ATO IT outages Feb 2016=7
Dear Australian Taxation Office,
I refer to the widely reported outages of ATO IT systems this week (ending 3 February 2017).
I request the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. All documents put to the ATO Executive in relation to the matter.
2. All documents in which the ATO Executive, and other appropriate SES officers (where applicable) gave direction or approval to act in response to the outages.
Yours faithfully,
William Shakespeare
Dear Mr Shakespeare,
The ATO does not process FOI requests received via righttoknow.org.au.
Please send your FOI request direct to [1][ATO request email], or lodge via
paper form available at
[2]https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con....
Alternatively, you can contact the ATO on 13 28 69 and ask for Freedom of
Information.
Regards,
FOI team
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ATO request email]
2. https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con...
Dear Australian Taxation Office
My FOI request has been sent to the email address nominated by the ATO for receipt of such requests from the public.
Please process this request in accordance with the FOI Act.
If you choose not process this request simply because it is also published in Right To Know, I will consider that a decision under the FOI Act. If this is in fact your decision, I hereby request a review of that decision in accordance with the provisions of the FOI Act.
Yours sincerely,
William Shakespeare
Dear Mr Shakespeare,
The ATO does not process FOI requests received via righttoknow.org.au.
Please send your FOI request direct to [1][ATO request email], or lodge via
paper form available at
[2]https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con....
Alternatively, you can contact the ATO on 13 28 69 and ask for Freedom of
Information.
Regards,
FOI team
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ATO request email]
2. https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con...
Dear Australian Taxation Office
This is a valid FOI request made in accordance with the FOI Act.
For your reference I detail my request dated 3 February 2017 below:
"I refer to the widely reported outages of ATO IT systems this week (ending 3 February 2017).
I request the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. All documents put to the ATO Executive in relation to the matter.
2. All documents in which the ATO Executive, and other appropriate SES officers (where applicable) gave direction or approval to act in response to the outages."
Please process this request.
I look forward to hearing your decision on this FOI request. Your cooperation will avoid an application being made to the AAT.
Yours sincerely,
William Shakespeare
Ad left an annotation ()
Information Commissioner review form link once the ATO IR comes back in the negative.
http://www.oaic.gov.au/images/documents/...
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
The OpenAustralia Foundation (the charity that looks after Right to Know) has published a blog post in relation to the response from the ATO;: https://www.openaustraliafoundation.org....
I made an IC Complaint in relation to the ATO's processing of a few of my FOI requests, and I encourage anyone who feels that the ATO should respond to lawful requests to make a complaint to the OAIC or the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
Dear FOI Officer,
I write to you in relation to my FOI request dated 3 February 2017, which is yet to be processed by you.
This request is now 3 months overdue.
For your reference, the details of my request can be located at the following URL:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/a...
As you know, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has confirmed my request was a valid request.
Accordingly, I demand the ATO process my FOI request in accordance with the law.
I would appreciate it if you could respond to this email to confirm this request will be processed. I would also appreciate prompt processing of this request, considering you have ignored me via this channel for the last 3 months.
Yours sincerely,
William Shakespeare
Dear Australian Taxation Office,
I refer to the widely reported outages of ATO IT systems in the week ending 3 February 2017.
I request the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. All documents put to the ATO Executive in relation to the matter.
2. All documents in which the ATO Executive, and other appropriate SES officers (where applicable) gave direction or approval to act in response to the outages.
Yours faithfully,
William Shakespeare
Mark R. Diamond left an annotation ()
Why is it that no one has complained about the behavior of the ATO. Having refused for 9 months to process requests filed through Right to Know, they now purport to comply with the law but do not do so. The requirement of s 15(2)(c) of the Act is that a request under FOI "... give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the applicant (for example, by providing an electronic address to which notices may be sent by electronic communication)". But the ATO doesn't appaer to be doing that, no doubt so as to avoid the possibility that anyone might comment about such notices. Instead, they do not send the notices required by the Act to the applicant. Instead, they send a "meta-notice" (i.e., a notice about where you might find a notice) to the applicant. A complaint (in fact multiple complaints) to the Information Commissioner are warranted.
Mark R. Diamond left an annotation ()
The latest reply from the ATO says, "On 23 June 2017, you were issued a notice of intention to refuse your FOI request as a ‘practical
refusal reason’ exists under s 24AA(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)." That statement is, in fact, lie; not an "alternative fact". A lie. Ben Fairless was not "issued a notice of intention to refuse your FOI request". He was in fact sent a brief note telling him that the ATO had sent something that he (Ben Fairless) might be interested in to a place that he could search. That is not at all the same as sending the applicant a notice under the FOI Act.
Additionally, the document is not even signed by a decision maker!
James Baldwin left an annotation ()
Hi William,
You can't go to the AAT without first going through the Information Commissioner for a review.
I would recommend applying straight to the Information Commissioner, as the ATO routinely (and inappropriately) refuses to process requests made through Right to Know.