Updated open IC reviews longevity data, as at 1 July 2018
Verity Pane made this Freedom of Information request to Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I note the FOI made at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/i... here on Right to Know.
I request under FOI the same report (s 17 compilation) but as at 1 July 2018. As the OAIC has previously run this report, the time to process would be insignificant.
I would also like to extend the scope to include a report that, for FY17/18, details the age of every IC Review closed in FY17/18, with the reason for closure (withdrawn, dismissed, decision issued, substitution, etc). Reference numbers are not required.
Yours faithfully,
Verity Pane
Our reference: FOIREQ18/00155
Dear Ms 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 17 October 2018.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
I note the FOI made at
https://apac01.safelinks.protection.outl...
here on Right to Know.
I request under FOI the same report (s 17 compilation) but as at 1 July
2018. As the OAIC has previously run this report, the time to process
would be insignificant.
I would also like to extend the scope to include a report that, for
FY17/18, details the age of every IC Review closed in FY17/18, with the
reason for closure (withdrawn, dismissed, decision issued, substitution,
etc). Reference numbers are not required.
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 17 October 2018, we must process your
request by 16 November 2018.
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]cid:image001.jpg@01D4453F.0FED8EB0 Megan McKenna | Paralegal
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 8231 4292 | [3][email address]
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Our reference: FOIREQ18/00155
Dear Ms Pane
I refer to your freedom of information request of 17 October 2018, where
you have requested:
I note the FOI made at
<[1]https://apac01.safelinks.protection.outl...>
here on Right to Know.
I request under FOI the same report (s 17 compilation) but as at 1 July
2018. As the OAIC has previously run this report, the time to process
would be insignificant.
I would also like to extend the scope to include a report that, for
FY17/18, details the age of every IC Review closed in FY17/18, with the
reason for closure (withdrawn, dismissed, decision issued, substitution,
etc). Reference numbers are not required.
With reference to the first part of your request, I have spoken to the
relevant line area who have advised that the statistics you have requested
are generated on the last day of each month.
As such, could you please confirm by Tuesday 6 November, 2018 whether you
are seeking access to a document that details the number of outstanding IC
review applications made to the OAIC and the amount of time those review
applications have been outstanding, as at 30 June 2018?
I note that no IC reviews were received or closed on Sunday, 1 July 2018.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Kind regards
[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D4453F.0FED8EB0 Megan McKenna | FOI Officer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [3]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 8231 4292 | [4][email address]
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2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
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9. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...
To Megan McKenna,
Whether you are being intentionally obtuse, which is way more likely, or just are a ESL speaker and therefore your comprehension skills are not as good as the average person, I’ll address your correspondence.
Firstly, the additional information sought, above the s 17 produced table based on that released by the OAIC here https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4... as 1 July 2018, is that as exactly stated in my FOI request made on 17 October 2018 two weeks ago, which was:
“for FY17/18, details the age of every IC Review closed in FY17/18, with the reason for closure (withdrawn, dismissed, decision issued, substitution, etc). Reference numbers are not required.”
It was not, and could not be reasonably interpreted as, for the number of IC Reviews opened and closed on only one day, Sunday 1 July 2018, as you have reinterpreted it as (and logically, that interpretation is untenable and ridiculous).
Of course, if the OAIC provided more transparency, such as publishing its own statistics on data.gov.au (it only publishes the FOI statistics of agencies other than itself), some of these questions could be satisfied in this way, but we have to deal with what we’ve got, not what we wish for.
In any case, the OAIC only publishes some very limited summary data about itself, not readily findable and certainly not in the detail requested, so again the s 17 FOI request made has not outcome possible other than the OAIC producing the requested s 17 compilation through RESOLVE.
On RESOLVE, the OAIC has previously advised me what it is capable of, and through prior FOI requests, it is a matter of record that the OAIC can compile the s 17 documents requested without issue (as it is not a manual process and RESOLVE is capable of producing a range of ad hoc reports at any particular point in time specified, as it is RESOLVE that calculates the statistics automatically such as the number of days an IC Review has been open, the current status of the IC Review, and the date it was opened and the date it was closed).
As stated by the OAIC:
Our reference: FOIREQ16/00051
Dear Ms Pane
Freedom of Information Request no. 16/00051
I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.
The OAIC has a case management system that can generate certain statistics
in relation to privacy complaints and IC Reviews.
I can confirm the system can generate the following reports:
1. [irrelevant];
2. The age of IC FOI Reviews with aging by month;
3. The time taken to complete an IC Review (including cases
negotiated or where a decision has been made);
4. [irrelevant].
———
I did not seek copy of an irrelevant existing report, even if it may be somewhat similar, I sought a compilation under s 17, which has been done by the OAIC before on previous occasions without fuss.
So, again, to summarise, there are two documents under s 17 of the FOI Act sought:
1) This OAIC produced report https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4..., but as at 1 July 2018
2) For the Financial Year 2017/2018, a list of every IC Review closed by the OAIC in that financial year (regardless of when it was opened), that lists:
- for each IC Review the number of days between the date the IC Review application was received by the OAIC and the date the OAIC closed (the age of the IC review); and
- the reason the IC review was closed;
It would be appreciated if the FOI could be proceeded with, without unhelpful games that just waste the time of all involved.
Yours sincerely,
Verity Pane
Dear Ms Pane
Please find attached the decision and documents in relation to your FOI
request, FOIREQ18/00155.
Regards
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D4453F.0FED8EB0 Megan McKenna | FOI Officer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 8231 4292 | [3][email address]
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References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
5. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
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8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...