Private use of social media advice provided to employees

James Smith made this Freedom of Information request to Director of National Parks as part of a batch sent to 204 authorities

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

Director of National Parks did not have the information requested.

Dear Director of National Parks,

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

I request documents related to the ten most recent instances where an employee has sought information, advice, guidance, or opinion on their social media use in a private capacity.

I limit the scope of documents to:
- the original request from the employee
- the agency/department's response
- any follow-up questions and response
- only those sent to a relevant HR / conduct / social media (or similar) team (rather than managers across all areas of the organisation)
- where the original request was created in the last 2 years

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours faithfully,

James Smith

FOI Contact Officer, Director of National Parks

Hi James

 

The Department of the Environment and Energy acknowledges receipt of your
FOI request on 8 August 2017.

 

The Department is required to process valid requests within 30 days after
the day a request was received. This 30 day processing period may be
extended under certain circumstances, for example, where the Department
decides it reasonable to consult with third parties. If the processing
period is extended, the applicant will be informed of the extension and
the reasons for it.

 

As at the date of writing, we are scoping your request. If it is a valid
request under the FOI Act the statutory deadline for providing a decision
on this request is 7 September 2017.

 

The Department makes two assumptions that affect the scope of your
request. These are set out below.

 

It is the usual practice of the Department:

•                    not to disclose the personal information of junior
officers or the personal contact details of senior officers of the State
or Federal governments (including those of the Department). The names of
senior officers will generally be released. Your request will be processed
on the assumption that you do not intend to capture these details within
its scope.

•                    not to release duplicates of any document captured
within the scope of the request. Further, where two documents fall within
the scope one differs from the other only with respect to minor editorial
changes (such as spelling or grammar corrections), only the later version
of the document  will be treated as within scope.  Your request will be
processed on the assumption that you do not intend to capture duplicates
or documents that the Department considers duplicates (as per the above
explanation) within the scope of your request.

 

Please inform us if you do not agree to your request being processed by
the Department on the above assumptions.

 

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published online on our disclosure log.

 

We will contact you using the email you provided. Please advise if you
would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.

 

If you have any questions, please contact the FOI team on (02) 6274 2098.

 

Regards

 

FOI Contact Officer |General Counsel Branch
Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: (02) 6274 2098 
e: [1][Director of National Parks request email]

 

 

 

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FOI Contact Officer, Director of National Parks

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    FOI 170804 James Smith Parks Australia social media use decision letter.pdf

    259K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Smith

Please see the attached decision letter.

Kind regards

FOI Contact Officer |General Counsel Branch
Department of the Environment and Energy
a: GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2600
t: (02) 6274 2098 
e: [Director of National Parks request email]

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Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

The agency says that it does not have the information so the request is refused on the ground of s 24A(1) of the Act:
24A Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not
exist or have not been received

Document lost or non-existent
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a
document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document;
and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be
found; or
(ii) does not exist.