Attn Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,

I want copy of the documents released in FOIREQ22/00241 updated as at 1 October.

Verity Pane

OAIC - Legal, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

5 Attachments

Our reference: FOIREQ22/00317

 

Dear Verity Pane

 

Freedom of Information request

 

I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).

You FOI request was received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) 1 October 2022. This means that a decision on your FOI
request is currently due on 31 October 2022.

Scope of your request

Your FOI request was made in the following terms:

              I want copy of the documents released in FOIREQ22/00241
updated as at 1 October.

The OAIC’s decision in FOIREQ22/00241 was an Internal Review of the
decision made in FOIREQ22/00190. The documents in scope of these decisions
were the same, however the Internal Review decision released these same
documents with a number of redactions removed.

We therefore interpret your request to be for:

 1. The OAIC Organisation Chart; and
 2. the document generated under s 17 of the FOI Act for FOIREQ22/00241,

with the details of both documents updated as at 1 October 2022. As you
have requested a copy of the documents as they were released, we have
interpreted this to mean that you are requesting the redacted versions of
these documents as they were released for FOIREQ22/00241, but with
non-redacted details updated for currency.

Please advise us by noon Friday 7 October 2022 if this interpretation is
incorrect. If we do not hear from you by this time, we will assume you do
not object to the above interpretation and we will continue to process the
FOI request accordingly.

In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise. We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any
consultation process, unless we seek your permission. However, documents
that are within the scope of your request that we may need to consult
third parties about may contain your personal information.

 

Timeframes for dealing with your request

Section 15 of the FOI Act requires the OAIC to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.

The current decision due date for your request 31 October 2022. We will
advise you if this timeframe is otherwise extended.

Disclosure Log

Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.

If you would like to discuss your FOI request, please contact me on my
contact details set out below.

Kind regards

 

Molly

 

[1]O A I C logo   Molly Cooke | Lawyer

Legal Services

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [2]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9942 4296  |
[3][email address]
[7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

 

 

 

Notice:

The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

References

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OAIC - Legal, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

4 Attachments

FOIREQ22/00317

 

Dear Verity Pane,

 

Please find attached decision, document and schedule for release in the
above matter.

 

Kind regards,

 

Llewellyn

 

[1]O A I C logo   Llewellyn Horgan | Graduate

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |  oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9942 4234 |  [2][email address]

 

Notice:

The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. mailto:[email address]

Attn Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,

I want copy of the documents released in FOIREQ22/00317 updated as at 1 November, but with the first name field for all staff unreacted and the first initial of the second name unredacted.

This is not just a whim because in correspondence OAIC staff identify themselves by their full name most of the time or by their first name and initial in some occasions. This and their branch is often the only identifying information because position numbers and sections and APS level are not given. This makes it difficult to verify if the person responding is a person authorised to make those decisions as you have to know what APS level and section they belong to to cross check delegations.

The OAIC doesn't treat identical information consistently at all - even if it all ends up on the same disclosure log accessible to anyone. The OAIC will redact information in one foi decision alleging sensitivity while releasing the identical information in another without redaction highlighting that it acts highly inconsistent with the release of such information.

The OAIC goes out of its way to obscure verification of delegation so it needs to provide enough information to enable that to occur.

Verity Pane

OAIC - Legal, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

6 Attachments

Our reference: FOIREQ22/00422

Dear Verity Pane

Freedom of Information request

I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 4 December 2022.

Scope of your request

In your email you seek access to the following:

I want copy of the documents released in FOIREQ22/00317 updated as at 1
November, but with the first name field for all staff unreacted and the
first initial of the second name unredacted.

This is not just a whim because in correspondence OAIC staff identify
themselves by their full name most of the time or by their first name and
initial in some occasions. This and their branch is often the only
identifying information because position numbers and sections and APS
level are not given. This makes it difficult to verify if the person
responding is a person authorised to make those decisions as you have to
know what APS level and section they belong to to cross check delegations.

The OAIC doesn't treat identical information consistently at all - even if
it all ends up on the same disclosure log accessible to anyone. The OAIC
will redact information in one foi decision alleging sensitivity while
releasing the identical information in another without redaction
highlighting that it acts highly inconsistent with the release of such
information.

The OAIC goes out of its way to obscure verification of delegation so it
needs to provide enough information to enable that to occur.

In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.

We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during and consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.

Timeframes for dealing with your request

Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.

As we received your request on 4 December 2022, we must process your
request by 3 January 2022.

Disclosure Log

Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.

If you would like to discuss this matter please contact me on my contact
details set out below.

Kind regards

 

Molly

 

[1]O A I C logo   Molly Cooke | Lawyer

Legal Services

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [2]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9942 4296  |
[3][email address]
[7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

 

[9]Shape Description automatically generated with low confidence

Please note the OAIC will be closed from Saturday 24 December 2022 and
will reopen on Tuesday 3 January 2023.

Notice:

The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

OAIC - Legal, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

9 Attachments

 

Our reference: FOIREQ22/00422

 

Dear Ms Verity Pane,

 

Please find attached a decision of today’s date, schedule of documents and
document for release, in relation to the above FOI application.

 

Kind Regards,

 

[1]O A I C logo   Alessia Mercuri | Lawyer

Legal Services

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [2]oaic.gov.au

(02) 9246 0488 | 
[3][email address]
[7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice:

The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

References

Visible links
1. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/sign-up/