UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Asher Hirsch,

I am writing in relation to your Freedom of Information request, made to
the Attorney-General’s Department (the department) on 4 July 2017. Your
request was for:

Please provide documents and correspondence between the Department and the
Government of Indonesia (and its agencies) regarding Indonesian minors who
were jailed in adult prisons in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth
between 2008 and 2012 for crewing asylum seeker boats.

I would like to take this opportunity to both acknowledge receipt of your
request, and to seek your agreement to a short extension of time.

I note that the department received your request on 4 July 2017, and the
30 day statutory timeframe for processing your request commenced the day
after that date. Therefore, the current deadline for the department to
provide you with a decision is 3 August 2017. Under section 15AA of the
FOI Act, I am empowered to seek your agreement to an extension of time to
process your request – up to an additional 30 days.

I can advise that the initial stages of processing your request have
already consumed a large portion of the available processing time. Given
the range and sensitivity of material potentially within the scope of your
request and the number of specialist staff that will likely need to be
involved in formulating our response, the department requests that you
agree to a short (21 day) extension of time to process. If agreed, the new
deadline will be 24 August 2017.

To ensure that the department is able to meet its statutory obligations, I
would be grateful if you could provide a response to this extension
request as early as possible and not later than COB 21 July 2017.

Please feel free to contact the department’s FOI team at [AGD request email]
should you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Courtney

FOI and Privacy Section

Attorney-General’s Department

[AGD request email]

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UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Asher Hirsch

Freedom of Information Request FOI17/118

On 4 July 2017 you requested access to documents, specifically the
following:

Please provide documents and correspondence between the Department and the
Government of Indonesia (and its agencies) regarding Indonesian minors who
were jailed in adult prisons in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth
between 2008 and 2012 for crewing asylum seeker boats.

On 19 July 2017 the department acknowledged your request and sought an
extension for processing your request under section 15AA of the FOI Act
until 24 August 2017. On 19 July 2017 you agreed to this extension.

Subsection 15(2) of the FOI Act lists requirements for a valid FOI
request. Paragraph 15(2)(b) requires a person seeking access to documents
to:

         Provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably
necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency to identify it.

The department undertook significant enquiries which included discussions
between the relevant line areas and the department’s Record Management
Unit and conducted preliminary searches. Based on this I have concluded
that the scope of your request is too wide for the department to be able
to clearly identify the relevant documents. The department holds a very
large number of files in relation to People Smuggling matters,
Commonwealth Parole applications and requests under the Mutual Assistance
and Criminal Matters Act 1987. While some of the files relate to specific
individuals (some of whom may be minors), a large number of files that
could contain information relevant to the documents you have requested do
not.

Therefore, I must decide that your request does not constitute a valid FOI
request because it does not identify the documents to which you seek
access with sufficient certainty. To enable the department to process this
as a valid FOI request, you would need to state with greater clarity what
types of documents in particular you are seeking.

You are of course welcome to make a new more specific request under the
FOI Act which the department will consider. The department will endeavour
to assist you in narrowing down the type/s of documents to which you seek
access.

Questions about this decision

If you wish to discuss this decision, please contact me by telephone on
(02) 6141 6666 or by email [1][AGD request email].

Yours sincerely

Alex | FOI Case Manager

Freedom of Information and Parliamentary Section | Strategy and Delivery

Australian Government Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National
Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (02) 6141 6666  E: [2][AGD request email]

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Privacy Collection Notice

When you make a request for documents or an inquiry about privacy matters,
the Attorney-General s Department will only collect your personal
information where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to,
our functions under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 or the Privacy Act
1988. We may collect your name, email address and telephone number so that
we can contact you about your request under the Freedom of Information Act
for access to documents or access to, or correction of, personal
information; or a complaint you have made or your request for access to,
or correction of, personal information under the Privacy Act. If your
request concerns your personal information, we will collect the minimum
amount of evidence necessary to verify your identity. The handling of your
personal information is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 and our privacy
policy is available at http://www.ag.gov.au/Pages/Privacystatem....
If you have an enquiry or complaint about your privacy, please contact the
Privacy Contact Officer on 02 6141 2660 or via e-mail [email address].

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References

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1. file:///C:\Users\brownfr\AppData\Local\Hewlett-Packard\HP%20TRIM\TEMP\HPTRIM.5568\[AGD request email]
2. mailto:[AGD request email]