Documents pertaining discussion on the payment threshold and rates for HELP.
Dear Department of Education,
I am making a requesting under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) for the following documents:
- Any and all internal correspondence, ministerial briefing papers,
policy documents, memos or file notes relating to any proposal to
amend the payment thresholds and payment rates for the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) between 8 September 2013 and 14 May 2014.
Yours faithfully,
James Dickson
For Official Use Only
Dear Mr Dickson
We refer to your email below, seeking access under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to “any and all internal
correspondence, ministerial briefing papers, policy documents, memos or
file notes relating to any proposal to amend the payment thresholds and
payment rates for the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) between 8
September 2013 and 14 May 2014”.
The Department of Education has received your request and will process it
in accordance with the FOI Act.
If you have any questions about your request, please contact us via email:
[1][email address]
Yours sincerely
Alexandra Brown
Senior Government Lawyer
Child Care, Corporate and External Review Legal Branch
Legal and Compliance Group
Australian Government Department of Education
(02) 6240 2570 I ext 42570
Legal in confidence: This transmission is intended only for the use of the
addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information.
If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or
dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by
telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Dickson
Please find attached correspondence from the Department of Education in
relation to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth).
Regards,
Kirsten
Kirsten Burns
Senior Government Lawyer
Corporate & External Review Team | Child Care, Corporate & External Review
Legal Branch
Legal and Compliance Group
Australian Government Department of Education
Phone (02) 6121 5966 | Fax (02) 6276 7421
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 13 33 97 during business hours (8am - 5pm Local time) and
delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
Dear Education - FOI,
Thank you for your response and consideration. I will refine my request so that the volume of documents will be less and the length of the internal processes will be shorter, as you have requested.
My amended FOI request will be as follows:
"Internal correspondence, ministerial briefing papers,
policy documents, memos or file notes excluding documents prepared for Cabinet relating to any proposal to amend the payment thresholds and payment rates for the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) between 1 December 2013 and 1 May 2014."
As above, I have shortened the period in which my FOI request relates and I have also excluded documents prepared for Cabinet. These were the two options that you suggested.
Yours sincerely,
James Dickson
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Dickson
Please find attached further correspondence in relation to your FOI request.
Regards,
Kirsten
Kirsten Burns
Senior Government Lawyer
Corporate & External Review Team | Child Care, Corporate & External Review Legal Branch Legal and Compliance Group Australian Government Department of Education Phone (02) 6121 5966 | Fax (02) 6276 7421
Dear Kirsten,
Thank you again for your response and consideration of this FOI request.
I am requesting that the charge of $545.00 be reduced or not imposed under Subsection 29(5) of the FOI Act on the grounds of:
1. financial hardship, and;
2. that the documents are of interest to a substantial section of the public.
I wish to apply on the grounds of financial hardship because I am a University student with little financial resources. If I were to pay this $545.00 charge to have access to the documents, it would have a very severe impact on my living standards and my ability to pay the rent for my one bedroom apartment, and I would have to consider other options in relation to food and transport. I am not exaggerating these claims - a $545.00 hit to a nineteen year old's bank account would be large.
On the second point, namely that these documents are of interest to a substantial section of the Australian community, there are over 1.5 million former Australian university students who have a HELP debt. Without going into the merits of this particular policy change, I submit to you that this is a large section of the Australian community who would be impacted by the policy change that I have referred to in my FOI request.
I therefore respectfully ask that the charge of $545.00 be substantially reduced, or not be imposed at all.
Yours sincerely,
James Dickson
For Official Use Only
Dear Mr Dickson
Please find attached correspondence from the Department of Education in
relation to your request under the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act
1982.
Kind regards
Alexandra Brown
Senior Government Lawyer
Child Care, Corporate and External Review Legal Branch
Legal and Compliance Group
Australian Government Department of Education
(02) 6240 2570 I ext 42570
Legal in confidence: This transmission is intended only for the use of the
addressee and may contain confidential or legally privileged information.
If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use or
dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by
telephone and delete copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 13 33 97 during business hours (8am - 5pm Local time) and
delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
Hi James, you might want to consider creating a campaign on Pozible or crowd sourcing the funds from friends or others who are interested in the documents you are looking for.
Cheers,
Ben