Protecting information rights — advancing information policy ICON meeting Tuesday, 18 February 2014 James Popple Freedom of Information Commissioner

1 Notices to produce Practical refusal Guidelines OAIC’s processes: IC reviews, complaints Update since last meeting: 13 August 2013 – significant IC reviews – statistics: extensions, complaints, IC reviews

2 Section 55R (IC reviews) and section 79 (complaints): – give information – produce documents – failure to comply is an offence: 6 months imprisonment

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4 Major updates: – Part 6 (conditional exemptions) and discussion about s 47F – Part 7 (amendment and annotation of personal records) Minor updates: – Parts 3 (processing requests for access), 4 (charges), 14 (disclosure logs), 15 (reporting) and Glossary.

5 IC reviews and complaints Reducing stockpile by: – triage/early resolution – increased focus on finalising decisions ‘Gaming’ the system

6 Besser and Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs [2013] AICmr 65 (21 August 2013) Sweeney and Australian Securities and Investments Commission [2013] AICmr 68 (30 August 2013) Crowe and Department of the Treasury [2013] AICmr 69 (29 August 2013) Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association of NSW Inc and Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer [2013] AICmr 70 (3 September 2013)

7 Cornerstone Legal Pty Ltd and Australian Securities and Investment Commission [2013] AICmr 71 (10 September 2013) Kemp and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade [2013] AICmr 75 (4 October 2013) ‘AP’ and Department of Human Services [2013] AICmr 78 (25 October 2013) ‘AR’ and Australian Federal Police [2013] AICmr 80 (12 November 2013)

8 Thomson and Australian Federal Police [2013] AICmr 83 (22 November 2013) National Australia Bank Ltd and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2013] AICmr 84 (11 December 2013) Philip Morris Ltd and Treasurer [2013] AICmr 88 (13 December 2013) ‘AW’ and Australian Taxation Office [2014] AICmr 1 (10 January 2014)

9 Australian Private Hospitals Association and Department of the Treasury [2014] AICmr 4 (16 January 2014) ‘BA’ and Merit Protection Commissioner [2014] AICmr 9 (30 January 2014) Fist and Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2014] AICmr 14 (10 February 2014)

10 Received7001 Closed6998 – by agreement s 15AA 4916 – complex or voluminous s 15AB 1184 granted 1030 not granted37 – deemed refusal / ss 15AC, 51DA deemed affirmation s 54D 809 granted682 not granted35 – to lodge an IC review s 54T 88 granted56 not granted20 Open3 70% 17% 12% 1% 87% 84% 64%

11 Received424 – processing delay194 – unsatisfactory customer service88 – failure to acknowledge request 62 – failure to assist with application 41 – incorrect application of law33 – unsatisfactory reasons for decision30 – inadequate search26 – information publication scheme14 – other59 Closed377 Open47

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16 Received1484 Closed1046 – invalid / out of jurisdiction s 54N 162 – closed at discretion of IC s 54W 382 – withdrawn s 54R 325 – varied by agreement s 55F 4 – substituted by agency/minister s 55G 10 – reasons for decision published s 55K 163 affirmed (access refusal)87 affirmed (access grant)9 varied4 set aside and substituted63 Open438 15% 36% 32% 16%

17 IC reviewsComplaints Oldest case (days) Oldest unallocated case (days) Completion rate (cases per day) 2013– – – first 18 months Average time to close (days) 2013– – – % +58.6% +51.9% -7.3%