DVA Royal Commission Branch costs
Verity Pane made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Veterans' Affairs
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
I desire copy of a document listing all entries allocated to the below Cost Centres, for the period 1 July 2020 to 11 March 2022:
9A0200
9A0201
9A0301
9A0401
9A0102
9A0101
9A0001
2A0401
8B0101
2D0601
Such a document can be produced using computers already available to DVA, without custom software being required to be developed.
The names of private individuals acting in a personal capacity are irrelevant under s 22.
Yours faithfully,
Verity Pane
Dear Ms Pane,
I refer to your request, received by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
(the department) on 11 March 2022, for access under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the following:
“I desire copy of a document
listing all entries allocated to the below Cost Centres, for the period 1
July 2020 to 11 March 2022:
9A0200
9A0201
9A0301
9A0401
9A0102
9A0101
9A0001
2A0401
8B0101
2D0601
Your request was received by the department on 11 March 2022 and the 30
day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day
after that date. The period of 30 days may be extended if we need to
consult third parties or for other reasons permitted under the FOI Act. We
will advise you if this happens.
The department 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 that you provide us with an address that we can send
notices to. You have advised your address is
Email: [1][FOI #8591 email]. Unless you tell us
otherwise, we will send all notices and correspondence to this address.
Disclosure log
Information released under the FOI Act may be published on a disclosure
log on our website, subject to certain exceptions. These exceptions
include where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.
Exclusion of employee details
To the extent the department has documents in its possession that fall
within the scope of your request, we will treat the names, signatures,
position titles and direct contact details of Commonwealth employees as
irrelevant in accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, unless you tell
us otherwise by 25 March 2022.
Further assistance
If you have any questions, please contact us using the following details:
Post: Information Access Unit
Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch
GPO Box 9998 BRISBANE QLD 4001
Email: [2][DVA request email]
Yours sincerely
Mythili (Position No. 62244037)
Registration Officer
Information Access Unit
Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch
[3]cid:image001.png@01D8347F.2C94A660
18 March 2022
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #8591 email]
2. mailto:[DVA request email]
Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
To the extent the department has documents in its possession that fall within the scope of this FOI request, you will treat the names and position titles of Commonwealth employees as in scope of this request made under the FOI Act. No agreement to exclude is given.
Verity Pane
Dear Ms Pane,
I am emailing in relation to your FOI request made to the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (the department), requesting the following:
I desire copy of a document listing all entries allocated to the below
Cost Centres, for the period 1 July 2020 to 11 March 2022:
9A0200
9A0201
9A0301
9A0401
9A0102
9A0101
9A0001
2A0401
8B0101
2D0601
The Information Access Unit is waiting for a response from a business
unit, who is assisting us in responding to your request. However, they
have estimated that they need some further time to comply.
As such, the department requests your consent pursuant to section 15AA of
the FOI Act for a 3-day extension to the FOI request. This would make the
due date 14 April 2022.
If you could respond at your earliest convenience as to whether you
consent to this extension or not, that would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Joanna (Position Number 62329542)
Information Access Officer
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
e [1][email address]
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Applicant and FOI Contact Officer
Please see attached decision regarding the Department of Veterans'
Affairs’ application for an extension of time to process FOI request LEX
48565.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Summen Sarwar | Assistant Review and
Investigation Advisor
Investigations and Compliance
Freedom of Information Regulatory Group
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9815 |
[3][email address]
[4][IMG] | [5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7]Subscribe to Information
Matters
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Dear Summen Sarwar,
Having approved an extension of time greater than 30 days, without consulting the applicant affected by such an extension for their views beforehand, inconsistent with the OAIC guidelines on s 15AB extensions of time on what are very vague, broad and unsubstantiated claims it raises a valid question as to the legitimacy of your exercise of power.
I ask that you provide copy of the s 15AB application on which you base your decision, to at least provide some transparency and accountability for your highly unusual and deeply questionable decision.
Yours sincerely,
Verity Pane
Dear Applicant
Thank you for your email below and I apologise for the delay in
responding.
Please find attached a copy of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
application form as requested.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Summen Sarwar | Assistant Review and
Investigation Advisor
Investigations and Compliance
Freedom of Information Regulatory Group
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9815 |
[3][email address]
[4][IMG] | [5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7]Subscribe to Information
Matters
-----Original Message-----
From: Verity Pane <[FOI #8591 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 13 April 2022 9:49 AM
To: Summen Sarwar <[email address]>
Subject: Re: RQ22/01277 - Extension of time under s 15AB - Decision
[SEC=OFFICIAL]
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not
click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know
the content is safe.
Dear Summen Sarwar,
Having approved an extension of time greater than 30 days, without
consulting the applicant affected by such an extension for their views
beforehand, inconsistent with the OAIC guidelines on s 15AB extensions of
time on what are very vague, broad and unsubstantiated claims it raises a
valid question as to the legitimacy of your exercise of power.
I ask that you provide copy of the s 15AB application on which you base
your decision, to at least provide some transparency and accountability
for your highly unusual and deeply questionable decision.
Yours sincerely,
Verity Pane
-----Original Message-----
Dear Applicant and FOI Contact Officer
Please see attached decision regarding the Department of Veterans'
Affairs’ application for an extension of time to process FOI request LEX
48565.
Kind regards
[1][IMG] Summen Sarwar | Assistant Review and
Investigation Advisor
Investigations and Compliance
Freedom of Information Regulatory Group
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 9284 9815 |
[3][email address]
[4][IMG] | [5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7]Subscribe to Information
Matters
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Verity Pane left an annotation ()
DVA took 17 days just to begin considering collecting the documents in scope.
That is the cause of the delay, not any ground recognised by s 15AB.
The OAIC enables DVA to abuse repeatedly s 15AB for improper purposes.
Dear Verity Pane,
Please find attached the Statement of Reasons in response to your Freedom
of Information request, made to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Kind regards,
Joanna (Position Number 62329542)
Information Access Officer
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
e [1][email address]
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Julie left an annotation ()
Another Veterans Affairs FOI that they repeated sought and got extensions of time on, only to issue a refusal they had intended from the beginning to make.
Such abuse of the FOI Act should not occur, but Veterans is a repeat offender Verity. I'd make a point of bringing it up to the OAIC delegate who approved the extension of time so they can stop pretending ignorance of this well established pattern of unethical behaviour by Veterans Affairs.
Attn Department of Veterans' Affairs,
Pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, I am writing for an internal review of Department of Veterans' Affairs's FOI access refusal decision LEX 48565 of 11 May 2022.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/d...
Verity Pane
Dear Verity
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (the department) has received your
request for internal review of the Department’s decision LEX 48565 under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). Your internal review
request reads as follows:
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, I am writing for an internal review of
Department of Veterans' Affairs's FOI access refusal decision LEX 48565 of
11 May 2022.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/d....
Your request for internal review was received by the department on 9 June
2022 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date.
Where possible, your request for internal review will be handled by an FOI
officer authorised decision-maker who was not involved in the original
decision.
Your address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address that we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[1][FOI #8591 email] . Unless you tell us
otherwise, we will send all notices and correspondence to this address.
Disclosure log
Information released under the FOI Act may be published on a disclosure
log on our website, subject to certain exceptions. These exceptions
include where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.
Further assistance
If you have any questions about your request, please email
[2][DVA request email]
Yours sincerely
Arthur
Position Number 62210944
Information Access Officer
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
[3][DVA request email]
Date 15 June 2022
References
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1. mailto:[FOI #8591 email]
2. mailto:[DVA request email]
3. mailto:[DVA request email]
Dear Ms Pane,
Please find attached a copy of the FOI Internal Review Decision.
Regards
Brett
Assistant Director
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
“DVA is committed to supporting veterans and their families. We all
deserve to be treated with courtesy and respect. We ask that you treat us
the same way”.
DVA has arrangements in place for staff to work at home as much as
possible to contribute to the Nation’s agenda to minimise social
interaction and support social distancing. To assist us it would be
appreciated if you could communicate with me via email using this address
[email address]
Dear Ms Pane,
I refer to previous Information Access requests you made to the Department
of Veterans’ Affairs (Department) – LEX 48565 and LEX 50192IR (internal
review of LEX 48565).
On 1 May 2023, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(OAIC) sent the Department a notice under section 54Z of the FOI Act,
advising that you sought their review of the decisions (OAIC reference
number: MR22/01169).
In response to the OAIC review, the Department has decided to make a
substituted decision under section 55G of the FOI Act.
Please find the Department’s decision attached.
Kind regards
Ramona| Assistant Director
Position Number 62336362
Information Access Unit
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations Branch
Ministerial, Communication & Engagement Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
[1][DVA request email]
[2]www.dva.gov.au
[3]cid:image002.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590[4]cid:image003.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590[5]cid:image004.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590[6]cid:image005.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590
[7]cid:image009.jpg@01D8EDC8.743A0070
[8]cid:image010.jpg@01D8EDC8.743A0070
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Verity Pane left an annotation ()
Another retrospective s 15AB extension approved by the OAIC, in excess of 30 days, made without notice or consultation by either the Department or the OAIC until after it was done.
Disgraceful.