Preparation of PNG RPC to accommodate children

Eleanor Davey made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Home Affairs

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Dear Department of Home Affairs,

I would like to request under the Freedom of Information Act all site assessments pertaining to the possibility of transferring children of any age (including infants and children below seven) to the Regional Processing Centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, in 2012. To clarify, I am referring to preparations for the re-establishment of the RPC in that year.

Please note that I am not requesting information on individual cases of actual or potential transferees.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,

Eleanor Davey

FOI, Department of Home Affairs

** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

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FOI, Department of Home Affairs

OFFICIAL

In reply please quote:
FOI Request: FA 20/08/00380
File Number: OBJ2020/26054

Dear Ms Davey

Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Access request

I refer to your correspondence received on 5 August 2020 seeking access to documents held by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).

COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (link). As the Department focuses its efforts on managing the impact of COVID-19 on its critical services and employees, other non-critical services may not be delivered within expected timeframes. We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this period.

Scope of request

You have requested access to the following:

All site assessments pertaining to the possibility of transferring children of any age (including infants and children below seven) to the Regional Processing Centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, in 2012. To clarify, I am referring to preparations for the re-establishment of the RPC in that year.

Please note that I am not requesting information on individual cases of actual or potential transferees.

Your request was received by the Department on 5 August 2020 and has been allocated FOI request number FA 20/08/00380 . Please include your FOI request number in all correspondence with the Freedom of Information Section.

Timeframe for receiving your decision

The statutory timeframe for processing a request is 30 days from the date upon which your application was received by the Department.

Your review rights in relation to your request are available on the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner here.

Duplicate documents

If the FOI decision-maker deems a document to be a duplicate, they will not assess those pages as part of your FOI request. This means that if a there is a decision to release the document to you, you will receive only one copy, even if multiple copies of that document exists.

Contacting the FOI Section

Should you wish to discuss your request you may contact the FOI Section at [DIBP request email].

Yours sincerely,

FOI Officer
Freedom of Information
FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division
Strategy & Law Enforcement Group
Department of Home Affairs | Email: [DIBP request email]

OFFICIAL

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FOI, Department of Home Affairs

OFFICIAL

Good morning Ms Davey,

I refer to your request received on 5 August 2020 for access to documents under the FOI Act.

The current due date for your request is 4 September 2020.

Due to the number of requests currently being processed by our office, we will not be able to finalise your request by the original due date.

In order for the Department to complete the process of retrieving all the documents that fall within the scope of your request the Department will require additional time to process your request.

The Department seeks your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI Act to extend the timeframe for the processing of your request by 30 days. This would extend the due date for your request to 4 October 2020.

It would assist the Department in managing its FOI caseload if you could provide a response to this request by close of business, Friday 28 August 2020.

If you wish to discuss this matter further, please do not hesitate to contact the FOI section on the details below.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Officer
Freedom of Information
FOI and Records Management Branch | Data Division
Corporate and Enabling Group
Department of Home Affairs | Email: [DIBP request email]

OFFICIAL

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Dear FOI,

Thank you for your message. I note that work on the request is ongoing and that more time is sought to allow completion of the process. I agree to extending the original timeframe by 30 days.

Yours sincerely,

Eleanor Davey

Dear FOI,

Apologies for the delay. This is to confirm the extension requested, to 4 October 2020. Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Eleanor Davey