. . .but when ATO want you to provide a document, they demand you to provide the document within 28 days at your own cost.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/gov...foi-request-20120919-2672p.html#ixzz270AM5lzg
The Age has lost a freedom of information battle against a state government body that claimed it would take 24 years and cost nearly $1 million to process two requests.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has accepted the evidence of CenITex, the government's centre for information technology excellence, that The Age's FOI requests would divert ''a substantial and unreasonable portion'' of CenITex's resources away from its other operations.
VCAT deputy president Heather Lambrick found CenITex had not exaggerated the estimate of time and resources but she questioned several aspects of its response.
CenITex had said it would have to restore all emails within the time frame of the requests, which related to complaints about CenITex contractors, the electronic diaries of key executives, customer feedback results and CenITex's gift and hospitality register.
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To restore the emails, the agency said it had to buy extra computer equipment. CenITex's position is unusual in the Victorian government - most departments and agencies have easily searchable email archives and do not require an expensive restoration of archives to meet FOI requests.
Ms Lambrick said she found it ''surprising'' that the government's centre for information and technology excellence ''would not have the sufficient equipment for this request to be processed''. CenITex's estimate of one hour to restore each encrypted email was, she said, ''staggering''.
She said The Age had never accepted CenITex's explanations for why it considered the scope of the request too large and had ''preferred to adopt a cynical approach expressing disbelief and incredulity''.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/gov...foi-request-20120919-2672p.html#ixzz270AM5lzg
The Age has lost a freedom of information battle against a state government body that claimed it would take 24 years and cost nearly $1 million to process two requests.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has accepted the evidence of CenITex, the government's centre for information technology excellence, that The Age's FOI requests would divert ''a substantial and unreasonable portion'' of CenITex's resources away from its other operations.
VCAT deputy president Heather Lambrick found CenITex had not exaggerated the estimate of time and resources but she questioned several aspects of its response.
CenITex had said it would have to restore all emails within the time frame of the requests, which related to complaints about CenITex contractors, the electronic diaries of key executives, customer feedback results and CenITex's gift and hospitality register.
Advertisement
To restore the emails, the agency said it had to buy extra computer equipment. CenITex's position is unusual in the Victorian government - most departments and agencies have easily searchable email archives and do not require an expensive restoration of archives to meet FOI requests.
Ms Lambrick said she found it ''surprising'' that the government's centre for information and technology excellence ''would not have the sufficient equipment for this request to be processed''. CenITex's estimate of one hour to restore each encrypted email was, she said, ''staggering''.
She said The Age had never accepted CenITex's explanations for why it considered the scope of the request too large and had ''preferred to adopt a cynical approach expressing disbelief and incredulity''.
