the FOI Act may later be published on the
department’s disclosure log:
[1]https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/corpora....

Exclusion of officials’ names and contact details:

It is the department’s policy to withhold the mobile numbers of all
government officials, and the names and contact details of government
officials not in the Senior Executive Service (SES) or equivalent. If you
require the mobile numbers of all government officials, or the names and
contact details of non-SES officials, please let us know at
[2][DFAT request email] so the decision-maker may consider; otherwise we will
take it that you agree to that information being excluded from the scope
of your request.

Personal Information:

If we need to consult with other people or organisations regarding your
FOI request, we may need to disclose your personal information (e.g. your
name). When we consult it may be apparent that you have made a request,
even if we do not disclose your identity. Please let us know if you have
any concerns in this regard. The department’s privacy policy is available
at dfat.gov.au/privacy.html.

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact us by return e-mail at [3][DFAT request email]

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[4]dfat.gov.au | [5]Twitter | [6]Facebook | [7]Instagram  | [8]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[9]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Thank you for agreeing to remove part 1 of your FOI request.

With regard to third party consultations it is the department's standard
practice to undertake consultations. Consideration will have to be given
on a case by case basis as to whether the documents, with personal
identifiers removed, still constitutes personal information and whether
the applicants are ‘reasonably identifiable’ and whether it contains
information ‘about’ them, in that it reveals or conveys something about
them (including the fact that they put in a FOI request at all). Given you
have requested correspondence of third parties, which do not contain your
personal information, the department considers that applicant’s might
reasonably wish to make a contention that the documents do contain
personal information and are conditionally exempt on the basis that the
applicants are ‘reasonable identifiable’ and/or contains information
‘about’ them, even if their names and email addresses (for example) are
removed. 

By limiting correspondence we mean limiting it to a specific cohort, for
example, correspondence sent to/from the FOI Section only. However, noting
there are over 20 requests you may wish to consider reducing the scope of
your request further than this or provide a date range, as including all
requests would likely constitute a substantial and unreasonable diversion
of the department’s resources from it’s other operations.

Please advise us by COB Wednesday 10 January 2024 whether you wish to
further revise your request. If we do not hear from you the department
will begin processing your request, with part 1 removed, and may be
required to consult you under section 24AB of the FOI Act.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Thank you for your revised scope. Confirming you are seeking access to:

 1. All correspondence between the department's FOI team and FOI
applicants regarding FOI requests relating to the 2023 Hamas-Israel
Conflict
 2. All internal correspondence sent to/from the department's FOI team
regarding the above-mentioned requests.
 3. All correspondence between the department's FOI team and any external
parties regarding the above-mentioned requests.
 4. All correspondence between FOI applicants and any external parties
regarding the above-mentioned requests. For example, if applicable,
correspondence between FOI applicants and third parties, where the
department's FOI team was copied.

Please exclude early parts of email streams captured in later emails. I
have also maintained my previous exclusions:

i. Personal information of FOI applicants.
ii. Personal information of departmental staff.
iii. Personal information of any third parties.
iv. Duplicate content.

The department will commence processing your revised request.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

From: FOI <[DFAT request email]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 11:35 AM
To: CR <[FOI #11005 email]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] LEX 9870 - Your DFAT FOI Request - Acknowledgement
and Informal Consultation [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

Dear CR

Thank you for your revised scope. Confirming you are seeking access to:

 1. All correspondence between the department's FOI team and FOI
applicants regarding FOI requests relating to the 2023 Hamas-Israel
Conflict
 2. All internal correspondence sent to/from the department's FOI team
regarding the above-mentioned requests.
 3. All correspondence between the department's FOI team and any external
parties regarding the above-mentioned requests.
 4. All correspondence between FOI applicants and any external parties
regarding the above-mentioned requests. For example, if applicable,
correspondence between FOI applicants and third parties, where the
department's FOI team was copied.

Please exclude early parts of email streams captured in later emails. I
have also maintained my previous exclusions:

i. Personal information of FOI applicants.
ii. Personal information of departmental staff.
iii. Personal information of any third parties.
iv. Duplicate content.

The department will commence processing your revised request.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[7]dfat.gov.au | [8]Twitter | [9]Facebook | [10]Instagram  |
[11]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[12]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Thank you for your revised scope, being:

                1.            All correspondence between the department's
FOI team and FOI applicants regarding FOI requests relating to the 2023
Hamas-Israel Conflict

                2.            [removed]

                3.            All correspondence between the department's
FOI team and any external parties regarding the above-mentioned requests.

                4.            All correspondence between FOI applicants
and any external parties regarding the above-mentioned requests. For
example, if applicable, correspondence between FOI applicants and third
parties, where the department's FOI team was copied.

                Please exclude early parts of email streams captured in
later emails. I have also maintained my previous exclusions:

                i.              Personal information of FOI applicants.

                ii.             Personal information of departmental
staff.

                iii.            Personal information of any third parties.

                iv.            Duplicate content.

We would be grateful if you could please confirm what you mean by
“external parties”.

Following clarification we will review the documents captured by your
revised scope and consider whether the practical refusal reason has been
resolved.

As previously advised 30 previous FOI requests are captured by the scope
of your request and it may be useful to:

•                     limit your request to a particular FOI request,

•                     exclude attachments to emails,

•                     limit the date range for your request, and

•                     limit the scope of your request to a particular part
of the FOI process.

While removing internal correspondence removes a significant portion of
documents, you have still requested access to documents from 30 previous
FOI requests. Accordingly the revised scope may not resolve the practical
refusal reason, particularly in instances where there are large
attachments to emails. The volume of documents could still be very large.

Should you wish to further revise the scope of your request please let the
department know, otherwise we will process as per the revised scope and
your clarification as to external parties.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Thank you for clarifying you have not yet revised the scope of your
request.

Regarding "external parties" do you intend to capture Minister's Offices
or other Commonwealth departments?

From there we will assess the informal revised scope and come back to you
with further advice.

Note that as per your instructions the consultation period is ongoing, no
formal revised scope has been received and the statutory clock has not
been restarted.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Thank you for your email.

The typical nature of correspondence with a Minister's Office includes if
a request was transferred to their Office under section 16 of the FOI Act
or if a request was finalised and the Office was notified of an upcoming
release.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Dear CR

Thank you for your patience while we undertook further searches for
documents. I have undertaken a sample of documents from 10 of the FOI
requests captured by your request those are:

 1. LEX 9204
 2. LEX 9207
 3. LEX 9262
 4. LEX 9269
 5. LEX 9295
 6. LEX 9321
 7. LEX 9326
 8. LEX 9346
 9. LEX 9368
10. LEX 9419

This process took 1.5 hours and identified 190 pages of potentially
relevant documents. With 5 third party consultations identified as being
required (duplicate applicants for some matters) and 3 courtesy
consultations required. I estimate it would take another 17.91 hours to
examine the relevant pages for decision making (6.33 hours @ 2 minutes per
page), redact the pages that are to be partially disclosed (1.58 hours @ 2
minutes per page) and undertake third party consultations (10 hours @ 5
applicants).

This estimate does not include:

o time already spent searching for documents and collating documents,
o time it will take to undertake courtesy consultations with other
agencies, and
o decision making time including preparation and notification of the
decision.

This estimate again is only on a sample of 10 of 30 identified FOI
requests (33%) and considered to be conservative. I consider it would take
another 3 hours to identify all the documents within your scope and assume
there would be at least 600 pages of emails. However I consider this to be
a conservative estimate given the outcomes of the 10 requests sampled
versus the outcomes of other requests.

In the section 24AB letter we suggested in considering your revised scope
it may be useful to:

•                     limit your request to a particular FOI request,

•                     exclude attachments to emails,

•                     limit the date range for your request, and

•                     limit the scope of your request to a particular part
of the FOI process.

In response you informally suggested the removal of internal emails. While
this has significantly reduced the amount of documents captured, on the
basis of the sample undertaken we do not consider that the proposed scope
would resolve the practical refusal reason.

In considering your final revised scope it may be useful to:

•                     exclude your previous FOI request LEX 9321, as you
already have access to all relevant emails and no external parties were
consulted during the processing of this request,

•                     exclude any requests received via Right to Know as
the correspondence to and from applicant’s is already publicly available,

•                     limit your request to particular FOI requests (based
on the above sample we recommend 5 or less), and

•                     exclude attachments to emails.  

Pursuant to section 24AB(2)(e) of the Act, you have 14 days from the day
you were given the s24AB notice to:

 a. withdraw your request,
 b. revise the scope of your request, or
 c. inform the department that you do not wish to revise your request

14 days from the day you were given notice is 6 February 2024. If you do
not take an opportunity to take one of the above steps by this date, your
request will be considered to have been withdrawn.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Thank you for your further informal revised scope. We will again go back
an undertake a review of the documents and provide our advice.

In relation to parts 3 and 4 of your request, we seek your agreement to
exclude extension of time correspondence from the OAIC. This
correspondence takes the form of an acknowledgement email and two
attachments, being the acknowledgement of the extension of time
application and the form receipt. This correspondence averages 8 pages per
email. Alternatively, we seek your agreement to exclude the attachments to
those emails, as the acknowledgement email itself is only one page.

Correspondence with other department's or Minister's officers would still
be captured by parts 3 and 4, with the exclusion of documents attached
that were subsequently disclosed to the applicant.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Thank you for confirming. To clarify, when there is an extension under
section 15AA of the FOI Act this is with agreement with the applicant and
there is no outcome from the OAIC, we simply notify the OAIC of the
extension and receive an acknowledgement from the OAIC.  

We will include only the application form and the outcome of the
application (if any) and exclude all other correspondence with the OAIC
concerning extensions of time.  

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Thank you for confirming. Noting you have excluded correspondence
exchanged between the department and FOI applicants, except for:

 1. Any letter attachments sent from the department's FOI team to
applicants (such as 24AB consultation letters, decision letters,
internal review letters, etc).

Grateful if you could please also confirm that this also extends to
excluding attachments of correspondence between the department and FOI
applicants, where the applicant’s correspondence was attached to an email
to another agency. For example the correspondence is attached to an email
transferring a request to that agency under section 16 of the FOI Act.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Many thanks for your prompt clarification. To ensure we are on the same
page the current informally revised scope is:

1.                   Any outgoing letters to applicants and incoming
internal review applications between the department's FOI team and FOI
applicants regarding FOI requests relating to the 2023 Hamas-Israel
Conflict

o Including any letter attachments sent from the department’s FOI team
to applicants (such as 24AB consultation letters, decision letters,
internal review letters, etc) and any internal review applicants
received from FOI applicants.
o Excluding correspondence exchanged between the department and
applicants, except where attached that correspondence is captured by
documents in parts 3 or 4.

2.            [removed]

3.            All correspondence between the department's FOI team and any
external parties regarding the above-mentioned requests.

o This includes other agencies, Minister’s Offices and the OAIC.

o With regard to the OAIC:

+ please include the completed extension of time application
forms and the outcomes of the applications (except for
section 15AA applications)
+ exclude all other correspondence with the OAIC concerning
extensions of time

o With regard to the Minister’s Offices:

+ Where documents that were subsequently disclosed to the
applicant are attached these are out of scope (as they would
be available on the disclosure log)

4.            All correspondence between FOI applicants and any external
parties regarding the above-mentioned requests. For example, if
applicable, correspondence between FOI applicants and third parties, where
the department's FOI team was copied.

Please exclude early parts of email streams captured in later emails. As
well as the following exclusions:

i.                     FOI request LEX 9321.

ii.                   Early parts of email streams captured in later
emails.

iii.                 Any documents that were subsequently disclosed to the
applicant (as they would be available on the disclosure log).

iv.                 Personal information of FOI applicants.

ii.             Personal information of departmental staff.

iii.            Personal information of any third parties.

iv.            Duplicate content.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

The department has only assessed 10 of 30 FOI requests captured by the
scope of the below to date, as documents had been collated yesterday and
now irrelevant documents could be easily excluded.

The department requires additional time to review the remaining 20 FOI
requests and determine if the practical refusal has been resolved. It is
open to you to formally revise now should you wish to, or we will come
back to you in the coming days with updated advice (noting the upcoming
public holiday and weekend) so this will likely be on Monday.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Many thanks, should we need to we can seek your agreement to extend the
consultation period under section 24(5) of the FOI Act. However we
anticipate this process should be finalised by Monday.  

You too!

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Further to the below, we have finalised our review of the documents
captured by your request and confirm that the revised scope resolves the
practical refusal reason.

For your information, no applicants have sought internal review other than
yourself and no extensions of time, other than with agreement of the
applicant, were sought. There is also no correspondence falling within
part 4 of your request, so you may wish to exclude this from your request.

Note that the right of access applies to documents that exist at the time
the FOI request was made (paragraph 2.34 of the FOI Guidelines). The date
range for your request has been taken to be 9 October 2023 (the date the
department received the first FOI request relating to the 2023
Hamas-Israel Conflict) to 7 January 2024 at 11.27am (when the department
received your FOI request).

Grateful if you could please confirm that your revised request is as
follows:

1.                   Any outgoing letters to applicants and incoming
internal review applications between the department's FOI team and FOI
applicants regarding FOI requests relating to the 2023 Hamas-Israel
Conflict

o Including any letter attachments sent from the department’s FOI team
to applicants (such as 24AB consultation letters, decision letters,
internal review letters, etc) and any internal review applicants
received from FOI applicants.
o Excluding correspondence exchanged between the department and
applicants, except where attached that correspondence is captured by
documents in parts 3 or 4.

2.            [removed]

3.            All correspondence between the department's FOI team and any
external parties regarding the above-mentioned requests.

o This includes other agencies, Minister’s Offices and the OAIC.

o With regard to the OAIC:

+ Please include the completed extension of time application
forms and the outcomes of the applications (except for
section 15AA applications).
+ Exclude all other correspondence with the OAIC concerning
extensions of time.

o With regard to the Minister’s Offices:

+ Where documents that were subsequently disclosed to the
applicant are attached these are out of scope (as they would
be available on the disclosure log).

4.            All correspondence between FOI applicants and any external
parties regarding the above-mentioned requests. For example, if
applicable, correspondence between FOI applicants and third parties, where
the department's FOI team was copied.

Please exclude early parts of email streams captured in later emails. As
well as the following exclusions:

i.                     FOI request LEX 9321.

ii.                   Early parts of email streams captured in later
emails.

iii.                 Any documents that were subsequently disclosed to the
applicant (as they would be available on the disclosure log).

iv.                 Personal information of FOI applicants.

v.                   Personal information of departmental staff.

vi.                 Personal information of any third parties.

vii.                Duplicate content.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

From: FOI <[DFAT request email]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2024 2:59 PM
To: CR <[FOI #11005 email]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] LEX 9870 - Your DFAT FOI Request - s24AB
Consultation [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

Hi CR

Many thanks, should we need to we can seek your agreement to extend the
consultation period under section 24(5) of the FOI Act. However we
anticipate this process should be finalised by Monday.  

You too!

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[7]dfat.gov.au | [8]Twitter | [9]Facebook | [10]Instagram  |
[11]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[12]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

Hi CR

Many thanks for confirmation of your revised scope. We process your
request as per the below and confirm the consultation period has
concluded.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[1]dfat.gov.au | [2]Twitter | [3]Facebook | [4]Instagram  | [5]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[6]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL

FOI Reference: LEX 9870 

Dear CR

Thank you for your FOI request made to the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade (the department) and your ongoing assistance throughout this
process.

 
We write to you to seek your agreement to an extension of 7 calendar days
to process your FOI request in accordance with section 15AA of the FOI
Act.  

The additional time will enable the department to finalise its processes
and provide you with an outcome.  

Please be assured that we will continue to process your request as quickly
as possible, and will provide an outcome to you as soon as it is
available.  

If you are minded to agree, we would be grateful if you could please
confirm your agreement in writing by COB Wednesday 14 February 2024.  

If we do not hear from you, we may apply to the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner for an extension to the statutory timeframe. 
 
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact
[1][DFAT request email]. 

We appreciate your assistance in this matter.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[2]dfat.gov.au | [3]Twitter | [4]Facebook | [5]Instagram  | [6]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[7]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

From: FOI <[DFAT request email]>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2024 3:11 PM
To: CR <[FOI #11005 email]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] LEX 9870 - Your DFAT FOI Request - s24AB
Consultation [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

Hi CR

Many thanks for confirmation of your revised scope. We process your
request as per the below and confirm the consultation period has
concluded.

Kind regards

DFAT FOI Team

_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section

Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

[8]dfat.gov.au | [9]Twitter | [10]Facebook | [11]Instagram  |
[12]LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

[13]We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to
their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL
FOI Reference: LEX 9870

Dear CR

Please find attached correspondence regarding the outcome of your FOI request, and the documents that have been released to you.

Kind Regards

DFAT FOI Team
_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
dfat.gov.au | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections

OFFICIAL
Dear CR

Thank you for your email.

Please be advised that no decision letter was provided to the applicant for LEX 9373, as they withdrew their FOI request by choice.

Kind Regards

DFAT FOI Team
_______________________________
Freedom of Information Section
Public Interest Law Branch | Regulatory and Legal Policy Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
dfat.gov.au | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

© Kim Hill, Among Women (2011)

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

show quoted sections