[LINK] RFI: Govt Policy re Correspondence Format

[Mike]

I've come up against a related problem.  The Townsville City Council now 
uses a single database for all correspondence and internal memos etc.  
Incoming paper mails are scanned into the system and then discarded. 
They no longer have a registry-based filing system, and responses to 
correspondence no longer have any sort of reference number to link them 
to the original correspondence and related internal "paperwork".

I used the (Qld) Rights to Information law to try to get details of how 
a particular issue has been handled.  The request was refused, and 
rejected on appeal, because I could not refer to a particular 
"document".  It  was not sufficient that I sent copies of my original 
paper request, and follow-up emails.  Ity seems that because those items 
do not form a part of a "document" the RTI law doesn't apply.  Since 
there's nothing equivalent to the old-style registry file ID there's 
nothing to identify the relevant records in the db in a way that comes 
within the scope of the RTI law.

The Qld RTI law was supposed to be an improvement on the FOI law. But 
whoever drafted it didn't allow for paperless office procedures, and the 
loss of the concept of a "document".

Mike Shearer