Incubator Support Initiative "minute" addressing business interests

Denis Jakota made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources

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

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Department of Industry, Innovation and Science,

Please make available the minute for "Regional Incubator Facilitators – Extracurricular Activities" as processed by Incubator Support Initiative management addressing MassChallenge interests as declared by [Name Hidden] in response to a request to do so on 16 December 2019.

Please leave unredacted Zoe Naden's name as a program delegate and senior officer and redact all third parties (i.e. MassChallenge) to avoid third party consultation and other APS staff under SES level as irrelevant to the request.

Kind regards,

Denis Jakota

Freedom of Information, Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    Freedom of Information request Incubator Support Initiative minute addressing business interests.txt

    1K Download View as HTML

Dear Denis

 

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (the department)
has received your Freedom of Information request of 2 December 2020
(attached).

 

This correspondence is to acknowledge receipt of your request. Currently a
decision is due to you by 1 January 2021. However, this timeline may be
effected by the requirement to undertake consultation with affected third
parties or if the department determines you are liable to pay a charge in
relation to your request. You will be notified by the Minister’s Office or
the department if charges are liable or if third party consultation is
required.

 

Request for extension of time

 

Please note that the department shuts down from 25 December 2020 to 4
January 2021.

 

To assist in the processing your request, we seek your agreement to a 10
day extension under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the department will notify the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner of the extension of time, and the decision on
your request would then be due to you on or before Monday 11 January 2021.

 

Could you please confirm your agreement to this extension at your earliest
convenience but no later than Tuesday 15 December 2020.

 

If you have any questions, please contact the FOI team.

 

Regards

 

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [1][Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources

1 Attachment

Dear Denis

 

I refer to your correspondence received by The Department of Industry,
Science, Energy and Resources (the department) on 2 December 2020.

 

The department has determined that the document you are seeking does not
require you to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
and can be released under Administrative Access. This is because this
document has previously been released under another FOI request.

 

As such, please find attached the document you have requested.

 

On this basis, your Freedom of Information request has been deemed
withdrawn and no further action will be taken in relation to your request.

 

Regards

 

FOI Team

Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital

GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Team,

These excerpts by Ellie of past FOI requests will be of help by way of PDF page number reference:
https://www.docdroid.net/4jTTpwX/foi-exc...

The document that you have erroneously provided is a minute addressing interests that Daniel apparently understood to be "a potential relationship issue" (see page 8) yet left undisclosed on a statutory declaration (see page 6) with full awareness of AusIndustry management (see page 12) until solicited on 18 April 2018 (see page 8).

You will note that Daniel apparently claimed that these interests will expire by July 2018 (see page 12).

My request sought a minute addressing undisclosed interests as persisting until October 2019 (see page 17) and solicited from Daniel on 16 December 2019 (see page 15).

For sake of public interest considerations, you will note that:
(1) Daniel alleged not to have worked for his business associates since June 2018 (see page 15) despite clear evidence in the public domain to the contrary (see pages 19-21),
(2) AusIndustry publicly misrepresented Daniel's interests (see page 14) with full knowledge of their existence (see page 12).

I further note the Department is again in breach of FOI legislation with deemed refusal to information that may potentially provide further insight into apparent AusIndustry crimes to justify a CDPP investgiation and prosecution.

Please proceed to process this request as per your obligations under the FOI Act.

Kind regards,

Denis Jakota

Denis Jakota left an annotation ()

I consent to the removal of names in this request by Right to Know if again subject to pressure tactics by the Department.

Freedom of Information, Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    CM Freedom of Information request Incubator Support Initiative minute addressing business interests.txt

    1K Download View as HTML

Dear Denis

I refer to your correspondence of 4 January 2021 (below).

The department is unable to access the link you have provided as it is blocked by the department's firewall.

In your correspondence of 2 December 2020, you requested the minute for Regional Incubator Facilitators - Extracurricular Activities which addresses particular declarations by a contractor, but excluded all information that would require any third party consultation. Please find the correspondence attached for reference.

I note you mentioned the date 16 December 2019 and Ms Naden. To assist you in accessing the document you have requested, the department did not include this information when conducting a search for documents. If this information was included in the search parameters, the search would have resulted in nil documents.

The minute you have requested was previously provided to a different FOI applicant. You were provided page 1 of the same document. You were not provided with the remaining pages as those would require third party consultation, which you did not request.

I trust this information is of assistance.

If you are seeking access to a different document, you may wish to consider submitting a new FOI request.

Regards

FOI Team
Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital
GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources | www.industry.gov.au

Supporting economic growth and job creation for all Australians

Legal In Confidence - This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately and delete copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

OFFICIAL

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Team,

I never requested a document by/for Zoe Naden.

It is clear that I requested "the minute ... as processed by Incubator Support Initiative management [NOT RESTRICTED TO ZOE NADEN] addressing MassChallenge interests as declared by [Name Hidden] in response to a request to do so on 16 December 2019".

Therefore, I clearly requested a minute for interests solicited from Daniel on 16 December 2019.

I still ask that you leave Zoe Naden's name unredacted in case she has signed/approved the minute. If her name is not in the minute/attachments/correspondence, then there is nothing to redact.

I recognise that the request is deemed refused, so to make matters easier:

If you can provide assurance that no minute exist addressing the interests solicited from Daniel on 16 December 2019 (irrespective of Zoe's involvement), then please advise accordingly and I will withdraw this request.

In the alternative, please proceed with the request as specified (unrestricted to Zoe).

Kind regards,

Denis Jakota

Freedom of Information, Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources

Dear Denis

We refer to your correspondence of 5 January 2021 (below).

As explained in our previous correspondence, you requested the minute for Regional Incubator Facilitators - Extracurricular Activities which addresses particular declarations by a contractor. The department has identified one document relevant to your request. This document was previously released under a different FOI request to a different applicant.

As such, the document was released to you under Administrative Access and therefore a request under the FOI Act was not required. Your request was not deemed refused.

I trust this information is of assistance.

If you are seeking access to a different document, you may wish to consider submitting a new FOI request.

Regards

FOI Team
Legal, Audit and Assurance | Corporate & Digital
GPO Box 2013, Canberra ACT 2601 | [Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources request email]

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources | www.industry.gov.au

Supporting economic growth and job creation for all Australians

Legal In Confidence - This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify me immediately and delete copies of this transmission together with any attachments.

OFFICIAL

show quoted sections

Dear FOI team,

I believe there is confusion around the search parameters so kindly clarify as follows (please note that I'm resorting to uppercase text for emphasis since this is a raw text message without text formatting functions).

If your position is that there exist no other Minutes addressing MassChallenge interests by [Name Hidden] REGARDLESS of the date of disclosure and IRRESPECTIVE of involvement by Zoe Naden, then please provide an FOI decision to that effect as I did not request nor accept anything under administrative access.

If your position is that you performed a search for Minutes addressing MassChallenge interests by [Name Hidden] WITH the involvement of Zoe Naden, then please process the request as specified and unrestricted to anyone's involvement other than that of [Name Hidden].

Kind regards,

Denis Jakota