Our reference: FOIREQ22/00008

Dear Verity Pane

Freedom of Information request

I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 4 January 2022.

Scope of your request

In your email you seek access to the following:

                “Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,

 

I seek copy of all s 86 Freedom of Information Act notice on completion
documents (excluding duplicates) sent by the OAIC to any federal agency
between 2020 and 2021 inclusive.

 

Any personal information within such documents is irrelevant, as are
contact details, signatures, and the names of persons other than SES
employees.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Verity Pane”

I have interpreted your request as seeking access to documents for a
period of time between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021.

In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.

We will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
we may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.

Timeframes for dealing with your request

Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.

As we received your request on 4 January 2022, we must process your
request by 3 February 2022.

Disclosure Log

Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.

If you would like to discuss this matter, please contact me on my contact
details set out below.

Regards

[1][IMG]   Elena Elagina | Lawyer

Legal Services

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au

[3]1300 363 992| [4][email address]
[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] |   [8]Subscribe to Information
Matters

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. file:///tmp/tel:1300363992
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

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Dear Verity Pane

 

I refer to your FOI request to access for documents that you made on 4
January 2022.

 

Please find enclosed Notice of decision, schedule of documents and
documents.

 

Kind regards

Elena

 

[1][IMG]   Elena Elagina | Lawyer

Legal Services

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au

[3]1300 363 992| [4][email address]
[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] |   [8]Subscribe to Information
Matters

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. file:///tmp/tel:1300363992
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

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Verity Pane

 

Dear Verity Pane

 

Thank you for your email below regarding my decision in FOIREQ22/00008.

 

I note the decision provided you access to the documents in full, edited
only to the extent that certain material that was considered irrelevant
and outside the scope of the FOI request in accordance with s 22(1)(a)(ii)
of the FOI Act.

 

I note your FOI request said “Any personal information within such
documents is irrelevant, as are contact details, signatures, and the names
of persons other than SES employees.”

 

I confirm the material that I considered that are irrelevant and outside
the scope of the request in the FOI decision are consistent with s
22(1)(ii) of the FOI Act and with your FOI request, in relation to the
material that you agreed to exclude.

 

If you are dissatisfied with my decision, please be advised that you are
entitled to seek either, internal review OR an Information Commissioner
(IC) review under the FOI Act.

 

Part 9 of the FOI Guidelines say:

Choice between internal review or IC review

9.3A person who is dissatisfied with an agency’s access refusal or access
grant decision can apply either for internal review or IC review of that
decision. A person is not required to apply for internal review before
applying for IC review. If dissatisfied with an internal review decision,
the person can then apply for IC review of that decision. There is no fee
or charge applying to either internal or IC review. For more information
about IC review, see Part 10 of these Guidelines.

9.4The Information Commissioner is of the view that it is usually better
for a person to seek internal review of an agency decision before applying
for IC review. Internal review can be quicker than external review and
enables an agency to take a fresh look at its original decision.

 

Please do kindly let me know if you would like to seek an internal review,
or an IC review of my decision, and the OAIC will process your request
accordingly.

 

Kind regards

 

[1][IMG]   Elena Elagina | Lawyer

Legal Services

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au

[3]1300 363 992| [4][email address]
[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] |   [8]Subscribe to Information
Matters

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Verity Pane <[FOI #8243 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 9 February 2022 3:14 PM
To: Legal <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FOIREQ22/00008 - Notification of decision [SEC=OFFICIAL]

 

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not
click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know
the content is safe.

 

 

Dear Legal,

 

 

 

In your decision, you refer to "personal information of complainants and
agencies’ staff members" when discussing your application of the personal
privacy exemption.

 

 

 

There is a long series of authorities that distinguish between official
information and personal information. Information about a private
individual, acting in their own capacity, is personal information.

 

 

 

But I am at a loss to see any connection between a Commonwealth official
doing no more or less than performing their official duties as being
connected to anything in scope of personal privacy.

 

 

 

Can you please explain what you understand to be the line between personal
activity and official information, especially in light of the recent IC
decision 'ZA' and Department of Veterans Affairs (Freedom of information)
[2021] AICmr 83 (8 December 2021)

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Verity Pane

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

 

 

 

Dear Verity Pane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I refer to your FOI request to access for documents that you made on 4

 

January 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please find enclosed Notice of decision, schedule of documents and

 

documents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

Elena

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1][IMG]   Elena Elagina | Lawyer

 

 

 

Legal Services

 

 

 

Office of the Australian Information

 

Commissioner

 

 

 

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |

 

[2]oaic.gov.au

 

 

 

[3]1300 363 992| [4][email address]

 

[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] |   [8]Subscribe to Information

 

Matters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

 

 

Visible links

 

1. [9]https://www.oaic.gov.au/

 

2.
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3. [11]file:///tmp/tel:1300363992

 

4. [12]mailto:[email address]

 

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8. [16]https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...

 

 

 

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If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part
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error, we apologise for any inconvenience and request that you notify
the sender immediately and delete all copies of this email, together
with any attachments.
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References

Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. file:///tmp/tel:1300363992
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...
9. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
10. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
11. file:///tmp/tel:1300363992
12. mailto:[email
13. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
14. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
15. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
16. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...
17. mailto:[FOI #8243 email]
18. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

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