Complaints within the Royal Australian Navy Band (Sydney)
Dear Department of Defence,
Recently the Royal Australian Navy Band identified a ‘problem of complaining’ and ‘making complaining a sport’ as issues relating to the ‘Known morale and cultural issues – insidious and toxic’ workplace within the unit. (Defence FOI 05/22/23 document 7 refers).
Within the same FOI, it was suggested that members may have their service terminated if the culture does not improve. (Defence FOI 05/22/23 document 8 refers).
So that I can better understand the type of complaints within the organisation, I request the following:
A count of formal complaints made within the unit.
The nature and category of those complaints, at a high level (for example, Unacceptable Behaviour - Bullying).
Demographic statistics of complainants.
The timeframe of my request is from the period FY 21-22 and the current year to date.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Stevens
OFFICIAL
Dear Charles,
I refer to your correspondence of 26 September 2022 seeking access under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the following documents:
‘A count of formal complaints made within the unit.
The nature and category of those complaints, at a high level (for example,
Unacceptable Behaviour - Bullying).
Demographic statistics of complainants.
The timeframe of my request is from the period FY 21-22 and the current
year to date.’
Where staff details are captured in documents within the scope of your FOI
request, this information will be redacted; this includes private email
addresses, signatures, personnel (PMKeyS) numbers and mobile telephone
numbers, unless you specifically request such details. Defence excludes
duplicates of documents and any documents sent to or from you.
Furthermore, Defence only considers final versions of documents. If you
are seeking personal details of other individuals, please advise this
office by 5 October 2022 so that the decision maker can consider your
request.
The statutory deadline for you to receive a response to your request is 26
October 2022.
Should you have any questions relating to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact me via email to [1][email address].
Kind regards,
FOI Case Manager
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division
Department of Defence
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
OFFICIAL
Dear Charles
I refer to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) for access to the following documents:
‘A count of formal complaints made within the unit.
The nature and category of those complaints, at a high level (for example,
Unacceptable Behaviour - Bullying).
Demographic statistics of complainants.
The timeframe of my request is from the period FY 21-22 and the current
year to date.’
The current statutory deadline for you to receive a response to your
request is 26 October 2022.
Due to staff absences the Department of Defence is seeking your agreement
to a 30 day extension of the statutory deadline under section 15AA
[extension of time with agreement] of the FOI Act. We will endeavour to
process your request as soon as we can.
Should you agree, the statutory deadline for you to receive a response to
your request will expire on 25 November 2022.
It would be appreciated if you could confirm your agreement to this
extension of time via e-mail by close of business 25 October 2022.
Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
Thank you and regards
Freedom of Information
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial & Executive Coordination and Communication Division
Tel: 02 6132 7927
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon Charles,
Please find attached the Decision relating to Defence FOI 165/22/23.
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you are entitled to request a review of
this decision. Your review rights are attached.
Please contact this office should you require any further information.
Kind regards,
Ryan | FOI Case Manager
Media and Information Disclosure Branch
Ministerial and Executive Coordination & Communication Division
Department of Defence
02 5108 8851
IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence.
Unauthorised communication and dealing with the information in the email
may be a serious criminal offence. If you have received this email in
error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email
immediately.