How To Annoy The Government With FOI Requests
summary
Explains how to use the Freedom of Information Act to extract documents (not just answers), shows tools like righttoknow.org.au and Zotero, and cites legal research sources (OAIC guidelines, AustLII, LawSite). Advises asking for electronic copies, limiting date ranges, and avoiding drafts; describes the FOI cascade tactic and common agency shenanigans (section 24AA refusals, spurious fees, section 22 redactions). Gives the RoboDebt example: a 2017 request still in appeals, showing requests work but often take years and legal escalation.
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chapters (27)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:17Overview
- 9:17WriteToKnow
- 15:56Example
- 16:24Make it clear
- 17:15Documents
- 18:46Limits
- 20:36Form
- 21:48FOI Checklist
- 23:10What Do You Want
- 24:04The Happy Path
- 24:43The Unhappy Path
- 26:06The Robodet Saga
- 26:51Too Many Documents
- 28:00Finding No Documents
- 29:12The FOI Cascade
- 30:04FOI Fees
- 31:31Preemptive Section 22
- 33:08Last Minute Questions
- 34:11Exemptions
- 34:35Unconditional exemptions
- 36:03Conditional exemptions
- 36:40deliberative processes
- 37:54summary
- 38:15go make a request
- 39:15credits
- 39:32Questions
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