Claims Diagnostic Project
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
I request copy of any briefing minute sent to the Secretary about the Claims Diagnostic Project, with the most recent briefing minutes up to 5 hours processing time being in scope.
Ciao
Julie
Dear Julie,
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (the department) has received your
request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act). I note you have requested access to the following:
I request copy of any briefing minute sent to the Secretary
about the Claims Diagnostic Project, with the most recent briefing minutes
up to 5 hours processing time being in scope.
Your request was received by the department on 16 July 2022 and the
ordinary 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date.
Charges
The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your
request and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. No
charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information.
Your address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address that we can send
notices to. You have advised your email address is
[1][FOI #9139 email] . Unless you tell us
otherwise, we will send all notices and correspondence to this address.
Request to treat certain material as out of scope or irrelevant to the
request
To the extent the department has documents in its possession that fall
within the scope of your request, we intend to treat the following
information as out of scope or irrelevant to your request, pursuant to
section 22(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act:
1. The surnames, signatures and direct contact details of non-SES
Commonwealth employees and contractors, including clinical staff working
for Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling;
2. The surnames, signatures and direct contact details of serving
members of the Australian Defence Force; and
3. The signatures of third party individuals.
If you agree to the department treating these details as irrelevant,
please advise by 30 July 2022.
Further assistance
If you have any questions about your request, please email
[2][DVA request email]
Yours sincerely
Kevin Position No: 62210939
Registration Officer
Information Access Unit
Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch
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P Please consider the environment before printing this email
References
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1. mailto:[FOI #9139 email]
2. mailto:[DVA request email]
Dear Julie,
Please find attached the decision letter for LEX 50829.
Kind regards
Amy (62232671)
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
e [1][email address]
T: 1800 VETERAN/1800 838372
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References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Veterans' Affairs's handling of my FOI request LEX 50829 'Claims Diagnostic Project'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...
DVA refused access on the grounds no such documents exist, despite publicly available documents on DVA's own website that confirm any reasonable interpretation of scope would capture documents.
DVA has either failed to carry out an adequate search, or more realistically given the pattern of persistent unethical acts in its foi conduct, is knowingly not doing such a search to unlawfully place a barrier to access.
Ciao
Julie
Dear Julie
I understand from your email that you are requesting an internal review "
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Veterans'
Affairs's handling of my FOI request LEX 50829 'Claims Diagnostic
Project'.
Internal review is only available on a decision made and is not available
on the 'handling' of a request. Therefore, this request for internal
review is invalid and as such the department will not review the handling
of the decision.
Thank you for your email.
Arthur
Position Number 62210944
Information Access Officer
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Email: [1][email address]
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References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Arthur,
The phrase 'handling of my FOI request' is the template text used by Right to Know for internal reviews for decades now, and which DVA have processed without issue until this refusal.
There is no discretion for you to refusal to deal with the internal review request as it met the requirements of s 54B of being in writing and within 30 days. Your refusal to deal is therefore unlawful and beyond your powers as a delegate.
Ciao
Julie