Extract
The public submissions in relation to the Tarkine Road where sent to the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) in November 2009.
They were not made available on the departmentʼs website. As a University of Wollongong PhD research student investigating the struggle to save the Tasmanian devil from a devastating cancer
and the author of a public submission I sought through the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) access to copies of the public submissions.
The EDO contacted the office of Cassy OʼConnor, Tasmanian Greens parliamentary member and she agreed to submit an FOI on my behalf. A letter was sent to the Department on 26 November 2009 by Cassy OʼConnor in her capacity as Greens Spokesperson for the Environment, Parks and Tourism in Tasmania.
The FOI Act states under Part III Section 24 (Requests may be refused in certain cases) (2) …the agency or Minister is to have regard to the resources that would have to be used:
(c) in making a copy, or an edited copy, of the documents. In this instance the FOI request was granted therefore the Minister considered that resources were available to photocopy the documents.
Meanwhile, under Section 29 (Charges) (1)(f)(ii) the Act allows for an applicant to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced or not imposed…ʼ. It is under this section that I contend that the cost of $4285.19 does appear to be excessive.
It would seem incomprehensible that it would cost $4,087.27 in decision-making time to decide whether or not to photocopy 70 submissions. However, Cassy OʼConnor did offer to receive the documents via a pdf document and print them in her office.
Whilst under section 30A (Remission of application fees) (a)(i) payment would cause financial hardship or (iii) is in the general public interests or in the interests of a substantial section of the public. It is presumably under this section that the Department has requested details of my personal financial situation expressly suggesting that if I hold a Healthcare Card or similar government benefit the fee would be waived.
I do not wish to disclose my personal financial information as I can see that it is of no consequence in asking for the information. Whist the information is in the interests of a substantial section of the public at this point in my research that is not my main consideration. I would like to read and analyse the documents to augment my already considerable knowledge in relation to the investigation of the scientific research into the Tasmanian devil disease.
Suppression of Information
The failure to provide the documents in pdf format to Cassy OʼConnor appears to constitute suppression of information. The documents were provided by the public, including myself, either in agreement with the proposed Tarkine road construction or against its construction. The documents are neither the advice or opinions of Australian Public Service employees nor documents commissioned and financed by the Australian Government they are documents provided by individual citizens at their own financial and personal expense.
It is ironic that the situation I find myself in is reminiscent of the FOI request by Peter Garrett himself, when he was opposition environment spokeman. At the time he was seeking information from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. When the Authority refused to provide him with the documents he responded saying that it was ʻa complete corruption and a complete betrayal of the Freedom of Information legislationʼ.
It was true then and it is true now.
Download the full article:
The_Tarkine_Road_-_FOI_or_Suppression.pdf
