Thank you for your email to Freedom of Information (FOI) at Comcare. If
your request meets the requirements for a valid FOI request, an
acknowledgement letter will be sent to you within 14 days. Otherwise, FOI
staff will contact you to discuss your request.

NOTICE: This e-mail message and attachments may contain confidential,
personal or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use or disclose any information in the message or
attachments. If received in error, please notify the sender by return
email immediately, if possible, or [email address].
Comcare does not waive any confidentiality or privilege. For information
about how we handle personal information, please visit
www.comcare.gov.au/privacy or contact us on 1300 366 979 and request a
copy of our Privacy Policy.

OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Matias,

Thank you for your email of 31 October 2021, making a request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) in the following terms:

I am seeking access to documents which have the following information:

"Dates of diagnoses and diagnosed condition, made by Assoc Prof Abdul
Khalid from the date of his first decision made on behalf of Comcare to
the date of this FOI request. For the claims relating to his appointment
as a diagnosing doctor, if the claim was initially rejected or accepted;
if the claim was asked to be reconsidered and the outcome of the
reconsideration; the number of claims where his diagnosis was used to
reject and reaffirm Comcare's decision that went to the AAT; of these
cases which were heard by AAT, what the AAT outcome was"

I am not seeking any personal or sensitive information, only information
that is statistical in nature that I have not been able to source from
published data.

Comcare received your request on 1 November 2021, and it has been
assigned reference number 2021/10127. Please include that number in any
communication you have with Comcare concerning the request.

Information on processing of your request is set out below.

Request consultation

Please note that your request is not sufficiently clear to allow Comcare
to identify the information or documents you are seeking. Therefore, I
have decided to consult formally with you under section 24AB(2) of the FOI
Act. Please see attached consultation letter for more details on why your
request is unclear.

Timeframe for processing your request

The statutory timeframe for processing your request is 30 days from the
day after it was received by Comcare, which means a decision on your
request would ordinarily be due to be notified to you by 30 November 2021.

 This timeframe may change where:

a)       we are required to consult with you because your request is not
clear or would require a substantial diversion of Comcare’s resources to
process;

b)      we are required to consult with third parties if their information
is included in a document you have requested;

c)       you are issued a charge for processing your request;

d)      we receive written agreement from you; or

 e. we receive an extension from the Information Commissioner.

Administrative Release of Documents

Comcare has administrative access arrangements for the release of certain
documents without the need for a formal FOI request. Unless you tell us
otherwise, we may provide you with documents under these administrative
access arrangements instead of processing the documents formally under the
FOI Act. We will notify you if documents are released to you under the
arrangements.

Exclusion of employee details 
 
Where the full name and contact details of Comcare staff members 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 that these details are out of scope of your request
and they will be deleted under section 22 of the FOI Act. 

Consultation with third parties

The FOI Act requires Comcare to undertake consultation prior to making any
decision to grant access to documents (subject to exemptions) that
contain:

·         information that originated with, or was received from, a State
or an authority of a State;

·         information that originated with, or was received from, a
foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an
international organisation;

·         information concerning a person's business or commercial
affairs, or the business, commercial or financial affairs of an
organisation or undertaking; or

o personal information about a person (including a deceased person).

We will advise you as soon as possible if external consultation is
required.

Charges

Comcare will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request, as
set out in the FOI Charges Regulations.

No charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information. 

Disclosure log 
 
Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a
disclosure log on Comcare’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. 

Contact

Should you require clarification of any of the matters discussed in this
email, or have any queries throughout the process, please contact me by
email to  [1][Comcare request email] or by telephone 1300 366 979.

Yours sincerely,

Sam

Statutory Oversight Officer | Legal Group

Comcare

GPO Box 9905, Canberra ACT 2601

Ph 1300 366 979  | Fax 1300 196 971  | Email: [2][Comcare request email]

NOTICE: This e-mail message and attachments may contain confidential,
personal or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use or disclose any information in the message or
attachments. If received in error, please notify the sender by return
email immediately, if possible, or [email address].
Comcare does not waive any confidentiality or privilege. For information
about how we handle personal information, please visit
www.comcare.gov.au/privacy or contact us on 1300 366 979 and request a
copy of our Privacy Policy.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Comcare request email]
2. mailto:[Comcare request email]