Records relating the judicial appointment of the Honourable Justice Michael Wigney
Dear Attorney-General's Department,
Please provide records relating to the appointment of the Honourable Justice Michael Wigney as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. I am specifically seeking records of his Honour's application (if any), evaluation, and eventual selection as a successful candidate for judicial office, including any declaration of personal financial interests, and any vetting or clearance process that was undertaken prior to confirming the judicial appointment.
Yours faithfully,
(Not the real) Bob Neil
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Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
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OFFICIAL
Good morning,
Thank you for your request, which was received by the Commonwealth
Attorney-General’s Department (the department) Freedom of Information
(FOI) section (reference number FOI25/412). We write to acknowledge your
request, seek an extension of time for processing, and your agreement to
exclude certain information from your request.
Request for extension of time
We received your FOI request on 3 September 2025 and the 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commences on the following day. The
statutory due date for decision is currently Friday, 3 October 2025. Due
to an increase in the number of information access applications currently
being received by the department, a case officer is yet to be allocated
and we therefore seek your agreement to a 30-day extension of time to
process this request under s 15AA of the FOI Act. This would mean that a
decision about your request would be due on Sunday, 2 November 2025 and we
would return your decision the next business day on Monday, 3 November
2025.
If we are in a position to make a decision earlier than this date, we will
endeavour to do so. The statutory period may also be extended if we need
to consult third parties or for other reasons permitted under the FOI Act.
We will advise you if this happens.
Request to exclude certain information from the scope of your request
The department is seeking your agreement to exclude the following
categories of information from the documents in your request:
- duplicates of documents that are in scope;
- personal information of members of the public;
- contact details for teams, internal to the department and other
agencies
- personal information belonging to officers of the department
and other government agencies.
Excluding the information listed above enables us to process your request
more efficiently. If you agree to the above exclusions, the names of
senior executive officers will be released where they are present in the
documents and do not attract an FOI exemption. In addition, publicly
available telephone numbers and email addresses will generally be
released.
Please note that, with some exceptions (such as personal information),
documents released under the FOI Act may later be published online on the
department's disclosure log
[1]http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtection....
Next steps
Please respond to this email by Monday, 8 September 2025 to confirm if you
agree to this extension of time and to the exclusion of the above
information. If you agree to the extension, we will notify the Office of
the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) of your agreement under s
15AA of the FOI Act, including your name and contact details.
If you would like to discuss this further please contact the FOI Team by
phoning (02) 6141 6666 or emailing [2][AGD request email].
Kind Regards,
Steph
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney General’s Department
( Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | * Email: [3][AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
Dear AGD FOI Requests,
I consent to the exclusions and redactions proposed.
Yours sincerely,
(Not the real) Bob Neil
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This auto-reply email confirms your email has been delivered to the
[AGD request email] mailbox. If you have written to the department to submit an
FOI request, please consider this email to be an acknowledgement of its
receipt.
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u....
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may:
* provide assistance to you to help you make a valid FOI request,
* seek further information from you to help us process your request,
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored during business hours Monday to Friday,
excluding public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your email and confirming your agreement to exclude the
information noted in the email below from your request.
May I also please confirm if you agree to the 30-day extension of time for
processing your request?
Kind Regards,
Steph
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney General’s Department
( Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | * Email: [1][AGD request email]
Dear AGD FOI Requests,
I consent to the extension.
Yours sincerely,
(Not the real) Bob Neil
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at the
Attorney-General’s Department (the department). We get a high volume of
emails and FOI applications and work to respond as promptly as possible.
This auto-reply email confirms your email has been delivered to the
[AGD request email] mailbox. If you have written to the department to submit an
FOI request, please consider this email to be an acknowledgement of its
receipt.
Please note that we will only respond to emails about the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). For information on how to make a
request under the FOI Act please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protect....
For enquiries about other matters, please refer to:
https://www.ag.gov.au/about-us/connect-u....
The statutory processing time for FOI requests is 30 days, however this
may be extended if the department needs to consult third parties or for
other reasons. If you have submitted an FOI request, the department will
write to you again within 30 days of receiving your request. This
correspondence may:
* provide assistance to you to help you make a valid FOI request,
* seek further information from you to help us process your request,
* provide you with a decision on your FOI request, or
* discuss whether an extension of time is needed to process your request.
Please do not send duplicate emails as this may cause delays to processing
times.
This FOI inbox is monitored during business hours Monday to Friday,
excluding public holidays.
You can expect our team to provide a helpful, respectful service and we
expect respectful engagement in return.
Under s 89L of the FOI Act, disrespectful, threatening or abusive language
may be an abuse of the access action process. If this happens, we may not
be able to help you or we might take steps to manage how we communicate
with you.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.
If you have received this transmission in error please notify us
immediately by return e-mail and delete all copies. If this e-mail or any
attachments have been sent to you in error, that error does not constitute
waiver of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect of
information in the e-mail or attachments.