Response to ARC on Systemic Issue
Dear Attorney-General's Department,
I would like to request the response sent by the Attorney General to the Administrative Review Council in relation to Systemic Issue No 1 2024. This document is referred to the most recent statement of meeting outcomes by the Administrative Review Council: https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/publi...
Furthermore, I would like to request a document from the Administrative Review Council, if this is possible through the Attorney Generals? The AGD provides the secretariat for the Council so I'm wondering if you are the avenue for a request. Or would the ARC have a separate discrete pathway you can refer me to?
If you can process it or refer it, I seek:
The minutes or meeting notes that record the justifications raised by the ARC members for proceeding or not proceeding with an inquiry into the relevant systemic issue.
At the moment the only insight into the decision is the following statement:
"The Council noted responses received from the Attorney-General, Minister for Social Services and the Secretary, Department of Social Services in relation to the Notice of Systemic Issue No. 1 of 2024 (published on the Administrative Review Tribunal’s website). The Council decided not to commence an inquiry into the systemic issue."
I note the ARC raised the right to reasons as a possible priority area in its first meeting, so I feel this is a chance to provide more substantive reasoning to the public. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes and all that. I do note that the outcomes made reference to the ARC developing "a procedure for responding to systemic issue reports". If this means reasons will be produced at a future date, I will be happy to withdraw this request.
Yours faithfully,
Frank N Fearless
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OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
Good morning
Thank you for your FOI request to the Attorney-General's Department (the department). We have registered this under reference number FOI25/264.
We will begin processing part 1 of your request for the Attorney-General's response that you have described.
We have contacted the Administrative Review Council (ARC) Secretariat regarding the ARC meeting notes requested. I have copied their response below. Considering this, we invite you to consider withdrawing this part of your request.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [AGD request email]
Response from the ARC Secretariat:
Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your request to the Attorney-General’s Department and Administrative Review Council dated 28 May 2025, in relation to Systemic Issue No 1 2024. We understand our stakeholders, including members of the public, have a vested interest in the re-establishment of the Council, and we want to keep you informed of Council’s progress.
The Council have been actively working to restore operations since re-establishment, considering a number of work priorities and objectives following the inaugural meeting on 14 February 2025.
The Council discussed finalising its Procedure for Responding to Systemic Issue Reports at the most recent meeting on 19 May 2025. The Council will publish the Procedure for Responding to Systemic Issue Reports via the Administrative Review Council webpage by week ending Friday, 13 June 2025.
The Council is committed to transparency and will report publicly on its activities and key decisions. We encourage members of the public to stay up to date by visiting the Council’s webpage at https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/admin....
Yours Sincerely
[Personal Information Redacted]
A/g Director
Administrative Review Council Secretariat
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
Dear AGD FOI Requests,
On my read, the ARC secretariat response does not commit the Council producing a statement of reasons for the decision to not take up Systemic Issue No. 1. In those circumstances, I would like to maintain my request. I will of course study the document issued on the 13 June to see if it will result in reasons for this first systemic review decision being produced.
If the ARC is a separate entity for the purposes of FOI, happy for you to refer the request. I can contact ARC with my contact details if a method of contacting the Secretariat is supplied.
Yours sincerely,
Frank N Fearless
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
OFFICIAL
Good morning,
The Administrative Review Council (ARC) Secretariat has provided the following email address for you to make a separate FOI request relating to part 2 of your request: [email address]
I confirm that the department will now only process part one of your request:
"I would like to request the response sent by the Attorney General to the Administrative Review Council in relation to Systemic Issue No 1 2024. This document is referred to the most recent statement of meeting outcomes by the Administrative Review Council: https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/publi...
Kind regards
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: 02 6141 6666 | Email: [AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
Dear Applicant
Thank you for your request, which was received by the Commonwealth
Attorney-General’s Department (the department) Freedom of Information
(FOI) section.
As noted in our email of 5 June 2025 to you the department will process
part 1 of your request as follows:
"I would like to request the response sent by the Attorney General to the
Administrative Review Council in relation to Systemic Issue No 1 2024.
This document is referred to the most recent statement of meeting outcomes
by the Administrative Review Council:
[1]https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/publi...
Request for extension of time
We received your FOI request on 28 May 2025 and the 30 day statutory
period for processing your request commenced on the following day. The
statutory due date for decision is currently 27 June 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 28 July 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:
o duplicates of documents that are in scope;
o personal information of members of the public;
o contact details for teams, internal to the department and other
agencies
o 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.
Next steps
Please respond to this email by 12 June 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
Kellie
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
( Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | 8 Email: [AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
The Attorney-General’s Department may collect your personal information
where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our
functions, including those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) and the Privacy Act 1988. We may collect your name, email address and
telephone number so that we can contact you about your request or privacy
complaint. If your request concerns accessing or correcting your personal
information, we will collect the minimum amount of evidence necessary to
verify your identity. We hold personal information in accordance with the
Privacy Act and our privacy policy. If you have an enquiry or complaint
about your privacy, please contact the Privacy Officer on 02 6141 6666 or
via e-mail [email address].
If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by
return email and delete all copies. If this email 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
email or attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/publi...
2. mailto:[AGD request email]
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 FOI25/264). We write to 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 28 May 2025 and the 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced on the following day. The
statutory due date for decision is currently 27 June 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 Monday 28 July 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:
o duplicates of documents that are in scope;
o personal information of members of the public;
o contact details for teams, internal to the department and other
agencies
o 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 Friday 13 June 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
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [3][AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
The Attorney-General’s Department may collect your personal information
where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our
functions, including those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) and the Privacy Act 1988. We may collect your name, email address and
telephone number so that we can contact you about your request or privacy
complaint. If your request concerns accessing or correcting your personal
information, we will collect the minimum amount of evidence necessary to
verify your identity. We hold personal information in accordance with the
Privacy Act and our privacy policy. If you have an enquiry or complaint
about your privacy, please contact the Privacy Officer on 02 6141 6666 or
via e-mail [email address].
If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by
return email and delete all copies. If this email 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
email or attachments.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtection...
2. mailto:[AGD request email]
3. mailto:[AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
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 FOI25/264). We write to 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 28 May 2025 and the 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced on the following day. The
statutory due date for decision is currently 27 June 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 Monday 28 July 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:
o duplicates of documents that are in scope;
o personal information of members of the public;
o contact details for teams, internal to the department and other
agencies
o 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 Friday 13 June 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
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | Email: [3][AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtection...
2. mailto:[AGD request email]
3. mailto:[AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
Dear Applicant
Freedom of Information Request FOI25/264
I refer to your request to the Attorney-General's Department (the
department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) for access
to documents.
The purpose of this email is to provide you with a decision in response to
that request.
Please find attached:
decision letter, including:
o review rights,
o statement of reasons, and
o document.
If you have any questions, please contact me by telephone on (02) 6141
6666 or by email to [1][AGD request email].
Kind regards
Kellie
Freedom of Information & Privacy
Attorney-General’s Department
( Phone: (02) 6141 6666 | 8 Email: [AGD request email]
OFFICIAL
The Attorney-General’s Department may collect your personal information
where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our
functions, including those under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) and the Privacy Act 1988. We may collect your name, email address and
telephone number so that we can contact you about your request or privacy
complaint. If your request concerns accessing or correcting your personal
information, we will collect the minimum amount of evidence necessary to
verify your identity. We hold personal information in accordance with the
Privacy Act and our privacy policy. If you have an enquiry or complaint
about your privacy, please contact the Privacy Officer on 02 6141 6666 or
via e-mail [email address].
If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by
return email and delete all copies. If this email 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
email or attachments.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[AGD request email]