I've updated the Education Dept email address and resent the request.

Thanks,

Ben Fairless
Right to Know Administrator

I think that this request is about a topic that might be of interest to many Australian people like parents of high school students. But also I think that the request will fail. I explain, and also make a different suggestion.

First, is history. The constitution of your country does not empower the Commonwealth Government to intervene directly in the way that schools are managed. The legislative powers of the Parliament of Australia are stated in section 51 of the Constitution; education is not mentioned, schools are not mentioned. The method of the Australian Government to influence school education is by "conditional grants to the States under s 96 of the Constitution and inter-governmental agreements supported by legislation" (I quote from paragraph 4 of the case of Williams v Commonwealth of Australia [2012] HCA 23 http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodi...). I say this only because you wish for statistics for 10 years but it is a very recent idea for the education leg of the Australian Government to be so much involved with schools. So it would not be likely for statistics like that to exist for so many (10) years.

Second, is more about the Freedom of Information Act. You ask for statistics; the Act says that you have a right to access to documents. Sometimes there are documents with statistics but if it is not so, then the department would have to make a document for you. They maybe could do this, if they had the information, but it would not be required by the FOI Act. Of course, if they had a document for each school about bullying, then you could request each document but it would be a big lot of work and the department would probably refuse your request on the basis of section 24AA ("Practical refusal reason").

Third, it is worth making a search of http://www.education.gov.au and also especially to look at the page called "Bullying Research Projects" (https://education.gov.au/bullying-resear...). A person can see from some of the projects that have mention on that page that it is only since about 2011 that the Australian Government has had activities about bullying.

It will be very interesting if your FOI request succeeds, but if it does not, then maybe you will be rewarded by contacting one of the research group that is mentioned on the "Bullying Research Projects" page. They probably have more information about your topic of interest that any other people in Australia!

In my opinion, the reply to the applicant from the Department of Education was exemplary. The decision maker Ms Jenny Komsic has given a very high quality response. Yes, the request for access was refused but it is refused because the document that the applicant wants does not exist. It was not refused because the department does not want to give the applicant access to the document.

Also, the decision maker has walked an extra distance to help the applicant. She has tried to understand the question that the applicant is trying to answer and then she has tried to discover whether there exists documents that might be of usefulness to the applicant.

There is an interesting paradox (maybe "paradox" is not exactly the necessary word. Section 11(2) of the FOI Act says that, in general, the question that the applicant wants to answer is not something that a decision maker can consider when she allows (or does not allow) access to a document. The exact words are "Subject to this Act, a person’s right of access is not affected by: (a) any reasons the person gives for seeking access; or (b) the agency’s or Minister’s belief as to what are his or her reasons for seeking access." But that does not prevent a decision maker like Ms Komic to say to the applicant "there is no document like the one you requested, but if I have understood the reason for your request then you will maybe find it helpful to read some of the documents I can show you."

Jeg ønsker dig held og lykke med dit studie, Fatimeh.