Quarterly or monthly irregular maritime arrivals since 1989
Dear Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
I would like to request access to a quarterly or monthly time-series of irregular maritime arrivals for the period 1989-2011.
There is an annual series published by the parliamentary library over this period, and DIAC has published quarterly tables since Q1 2011. However, there are no quarterly data publicly available that stretches back to 1989. While monthly data would suffice, quarterly data would be even better.
While I would prefer to know the number of arrivals excluding crew, counts including crew would be still be helpful.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Markham
Australian National University
Thank you for your email addressed to the Freedom of Information (FOI)
Section in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
We have received your email and it will be actioned accordingly.
If this message has been received outside business operating hours 09.00
to 17.00 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) Monday to Friday, your request
will be actioned on the next business day.
For further information on FOI in DIAC and how to request access to or to
amend information held by DIAC, please [1]visit our website.
To access our disclosure log of information released under FOI by DIAC
[2]click here.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
References
Visible links
1. http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/foi.htm
2. http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/foi-dis...
Good Morning,
Thank you for your email.
We are currently looking into the relevant business area, who may be able
to help provide you with this information.
Kind Regards
Madi Stanford
FOI and Privacy Officer
P: 02 6198 7525
Freedom of Information Helpdesk
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
[1]Inactive hide details for Francis Markham
<[FOI #25 email]>Francis Markham
<[FOI #25 email]>
Francis Markham FOI requests at
<[FOI #25 email]> To DIAC
<[email address]>
29/11/2012 02:56 PM cc
Freedom of
Information
request -
Subject Quarterly or
monthly irregular
maritime arrivals
since 1989
Protective
Mark
Dear Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
I would like to request access to a quarterly or monthly
time-series of irregular maritime arrivals for the period
1989-2011.
There is an annual series published by the parliamentary library
over this period, and DIAC has published quarterly tables since Q1
2011. However, there are no quarterly data publicly available that
stretches back to 1989. While monthly data would suffice, quarterly
data would be even better.
While I would prefer to know the number of arrivals excluding crew,
counts including crew would be still be helpful.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Markham
Australian National University
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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[FOI #25 email]
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Dear Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
I am writing to request that you reply to my FOI request, dated November 29 2012. I believe that such requests are usually responded to within one month.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Markham
Thank you for your email addressed to the Freedom of Information (FOI)
Section in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
We have received your email and it will be actioned accordingly.
If this message has been received outside business operating hours 09.00
to 17.00 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) Monday to Friday, your request
will be actioned on the next business day.
For further information on FOI in DIAC and how to request access to or to
amend information held by DIAC, please [1]visit our website.
To access our disclosure log of information released under FOI by DIAC
[2]click here.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
References
Visible links
1. http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/foi.htm
2. http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/foi-dis...
Our reference ADF2012/35957
Good afternoon Mr Markham
I refer to your request for access to information, received on 29 November
2012, for:
"I would like to request access to a quarterly or monthly time-series of
irregular maritime arrivals for the period 1989-2011.
There is an annual series published by the parliamentary library over
this period, and DIAC has published quarterly tables since Q1 2011.
However, there are no quarterly data publicly available that stretches
back to 1989. While monthly data would suffice, quarterly data would be
even better.
While I would prefer to know the number of arrivals excluding crew,
counts including crew would be still be helpful."
Further to my email dated 30 November 2012, this email is to advise you
that DIAC has not registered your request as an FOI request, as it is not
a valid request under the FOI Act. This is because your request is for
'information' and not for a document in DIAC's possession at the time of
your request. I will outline more fully the reasons for this below.
Reason that your request is not a valid FOI request
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 on DIAC documents will be an invalid request.
The full Guidelines can be accessed on the OAIC's website at:
[1]http://www.oaic.gov.au/publications/guid...
Proposed action
While your request is not valid under the FOI Act, it may be that DIAC can
provide you with the requested information outside of the formal
operations of the Act.
For this purpose, the FOI area is currently liaising with the relevant
business area to see whether the information can be compiled and provided
to you as requested. DIAC hopes to respond to you this week.
In the meantime, should you have any questions or wish to discuss anything
in relation to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you very much for your patience.
Kind regards,
Madi Stanford
Freedom of Information Helpdesk
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
T: (02) 6198 7525
E: [email address]
Freedom of Information Helpdesk
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
[2]Inactive hide details for Francis Markham
<[FOI #25 email]>Francis Markham
<[FOI #25 email]>
Francis Markham To [email address]
<[FOI #25 email]> cc
Re: Freedom of
03/01/2013 03:58 PM Information
request -
Subject Quarterly or
monthly irregular
maritime arrivals
since 1989
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Protective
Mark
Dear Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
I am writing to request that you reply to my FOI request, dated
November 29 2012. I believe that such requests are usually
responded to within one month.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Markham
Dear Madi,
Thank you very much for your response to my request, it is much appreciated.
I agree fully that my request does not meet the requirements of the FOI Act. I apologise for making an invalid request.
Furthermore, I wish to thank you for forwarding this request to the relevant business area to see if the information can be provided above and beyond the requirements of the Act. I believe there would be a general public interest in access to the requested information.
Thank you once again.
Yours sincerely,
Francis Markham
Thank you for your email addressed to the Freedom of Information (FOI)
Section in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
We have received your email and it will be actioned accordingly.
If this message has been received outside business operating hours 09.00
to 17.00 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) Monday to Friday, your request
will be actioned on the next business day.
For further information on FOI in DIAC and how to request access to or to
amend information held by DIAC, please [1]visit our website.
To access our disclosure log of information released under FOI by DIAC
[2]click here.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
References
Visible links
1. http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/foi.htm
2. http://www.immi.gov.au/about/foi/foi-dis...
UNCLASSIFIED
Good Morning Francis,
Please see attached request for information. I apologise for the delay.
Kind Regards,
Loren Moore
Program Management Performance and Reporting Section
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1848
Email: [1][email address]
Dear Department of Immigration and Citizenship,
I would like to request access to a quarterly or monthly
time-series of irregular maritime arrivals for the period
1989-2011.
There is an annual series published by the parliamentary library
over this period, and DIAC has published quarterly tables since Q1
2011. However, there are no quarterly data publicly available that
stretches back to 1989. While monthly data would suffice, quarterly
data would be even better.
While I would prefer to know the number of arrivals excluding crew,
counts including crew would be still be helpful.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Markham
Australian National University
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #25 email]
Is [3][email address] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Department of Immigration and Citizenship? If so,
please contact us using this form:
[4]http://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/contact
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[5]http://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offic...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
Loren Moore
Program Management Performance and Reporting Section
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Telephone: (02) 6264 1848
Email: [6][email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[FOI #25 email]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/contact
5. http://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offic...
6. mailto:[email address]
Dear Loren MOORE,
Thank you very kindly for responding to this request.
Yours sincerely,
Francis Markham
Raoul Duke left an annotation ()
You ought to be able to find this information contained within answers to questions on notice. If you are looking for recent information, try searching for Morrison or Keenan on the Reps answers to questions on notice, or Abetz on the Senate questions on notice. I don't feel like doing the legwork, but the parlinfo search tool is really quite powerful, and given 6 hours, you should be able to find at least an incomplete record.
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/sear...