Communication related to LEX 64117 Use and obtaining of the nicknames
Dear Services Australia,
I would like to request a copy of all correspondence related to the FOI request LEX 64117 Use and obtaining of the nicknames.
(Thanks again to Ms Nicole Clark for the confirmation of the existence of this 'practice').
I am looking for the following documents:
The external release received and sent communications.
Any internal communications/consultation emails.
Any external communications (Specifically looking for the communication with righttoknow, leading to the censorship of the LEX 64117 request online)
Yours faithfully,
Anatoly Kern
Dear Mr Kern
Thank you for your email to Services Australia (the agency ) dated 5
October 2021.
Currently, your request is not a valid request under the FOI Act because
it does not contain enough information to enable Services Australia to
identify the documents you are seeking. I am writing to assist you in
making a valid request under the FOI Act.
Making a valid request
Section 15 of the FOI Act provides the criteria for making a valid
request. Specifically, the request should:
· be in writing and state that it is for the purposes of the FOI
Act
· have a return address, and
· relevantly, be a request for documents with enough information to
enable the agency to identify it.
In your email, you state that you are seeking:
A copy of all correspondence related to the FOI request LEX 64117 Use and
obtaining of the nicknames.
I am looking for the following documents:
The external release received and sent communications.
Any internal communications/consultation emails
Any external communications (Specifically looking for the communication
with righttoknow, leading to the censorship of the LEX 64117 request
online)
As your request is currently worded, it is unclear what documents you are
seeking. Specifically, I am not sure what you mean by ‘external release
received and sent communications’. I am also unsure what you are referring
to in relation to ‘communication with rightoknow, leading to the
censorship of the LEX 64117 request online’.
Should you wish to make a valid FOI request please provide any other
relevant information that may assist the agency to identify the documents
you are seeking.
Further assistance
You appear to refer in your email to concerns about ‘the use or obtaining
of nicknames’. As previously advised the Freedom of Information team does
not use ‘nicknames’ on decisions or correspondence. When corresponding
with external individuals or organisations, it is the FOI team’s practice
for senior officers to send the correspondence or more junior employees
from a positional mailbox.
Please respond to this email by Thursday 21 October 2021 with further
information to enable the agency to register a valid FOI request. If we do
not hear from you within that time we will assume you no longer wish to
make a Freedom of Information request.
If you have any freedom of information related questions please email
[1][email address].
Kind regards
Colette
Information Access Branch
Legal Services Division
[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D6B8DA.3399D830
Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past and present, of
all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.
Please note: This email and any attachments may contain information
subject to legal professional privilege or information that is otherwise
sensitive or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this
email, you are prohibited from using or disseminating this communication.
If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender
immediately and permanently delete this email.
Dear Sowhen,
I can hardly understand how a request for communication for a very specific LEX64177 could be more specific or misunderstood unless there is an intention to hide specific documents.
I note that I didn't ask for any response to the original request. I can understand why someone wants to hide their real name behind 'positional' distribution lists and nicknames/"junior first name's" and deny to provide any documents related to of this practice, but do not understand your phrase "it is the FOI team’s practice for senior officers to send the correspondence or more junior employees
from a positional mailbox."
Does not seem to have a meaning even accounting for a typo (or -> of) unless you are saying that your senior legal officers are working as clerks for your junior employees.
Nevertheless, may I kindly ask you to provide a full name and the title of the person making a decision on the response. You can keep the nickname/'junior empoyee first name" in the signature as well if you like, adding something like the commonly used "Authorised by" phrase.
E.g. "Authorised by Nicole Clark, clerk for the junior employee Collette" or whatever it is.
Yours sincerely,
Anatoly Kern
Dear Sowhen,
The response to the request has been delayed. By law (not that anyone from your department cares about it), you should normally have responded promptly and by November 04, 2021
Yours sincerely,
Anatoly Kern
Dear Mr Kern
Thank you for your correspondence.
Services Australia (the agency) sent you correspondence on 14 October 2021
notifying your request dated 5 October 2021 was invalid under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). This was because it did not contain
sufficient information to enable the agency to identify the documents you
were seeking (section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act). Our correspondence
outlined the specific parts of the request we considered to be unclear and
provided additional information to assist you in making a valid request
under the FOI Act. We requested that you respond by 21 October 2021 with
further information that may assist the agency to identify the documents
you were seeking
While you did provide a response on 15 October 2021, you did not address
the issues raised in our correspondence or provide any further information
to assist the agency to identify the documents you were seeking access to.
Accordingly, your request was taken to be finalised.
You are welcome to submit a new Freedom of Information request and we
would be happy to assist. However, if you choose to do so, please specify
which specific documents you are seeking access to, or provide specific
information regarding the documents that will enable the agency to
identify them.
Kind regards
Colette
Information Access Branch
Legal Services Division
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D6B8DA.3399D830
Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past and present, of
all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.
Please note: This email and any attachments may contain information
subject to legal professional privilege or information that is otherwise
sensitive or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this
email, you are prohibited from using or disseminating this communication.
If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender
immediately and permanently delete this email.
Anatoly Kern left an annotation ()
There is quite an interesting development on how the ombudsman office participates in the diversion of the investigation of this matter to irrelevant topics to avoid revealing of these practices, more to follow.
Anatoly Kern left an annotation ()
Ombudsman ref 2021-712599.
The response of Services Australia in this request is an excellent example how (and why) people should pay their taxes. E.g. not even pretending.