Media staff and resources

Thomas Mitchell 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.

The request was refused by Department of Home Affairs.

Thomas Mitchell

Dear Department of Immigration and Border Protection,

I would like to know;

1) how many people are employed to manage the relationship of the DIBP and minister Morrison to the media,
2)the roles such people are employed to perform, and;
3)what the budget for these and similar activities is.

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Mitchell.

Thomas Mitchell

Dear Department of Immigration and Border Protection,

I am also requesting figures on advertising expenditure, domestically and internationally, from the year 2000.

I request that the domestic and international expenditures be given seperately and that any available information as to where the advertising has been placed also be included.

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Mitchell

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 14/07/00477; ADF2014/24562

 

Dear Mr Mitchell

 

I refer to your request for access to information, received on 10 July
2014, for:

 

1)    how many people are employed to manage the relationship of the DIBP
and minister Morrison to the media, 2)the roles such people are employed
to perform, and; 3)what the budget for these and similar activities is.

 

This email is to advise that the department has not accepted your request
as valid under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). This is
because your request is for 'information' and not for a document in the
department's possession at the time of your request. I will outline more
fully the reasons for this below.

 

Access to Documents

The right to request documents under the FOI Act is outlined in the
Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC):

 

Section 11(1) of the FOI Act gives every person a legally enforceable
right to obtain access to a document of an agency or an official document
of a minister, unless the document is exempt. [para 2.1]

 

The right of access enshrined in the FOI Act applies to ‘documents’. This
term is defined in s 4(1) to include maps, photographs, and any article
from which sounds, images or writing are capable of being reproduced (for
example, emails). There is no general obligation on agencies to reduce
information to written documentary form in order to facilitate an FOI
request, except in relation to information that is stored on a computer
tape or disk (s 17). [para 1.26]

 

The right of access is to existing documents, rather than to information.
The FOI Act does not require an agency or minister to create a new
document in response to a request for access, except in limited
circumstances where the applicant seeks access in a different format (see
Part 8 of these Guidelines) or where the information is stored in an
agency computer system rather than in discrete form.

The right of access applies to documents that exist at the time the FOI
request was made. [para 3.8]

 

Therefore, any general request for 'information' or 'data' that does not
already exist in a document held by the department is considered an
invalid request.

 

The full Guidelines can be accessed on the OAIC's website at:
[1]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...

 

Publicly available information

The department publishes an annual report each year which is available to
access on the website. The annual report may contain information relevant
to the information it is you are seeking access to. For example page 323
of the 2012-13 annual report contains information about Advertising and
market research expenditure.

See: [2]http://www.immi.gov.au/about/reports/ann...

 

There is also information on the department’s website that indicate the
type of work carried out by the Media team.

See: [3]http://www.immi.gov.au/media/

 

I hope this information is of assistance.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Janelle Raineri

FOI Inbox Manager

FOI & Privacy Policy Section
Parliamentary and Executive Coordination Branch  I  Immigration and Border
Protection Portfolio

E:  [4][email address]

 

 

show quoted sections

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 14/07/00478; ADF2014/24566

 

Dear Mr Mitchell

 

I refer to your request for access to information, received on 10 July
2014, for:

 

I am also requesting figures on advertising expenditure, domestically and
internationally, from the year 2000.

 

I request that the domestic and international expenditures be given
seperately and that any available information as to where the advertising
has been placed also be included.

 

This email is to advise that the department has not accepted your request
as valid under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). This is
because your request is for 'information' and not for a document in the
department's possession at the time of your request. I will outline more
fully the reasons for this below.

 

Access to Documents

The right to request documents under the FOI Act is outlined in the
Guidelines published by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC):

 

Section 11(1) of the FOI Act gives every person a legally enforceable
right to obtain access to a document of an agency or an official document
of a minister, unless the document is exempt. [para 2.1]

 

The right of access enshrined in the FOI Act applies to ‘documents’. This
term is defined in s 4(1) to include maps, photographs, and any article
from which sounds, images or writing are capable of being reproduced (for
example, emails). There is no general obligation on agencies to reduce
information to written documentary form in order to facilitate an FOI
request, except in relation to information that is stored on a computer
tape or disk (s 17). [para 1.26]

 

The right of access is to existing documents, rather than to information.
The FOI Act does not require an agency or minister to create a new
document in response to a request for access, except in limited
circumstances where the applicant seeks access in a different format (see
Part 8 of these Guidelines) or where the information is stored in an
agency computer system rather than in discrete form.

The right of access applies to documents that exist at the time the FOI
request was made. [para 3.8]

 

Therefore, any general request for 'information' or 'data' that does not
already exist in a document held by the department is considered an
invalid request.

 

The full Guidelines can be accessed on the OAIC's website at:
[1]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...

 

Publicly available information

The department publishes an annual report each year which is available to
access on the website. The annual reports contain information relevant to
the information you are seeking access to. For example page 323 of the
2012-13 annual report contains information about Advertising and market
research expenditure. The report also provides you with advice on where
you can seek further information about the advertising campaigns.

See: [2]http://www.immi.gov.au/about/reports/ann...

 

I hope this information is of assistance.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Janelle Raineri

FOI Inbox Manager

FOI & Privacy Policy Section
Parliamentary and Executive Coordination Branch  I  Immigration and Border
Protection Portfolio

E:  [3][email address]

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections