asqa decision letter 2

7/25/2019 Asqa decision letter 2

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ustralian Government

ustralian

Skills

Quality uthority

5 February 2016

Mr Paul Farrell

Reporter

The Guardian

Australia

By email: [email protected]

Dear Mr

Farrell,

Freedom of

Information F01

request

[15

16

0029

P9

I

am

writing in

response

to

your

request

under the

Freedom of Information

Act /982 (Cth)

F01

Act . I, Terence

Bowden,

am an

officer

authorised under

subsection 23(1) of the FOI

Act

to

make decisions

in relation

to

FOI

requests.

Request

On

28 December 2015,

you requested the following document:

All notifications

to

ASQA from

RTOs notifying the

agency

of third

party arrangements.

On 29 January

2016,

you

revised

your

application and

requested the following documents:

third

party

service

notifications from

2015 excluding material change

notifications.

Summary

Section

24 of the FOI

Act provides that if

any agency

is satisfied, when

dealing with

a

request

for

a

document, that

a

practical refusal

reason

exists

in relation

to

the

request,

the

agency must undertake a request consultation process and if, after the request

consultation

process,

the

agency

is

satisfied that the practical refusal

reason

stillxiststhe

agency

may

refuse

to

give

access

to

the document

in accordance with

the

request.

Section

24AA of the FOI

Act provides that

a

practical refusal

reason

exists in

relation

to

a

request

for

a

document if

the work involved in processing the

request

would substantially

and unreasonably

divert the

resources

of the

agency

from its other

operations.

On 19

January

2016,

you were

given notice,

in accordance with

s

24AB(2) of

the FOI Act,

of ASQA s intention

to

refuse

access

to

the requested documents.

Australian Skills

Quality Authority

ABN 72 581 678 650

GPO Box 9928

Melbourne VC 3001

Info line 1300 701 801

www.asqa.govau


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You

were

advised

that the

reason

for

the

notice of intention

to

refuse

was

that the volume

of notifications involved

combined with the

work involved

in processing

those notifications

would substantially

and unreasonably

divert

the

resources

of

ASQA from

its other

operations.

As

required by section

24(1)(a) and

s

24AB of

the FOI Act, ASQA

entered into

a

request

consultation

process . The consultation

period

ran

for 14 days,

during which

time ASQA

discussed

steps

that

you

could take

to

revise the

scope

of

your

request.

ecision

I

am

satisfied that

the practical

refusal

reason

still exists, taking

into

account

the revised

scope

of

your

application.

In

particular,

a

significant

number of third

party

consultations

under

s

27

of

the FOI Act

would be required

in order

to

process your

application. That

would significantly

and

unreasonably divert

the

resources

of ASQA from its

other operations.

Accordingly,

I have decided

to

refuse

access

to

the

document.

Your

review

rights

If

you are

dissatisfied

with

my

decision,

you

may

apply for internal

review

or

Information

Commissioner

review of

the decision.

We

encourage you

to

seek internal

review

as a

first

step

as

it

may

provide

a more

rapid resolution

of

your concerns.

Internal

review

Under section

54 of the FOI

Act,

you may

apply in writing

to

ASQA for

an

internal

review of

my

decision. The internal

review

application

must

be made within

30 days of the

date of

this

letter.

Where

possible please

attach

reasons

why

you

believe

review of the

decision is

necessary.

The internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days.

Information ommissioner

review

Under

section

54L of the FOI

Act,

you may

apply

to

the Australian Information

Commissioner

to

review

my

decision.

An application for review

by the Information

Commissioner

must

be

made in writing

within 60 days of the

date of this letter,

and be

lodged

in

one

of the following

ways:

online: https://forms.business.qov.au/aba/oaic/foireview/

email:

enquiries(@,oaic.qov.au

post:

GPO

Box 2999, Canberra

ACT 2601

in

person:

Level

3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney

NSW

2


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More information

about Information

Commissioner

review

is available

on

the Office of the

Australian

Information Commissioner

website. Go

to

pswwwoacqovaureedom

o

normaono

revew

process

ontact

Officer

If

you

have

any

questions

about this

matter,

please

email the FOI Contact

Officer,

Ms Carolyn Hodges,

at:

foiasqa.qov.au

Yours sincerely,

Terence

Bowden

Freedom

of Information

Officer

3

asqa decision letter 2

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