Documents released on the Department's FOI Disclosure Log
Dear Department of Human Services,
I have recently been browsing the Department's FOI Disclosure Log available on its website and have seen two items that may be of interest to me.
The first is titled 'Customer Service Centre Reports' and was released on 30 April 2014. The log description indicates these documents are available on request via this email address.
Could you please advise if any of these reports relate to Centrelink Customer Service Centres in Victoria, and, out of interest, why these have not been uploaded to the Department's website?
In addition, the most recent entry on the Disclosure Log is CCTV footage that is also marked as available on request to this email address. Can you please advise how a copy of this footage may be obtained?
Yours faithfully,
Vera Lystich
Dear Department of Human Services,
I have not yet received a response to my earlier email about documents released to the FOI Disclosure Log (Service Centre Reports and CCTV Footage).
Can you please confirm for me that my email was received?
Yours faithfully,
Vera Lystich
Dear Ms Lystich
I refer to the email below.
In relation to the two entries on the department’s disclosure log and your
queries:
· the locations of the Service Centres referred to in the Customer
Service Centre Reports have been exempted under section 47E(d) and section
47F of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). We note that the
scope of the FOI request did not include Victorian Service Centres;
· section 8D of the FOI Act states how information is to be
published on an agency’s website. In particular, section 8D(3)(c) of the
FOI Act, states the following:
‘(3) The agency must publish the information on a website by:
(a) making the information available for downloading from the website; or
(b) publishing on the website a link to another website, from which the
information can be downloaded; or
(c) publishing on the website other details of how the information may be
obtained.’
Please let us know if you would like a copy of the Customer Service Centre
Reports. A copy of the CCTV footage is only available via CD. Please
provide us with a postal address and we will send this out to you.
Kind regards
FOI Team
FOI and Information Release Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
[1][email address]
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From: Vera Lystich <[2][FOI #878 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 15 January 2015 9:48 PM
To: FREEDOMOFINFORMATION
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Documents released on the
Department's FOI Disclosure Log
Dear Department of Human Services,
I have recently been browsing the Department's FOI Disclosure Log
available on its website and have seen two items that may be of interest
to me.
The first is titled 'Customer Service Centre Reports' and was released on
30 April 2014. The log description indicates these documents are available
on request via this email address.
Could you please advise if any of these reports relate to Centrelink
Customer Service Centres in Victoria, and, out of interest, why these have
not been uploaded to the Department's website?
In addition, the most recent entry on the Disclosure Log is CCTV footage
that is also marked as available on request to this email address. Can you
please advise how a copy of this footage may be obtained?
Yours faithfully,
Vera Lystich
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Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
Vera, would you be ok with Right to Know contacting the department to offer them an upload link, or the postal address of Right to Know (then we can upload it)?
Cheers
Ben
Right to Know Volunteer
Vera Lystich left an annotation ()
Hi Ben,
That sounds good, if you could do that it would be great. Should I respond here and say that's what you'll be doing?
Thanks
Vera
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
I have sent the below email to the FOI Team at the Department:
=======
My Name is Ben Fairless, and I volunteer with Right to Know. I wanted to get in touch regarding a request LEX 12021 which was made by a user on Right to Know (a full history of the request can be found at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/d...).
In case the Department wasn’t aware, the Right to Know website provides the ability for responses which can’t be sent by email (due to their size) to be uploaded to the request for applicants to see. This reduces the processing time required to copy a CD and mail it out, thereby saving the Department (and ultimately the taxpayer) time and money. There are also obvious benefits for the Applicant, who can then view the material at their leisure.
To upload a document (including video) to Right to Know, choose "respond to request" at the bottom of the request page.
I hope the above information helps you, however if you run into any issues with the functionality of Right to Know or have any questions related to Right to Know please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our main contact email address is contact@righttoknow.org.au.
A copy of this email has been posted on the above request (and by-proxy, provided to the applicant).
=======
Hopefully the Department will provide the video via the website, but we will need to wait until next week to know for sure (unless someone there is working overtime!)
Ben
Right to Know Volunteer
Good morning,
Thank you for your email.
If you could please send me the Customer Service Centre reports, it would be greatly appreciated.
With respect to the CCTV footage, please note that Ben Fairless has sent you a separate email last week with respect to your request for a postal address; can you please liaise with him as I am unable to provide a physical address by email.
Thanks and regards,
Vera Lystich
Dear Ms Lystich
Further to the email from Mr Ben Fairless, dated 23 January 2015, the CCTV footage is only available on CD and has already been created in anticipation of posting out to you.
From the comment made by Mr Fairless on 23 January 2015 on the Right to Know request page (see here: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/d...), we understand that your team has a postal address that we can use for this purpose.
We would appreciate you providing this address to us so we can forward you a copy of the CD.
Kind regards
FOI team
FOI and Information Release Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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.
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your email.
I will ask Ben to forward the postal address so the CD can be sent out.
Just for your reference, Right to Know is a website that allows Freedom of Information requests to be submitted by any member of the public using their service - to clarify, I don't have any affiliation with the organisation behind the site, but I understand Ben is a volunteer with them.
Yours sincerely,
Vera Lystich
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
I've sent the below to the FOI Team:
==========
Hi FOI Team,
Regarding the below request, Vera Lystich (a Right to Know user) has asked me to get back in touch with the Department to provide a postal address for a CD.
Can you please send the CD to:
Vera Lystich
C/- OpenAustralia Foundation
PO Box 147
Katoomba NSW 2780
Please note, the contents of the CD will be attached to the request manually by Right to Know.
Also, I would like to point out that Right To Know does not make requests. We send requests on behalf of our users, who are real people making the requests. Information on how Right to Know works can be found at our help page for FOI Officers - https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi.... It would be appreciated if you didn’t refer to users as making requests “on behalf of" Right to Know.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, we are always happy to help.
Thanks,
Ben
--
Ben Fairless
Right to Know Volunteer
==========
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The Department replied with the below Response:
======
Dear Ms Lystich
Further to below, please find attached the requested Customer Service Centre Reports. The CCTV footage has been posted out to the PO Box address provided by Mr Fairless.
Kind regards
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Information Release Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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.
=====
As the response was via a secure medium, I accessed the 3rd party site and downloaded the document, which is now being uploaded.
Ben Fairless
Right to Know Volunteer
Good evening,
Thank you for your email, and for providing the requested documents.
I have not yet received the CD containing the CCTV footage; I would expect this is still in the post, although I will let you know if it is not received in a week or so.
Further to my original email, can you please also provide the following operational information under the Department's Information Publication Scheme.
As I understand this information is released outside the FOI Act, and provided to members of the public on request on a regular basis, I would hope this would be easy enough for you to do without being too onerous on your resources.
It would be appreciated if you could respond to this email address with attachments as opposed to using the 'SecureMail' system as I was unable to access this last time and had to have someone else assist me with using this.
'Blueprints'
277-01040000 - Call recording for Child Support calls - access and reporting
003-01090040 - National Emergency Call Centre Surge Capability (NECCSC)
001-10060020 - Investigating unemployment due to misconduct
001-10070070 - Assessing failure to attend or inappropriate behaviour at a job interview
106-07060050 - Employment Separation Certificate (SU1)
Centrelink eRef
111.11050 - Quality On Line (QOL) checking in the Smart Centre Call Channel network
107.11820 - Is a refund of repayments payable to a bankrupt customer?
101.00710 - Customer feedback and complaints received in Service Centres and Smart Centre Call
101.00730 - Customer feedback and the role of Customer Relations Units (CRU) and Zone Service Recovery Teams
101.04010 - Customers displaying inappropriate or aggressive behaviour
101.04680 - Escalated Customer Management
107.10670 - Raising of Social Security debts due to linking of same sex partner
Many thanks in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Vera Lystich
Dear Ms Lystich,
Thank you for your email.
The Australia Post tracking number indicates that the envelope was
delivered to Katoomba post office on Tuesday and is currently awaiting
collection.
Please see attached the following operational information:
· 277-01040000 Call recording for Child Support calls – access and
reporting
· 003-01090040 National Emergency Call Centre Surge Capability
· 001-10060020 Investigating unemployment due to misconduct
· 001-10070070 Assessing failure to attend or inappropriate
behaviour at a job interview
· 106-07060050 Employment Separation Certificate (SU1)
· 111.11050 Quality Check On Line (QOL) checking in the Smart
Centre Channel Network
· 101.00730 Customer feedback and the role of Customer Relations
Units (CRU) and Zone Service Recovery Teams
I note that the department is currently developing a new system that will
automate the publication of operational information directly to the
department’s website for direct download by the public. This means that
the department will transition from e-reference to the operational
blueprint. Unfortunately, a number of the e-reference guides that you have
requested no longer exist as they have been transitioned to operational
blueprint and are not available through the department’s Information
Publication Scheme.
If you have any queries, please email
[1][DHS request email].
Kind regards
FOI Officer
FOI Team
Freedom of Information & Information Release Branch | Legal Services
Division Department of Human Services
Good evening,
Thank you for your email, and for providing the requested documents.
I appreciate your prompt and informative assistance; thank you for going out of your way to respond to my request so quickly and also for tracking the CD with Australia Post.
Out of interest, do you know approximately when the Department's online operational information database will be launched?
I will follow up the collection of the CD on my end.
Yours sincerely,
Vera Lystich
Vera Lystich left an annotation ()
Hi Ben (I know you have 'subscribed' to responses to this page - thanks so much for your help!!)
I refer to the above email from the Department re the whereabouts of the CCTV footage.
Do you know when the PO Box will be cleared next?
Thanks
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
Hopefully it will be collected this week, as for uploading it it depends on the format the CD is in.
Cheers,
Ben
Right to Know Volunteer
Dear Ms Lystich,
Thanks for your email.
I have been informed that the new system is expected to be available by July 2015.
If you have any further queries, please email [email address].
Kind regards
FOI Officer
FOI Team
Freedom of Information & Information Release Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Matthew Landauer left an annotation ()
I uploaded the two small movie files which were sent to the OpenAustralia Foundation by the agency on a DVD. I've also uploaded the same two videos to youtube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8zl93W_...
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-UMmkZo...
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Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
Surely they can upload the video via email, or upload it to the RTK website (the department can contact Right To Know via contact@righttoknow.org.au for an upload link)