Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia (the Agency).

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Charges

The Agency 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 you to provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. We will send correspondence and notices to your email address.
Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish correspondence to be sent
to another address or if your email address changes.

Administrative release of documents

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. Unless you advise us otherwise, in processing your request we may
provide you with documents under these arrangements where appropriate and
any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents released
under the arrangements will be considered to be withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements.

Exclusion of staff details

The Agency is working towards ensuring all staff have a choice about
whether they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and
direct contact details in response to FOI requests. Where such details are
included in documents they will be redacted. If you request staff details
as part of your FOI application, this may add to processing time and
applicable charges as it will be necessary to consider whether these
details are exempt under the FOI Act.
On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume these details
are out of scope of your request and they will be redacted under section
22 of the FOI Act.

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Our reference: LEX 78731

Dear Lei,

Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). You requested access to:

I request release of the following pages of the Operational Blueprint as
an application pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

110-11010020 Creating or reviewing the investigation plan
110-11010030 Critical case reporting

In addition, the summary document for evidence gathering is requested.
110-11030000 Gathering information and evidence for fraud investigations

Your request was received by Services Australia (the Agency) on 12 March
2024 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date. You should therefore expect a decision from
us by 11 April 2024. The period of 30 days may be extended if we need to
consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this
happens.

Charges

The Agency 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 you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[1][FOI #11226 email] We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as possible
if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your
address changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address,
correspondence and notices will continue to be sent to the address
specified above.

Administrative Release of Documents

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. Unless you advise us otherwise, in processing your request we may
provide you with documents under these arrangements where appropriate and
any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents released
under the arrangements will be considered to be withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements.

Disclosure Log

Please note information released under the FOI Act may be published in a
disclosure log on the agency's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act
requires this publication, however it is subject to certain exceptions,
including where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.

Exclusion of junior staff details

The Agency is working towards ensuring all staff have a choice about
whether they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and
direct contact details in response to public enquiries. Where such details
are included in the scope of a request, this may add to processing time
and applicable charges as it may be necessary to consider whether the
details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you tell us
otherwise, we will assume these details are out of scope of your request
and they will be redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act.

Further assistance

If you have any questions please email
[2][Services Australia request email]

Yours sincerely,

Elizabeth

FOI Officer

FOI and Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division

[3]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #11226 email]
2. mailto:[Services Australia request email]

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Dear Lei,

Please find attached the decision letter and document relating to your
request for access to documents held by Services Australia, under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982.

If you are unable to open the attachments please contact me by replying to
this email.

Kind Regards,

Elizabeth

FOI Officer

FOI and Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division

[1]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links

hide quoted sections

Dear Lei,

I write concerning your Freedom of Information request, processed by
Services Australia (the Agency) and notified to you on 11 April 2024, for
the following documents:

I request release of the following pages of the Operational Blueprint as
an application pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

110-11010020 Creating or reviewing the investigation plan
110-11010030 Critical case reporting

In addition, the summary document for evidence gathering is requested.

              110-11030000 Gathering information and evidence for fraud
investigations

The Agency has subsequently identified an error in the Decision Letter
issued to you. The covering letter mistakenly identified Document 3 as
being released in part, when this document was exempt in full. Document 1
was released in part to you.

I have updated the Decision Letter and attached it for your reference.
There are no concerns with the document released to you.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to
[1][email address] if you have any concerns.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth

FOI Officer

FOI and Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division

[2]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

hide quoted sections