FULL COSTS currently incurred by the Australian tax payer (per annum) in relation to ex-Federal Politicians
Dear Department of Finance,
I am writing to you today in the hope that we may receive the following information under the Freedom of Information act.
We would like to know how much former Federal Politicians cost the Tax Payer per annum (say yearly from 2012-2015). This figure should include ALL payments made to ALL former Federal Politicians by or on behalf of the Government (Tax Payer) It should include ALL sources of funds by which the Government may (or could) use in making any such payments.
We do not seek person specifics, just the collective total. Could you provide the total number of recipients each year.
We would like to thank you in advance for your time and honesty.
Yours faithfully,
Dion Stella
Thank you for your email to the Freedom of Information section of the
Department of Finance (Finance). We have received your email and will
endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible.
You may view Finance’s Freedom of Information procedures and processes on
[1]http://www.finance.gov.au/foi/foi.html
Further information relating to Freedom of Information can be found on the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s [2]website.
[3]Signature blocks-blue bar.jpg
Freedom of Information
Legal Services Branch
Department of Finance
References
Visible links
1. http://www.finance.gov.au/foi/foi.html
2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Dion,
Thank you for your email to the Department of Finance (Finance) requesting
access to the following:
We would like to know how much former Federal Politicians cost the Tax
Payer per annum (say yearly from 2012-2015). This figure should include
ALL payments made to ALL former Federal Politicians by or on behalf of the
Government (Tax Payer) It should include ALL sources of funds by which
the Government may (or could) use in making any such payments.
We do not seek person specifics, just the collective total. Could you
provide the total number of recipients each year.
Valid FOI request
Although you have emailed Finance’s FOI Team, your email does not fulfil
the requirements of a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(FOI Act). Specifically, it relates to a question rather than seeking
access to document/s, and it does not provide such information that would
be reasonably necessary for a responsible officer of the agency to
identify any relevant documents.
As such, it is not considered to be a valid request under the FOI Act.
Publicly available information
We note that Finance publishes a large amount of material (link below)
detailing expenditure of parliamentarians’ entitlements.
[1]http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/p...
Way forward
If you wish to submit a valid FOI request, please identify the specific
documents that you are seeking access to.
Timeframe
The statutory period for processing your request commences from the day
after Finance receives a valid FOI request. You will be advised of the
timeframe if you decide to submit a valid request.
Please contact the FOI Team on the below contact details if you wish to
discuss your request.
Regards,
[2]Department of Finance and Deregulation
FOI Officer
Legal Services Branch
Corporate Services Division
Department of Finance
T: 02 6215 1783 E: [email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
References
Visible links
1. http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/p...
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
This request is like the request from Mr John Guppy on Right to Know at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/r... .
On that request, many people imply that the Treasury Department and the Department of Finance are hiding something. Also in this request there is the interesting final sentence "We thank you for ..." It is very unfortunate that no person who complains on the other page has made time to document the problem and solve it. A piece of problem is that none of the requests is a request for documents. Yes, you can say, "It is obvious the documents that we want ... We want ALL the relevant documents to show the full costs mv." But it is not so easy for the office of the agency. If I ask a person, what is the full cost to society of you living here, how do I count it. Should I know the subsidy for the health treatment that is received for the person? There is also the real cost of the damage the person makes to the road when he drives and the cost of any pension. Also, if a person has a deduction to the taxation, is that also a cost. The answer is maybe "It depends on how exactly you want to count costs".
Why do I say this? It is because I think that if any applicant eventually asks the correct questions then they will get a sensible response to each question but it is the responsibility of the applicants to make the correct questions. For example, a person could ask for a document that shows the total annual payment for the government of travel for ex-politititions in 2014-15 financial year (yes, we must be specific about time we want to know) ... There is probably this document in existence. Also a person could make a request to the department that is paying the superannuation to politicians to give access to a document to show the total superannuation money paid in 2014-15. Also maybe there is a document that shows the many pieces of legislation that give an entitlement (superannuation, travel mv) for an ex-politician. Then this document can be a foundation for the other requests.
I also would be very interested in the answers but until a person makes the correct applications to all the proper agencies, the question will have no answer.