Our FOI disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00161

Date of access

15 September 2023

Published on

20 September 2023

FOI request

1. How many times the Australian Information Commissioner has applied to the Federal Court, or Federal Circuit Court for an order that an entity, that is alleged to have contravened a civil penalty provision in that Act, pay the Commonwealth a penalty, pursuant to s 80W of the Privacy Act? E.g. breach of s 13G of the Privacy Act.
2. The breakdown of the said financial penalties by amount of dollars (for example 100 organisations fined $2.5m, 50 organisations fined $200k etc...). It is fine to use ranges instead of the exact numbers as long as they are not too wide and/or vague.
3. What organisation size (in annual turnover or number of employees in Australia) and type (industry and government/private sector) do the fined organisations belong to?
4. How many open Privacy Complaints the OAIC currently has? How many open FOI Complaints the OAIC current has?

Other information

Document created pursuant to s 17 of the FOI Act.

Access in full granted.

Date of access: 15 September 2023

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00162

Date of access

19 September 2023

Published on

19 September 2023

FOI request

I am seeking the following information either under FOI or administrative release:

• Any emails or other communications (e.g. meeting invitations/speeches/memorandums/revised chief executive instructions or equivalent) directed at all staff about the Royal Commission on the Robo-debt Scheme send between 1 July 2023 and 21 August 2023
• Any emails or other communications (e.g. meeting invitations/speeches/memorandums/revised chief executive instructions or equivalent) directed at all SES (or equivalent) staff about the Royal Commission on the Robo-debt Scheme send between 1 July 2023 and 20 August 2023

Other information

S 22(1)(a)(ii)

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00137

Date of access

15 August 2023

Published on

28 August 2023

FOI request

Under the FOI Act I would like access to the freedom of information requests received by the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman that are, as at 7 July 2023, the subjects of applications for Information Commissioner review (e.g. if 10 of the FOI requests that the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman has received are subjects of applications for IC review as at 7 July 2023, then please provide those 10 FOI requests), and not limited to [IC review reference].

I am not the IC review applicant for any of the IC review requests received by the OAIC.

Other information

Access granted in full to 2 documents

Access granted in part to 2 documents

Access refused to 31 documents

s 22(1)(a)(ii)

s 47E(d)

s 47F

Date of publication: 15 August 2023

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00137

Date of access

11 August 2023

Published on

25 August 2023

FOI request

“I'm requesting access to data collected under the notifiable data breach scheme. We previously requested this information and would like an updated data set. Joseph Gouvatsos of the OAIC, helped coordinate and deliver this in March 4 2021.

I represent an Australian-owned secure communication platform built for the Healthcare industry.  I am not seeking identifiable data.

We are seeking information in CSV per attached format.”

Other information

Document created pursuant to s 17 of the FOI Act

Access granted in full.

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00126

Date of access

1 August 2023

Published on

11 August 2023

FOI request

“The purpose of this request is to get a better understanding of how the actions of Commonwealth officials are affecting the allocation of the OAIC’s scarce resources.

I would like to know how many extant IC review requests are before the OAIC solely on the ground of a deemed refusal decision (i.e. the principal officer of an agency or a Minister is taken to have refused access to a document because they did not provide a decision to an access applicant).

I would also like to know which agencies and Ministers have failed to provide decisions.

For example, if there are 10 extant IC review requests that have been lodged on the ground of a deemed refusal decision, and 2 of those are in respect of deemed refusal decisions from the principal officer of the Department of Prime Minister, and the other 8 are in respect of deemed refusal decisions from the Attorney-General, then please provide a documents showing that:

a) 2 IC review requests have been lodged in respect of deemed refusal decisions from the principal officer of the Department of Prime Minister; and

b) 8 IC review requests have been lodged in respect of deemed refusal decisions from the Commonwealth Attorney-General.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, I request access to documents identifying the number of extant IC review requests as at 20 March 2023, broken down by agency (as that term is defined in section 4 of the FOI Act) or Minister, which have been lodged on the ground of a deemed refusal decision on the parts of the relevant principal officers of agencies or Ministers.

To the extent that it applies, I would appreciate it if you would deal with this FOI request in accordance with section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982.”

Other information

Document created pursuant to s 17 of the FOI Act.

Please note the statistics captured in this document includes all matters where the ‘deemed decision’ field is set to ‘Yes’ on OAIC’s systems, and may include matters where a subsequent 55G revised decision had been made by the respondent agency.

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00111

Date of access

28 July 2023

Published on

11 August 2023

FOI request

This request letter is an application for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act in which I request to be provided with copies of the following:

2. A copy of the OAIC business rules, operating procedures or like document(s) that govern how an ‘OAIC IC Review’ is to be conducted.

I request to be provided with copies of the following:

2. A copy of the OAIC business rules, operating procedures or like document(s) that govern how an ‘OAIC IC Review’ is to be conducted.

Other information

43 documents released in full, 15 documents released in part.

Exemptions applied under section 47E(c).

Irrelevant material removed under s 22(1)(a)(ii).

37 documents published out of 58 documents released, as remaining documents contain personal information per s 11C of the FOI Act.

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00074

Date of access

19 June 2023

Published on

28 June 2023

FOI request

I would like to request a copy of:

1) Documents (emails, etc) created between 18 Jan 2017 and 21 Jan 2017

a. related to the generation, authorisation and publication of the ‘Update on the Federal Court decision’ in relation to the Grubb matter show below.

b. any internal consideration of this decision by OAIC staff.

This used to be accessible on the OAIC’s website via https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/news-and-media/privacy-commissioner-v-telstra-corporation-limited-federal-court-decision

It is now accessible on the Internet Archive via:

https://web.archive.org/web/20230307185335/https:/www.oaic.gov.au/updates/news-and-media/privacy-commissioner-v-telstra-corporation-limited-federal-court-decision

Other information

3 documents released in part, 1 document released in full, 1 document exempt in full.

Exemptions applied under sections 42 and 47F.

Irrelevant material removed under s 22(1)(a)(ii).

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00086

Date of access

6 June 2023

Published on

13 June 2023

FOI request

I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a complete copy of the departments' Freedom of Information (FOI) logs for the period 2013-2023, including any secondary departments controlled by the agency.

I request that this is provided as a document and not a simple redirect to the agency website as I am of the view that your online disclosure logs do not actively reflect your FOI requests that you have received in this period.

Other information

S 17

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00049

Date of access

11 May 2023

Published on

25 May 2023

FOI request

“I write seeking documents under the FOI Act.

I am aware of the recent resignation of Mr Leo Hardiman and note his resignation statement stated he had "led the implementation of significant changes to how Commonwealth’s core FOI regulatory functions are undertaken, led and managed but that further changes are, however, necessary in my view to ensure that the timeliness of IC reviews and, consequently, access to government-held information, is increased. The making of those changes is not within the powers conferred on me as FOI Commissioner.

Specifically I am seeking documents containing information including communications from Mr Hardiman to the OAIC or AG’s department including the nature and details of the “further changes…necessary to ensure the timeliness of IC reviews and, consequently, access to government-held information, is increased”.

I am also interested in communications from Mr Hardiman relating to possible changes needed to the powers of the FOI Commissioner arising from the need to ensure the timeliness of IC reviews and, consequently, access to government-held information, is increased.

I am happy to discuss the scope of the request and can be contacted via my details below.”

Other information

S 22

S 47C

S 47F

S 47G

Information published in the disclosure log

Reference number

FOIREQ23/00054

Date of access

1 May 2023

Published on

5 May 2023

FOI request

“The document I’m seeking access to is the document which contains information about the organisations or agencies who have notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner of a notifiable data breach since the notifiable data breach scheme commenced on 22 February 2018 up to the date of the FOI request made today on 31 March 2023. More specifically, the document I’m seeking will include the following information but not limited to: the organisation or agency’s name and contact details, a description of the data breach, the kinds of information involved, recommendations about the steps individuals should take in response to the data breach.”

Other information

s 22(1)(a)(ii)

s47E(d)

Information published in the disclosure log