Freedom of Information request

Question

I refer to an article published in Region on 10 May 2026, with the title "ANU threatened with jail for stonewalling FOI request": https://region.com.au/anu-threatened-with-jail-for-stonewalling-foi-request/964278/ a) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that the Australian National University received a freedom of information request, on 5 November 2025, for access to "the correspondence dated 23 December 2020, from Julie Bishop to Professor Tregear, referred to in paragraph 42 of Professor Tregear's submissions"? b) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that authorised officials in the Australian National University failed to provide a timely decision pursuant to the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) in respect of the request for "the correspondence dated 23 December 2020, from Julie Bishop to Professor Tregear, referred to at paragraph 42 of Professor Tregear's submissions"? c) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in respect of the request for "the correspondence dated 23 December 2020, from Julie Bishop to Professor Tregear, referred to in paragraph 42 of Professor Tregear's submissions", an IC review application was, on 15 January 2026, lodged by the access applicant on the basis of a "deemed refusal decision" when a timely decision, for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth), was not made? d) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that the IC review application would come to bear a reference, issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, of MR26/00103? e) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, on 4 February 2026, an official in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner issued a notice to a) issue a revised decision, by 24 February 2026, granting full access to the documents requested in the 5 November 2025 request by 24 February 2026; or b) amongst other things, issue a revised decision, by 24 February 2026, granting partial access to the documents requested in the 5 November 2025 request; or c) amongst other things, provide submissions to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, by 24 February 2026, if the ANU was to refuse access to documents requested in the 5 November 2025 request? f) Did anybody in the Australian National University respond to the notice dated 4 February 2026 https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/13975/response/45356/attach/6/54Z%2055T%20Notice%20for%20deemed%20matters%20MR26%2000103%202.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1 ? If not, why not? g) Is it the case that, on 6 March 2026, a reminder notice was sent to officials about the 4 February 2026 notice? h) Is it the case that the reminder notice of 6 March 2026 was not responded to in a timely manner by officials in the Australian National University? If so, why was that reminder notice again not responded to in a timely manner? i) Is it the case that, on 20 March 2026, another notice was sent from an official in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to, amongst others, the University Secretary, noting "As we have not received a compliant response to several Notices of IC review and request for documents by the due date, we will proceed with the requirement for production of documents under section 55R of the FOI Act ... Please note that failure to comply with the notice or direction is an offence punishable by six months' imprisonment (per section 55R(5))"? j) Is it the case that, upon receiving the 20 March 2026 notice, on the same date, a response was provided to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, from an official in the Australian National University, noting "The university recognises we have not met our obligations in relation to a number of 2025 matters and we are continuing to identify and implement initiatives to uplift our FOI processing capabilities and will take immediate steps to respond to the s 55R notice"? k) Does the Australian National University have a culture of ignoring Commonwealth integrity agencies? If not, please explain why requests from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner were repeatedly ignored.

Answer

Please see the attached PDF.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• ASQ26-0110.pdf (opens in a new tab)