Newspaper story
Dear Department of Education,
Back-issue newspaper story in pressreader.com, Australian, June headline said "21m equity program had little effect. An equity program that received $21 million in federal government funding increased university applications across three years by a figure so small as ... Bridges to Higher Education is a joint equity program run by five NSW universities." (The Australian). I cannot read anymore but maybe you have a subscription so you can.
The funding was government funding. Did someone ask for this money for Bridges to Higher Education? Its quite a lot so I think many people want information about it.
I would like under FOI a copy of the request/application for this money from the universities' that got it. I don't want anyones' names, privacy detail's and that kind of thing. I only want to see what the universities' would DO with this size of money and HOW would they know it was any good. www.bulletpoint.com.au/heppp says it is a "Sydney Basin Consortium (led by University of Western Sydney)" that got it.
I request all fees be waived because it is in the public interest.
Yours faithfully,
Jenny Hare
Dear Ms Hare
We refer to your email below seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the following documents:
“Back-issue newspaper story in pressreader.com, Australian, June headline said "21m equity program had little effect. An equity program that received $21 million in federal government funding increased university applications across three years by a figure so small as ... Bridges to Higher Education is a joint equity program run by five NSW universities." (The Australian). ...
I would like under FOI a copy of the request/application for this money from the universities' that got it. I don't want anyones' names, privacy detail's and that kind of thing. I only want to see what the universities' would DO with this size of money and HOW would they know it was any good. www.bulletpoint.com.au/heppp says it is a "Sydney Basin Consortium (led by University of Western Sydney)" that got it.”
The Department of Education and Training 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: [email address]
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education and Training
Dear Ms Hare
We refer to your recent Freedom of Information request set out below.
Please find attached the department’s preliminary assessment of the
processing charge.
In making your application you have requested that “all fees be waived
because it is in the public interest”. We note that an agency must first
issue an applicant with a notice of charge under subsection 29(1) of the
FOI Act before the applicant may validly contend that the charge be waived
or reduced.
Now that we have issued the attached notice, you may contend that the
charge has been wrongly assessed, or should be reduced or not imposed.
Subsection 29(5) of the FOI Act provides that, in deciding whether to
reduce or not to impose a charge, the decision‑maker must take into
account any relevant reasons, including whether payment of the charge, or
part of it, would cause you financial hardship, and whether the giving of
access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the
interest of a substantial section of the public (please see further
details in the attached notice).
Kind regards
The FOI team
Department of Education and Training
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Dear Department of Education,
Back-issue newspaper story in pressreader.com, Australian, June headline
said "21m equity program had little effect. An equity program that
received $21 million in federal government funding increased university
applications across three years by a figure so small as ... Bridges to
Higher Education is a joint equity program run by five NSW universities."
(The Australian). I cannot read anymore but maybe you have a subscription
so you can.
The funding was government funding. Did someone ask for this money for
Bridges to Higher Education? Its quite a lot so I think many people want
information about it.
I would like under FOI a copy of the request/application for this money
from the universities' that got it. I don't want anyones' names, privacy
detail's and that kind of thing. I only want to see what the
universities' would DO with this size of money and HOW would they know it
was any good. [1]www.bulletpoint.com.au/heppp says it is a "Sydney Basin
Consortium (led by University of Western Sydney)" that got it.
I request all fees be waived because it is in the public interest.
Yours faithfully,
Jenny Hare
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #1302 email]
Is [3][Department of Education request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Department of Education? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[4]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[5]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
Dear Education - FOI,
So, I've got a problem with your email. By the way, thanks. Have you got an office in Perth? Can I pay cash there for the fee? Also if someone goes to the Head Office where you are can they pay cash for me?
Im not saying I should pay it. That is the other thing. I will say later about if I will pay the fee when I get someone to help me write to you why I shouldnt have to.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Hare
Dear Ms Hare
It is possible to pay the charge (or deposit) in cash. However, it would
be necessary for someone to bring the money to the department's national
office at 50 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra ACT, on your behalf.
Please let us know if you would like to proceed in this manner so that we
may provide you with further information.
Alternatively, you could pay by direct deposit or via BPAY. If you’d like
to pay by either of these methods, please contact us for further details.
Please feel free to contact Matthew Simpson on (02) 6240 9305 or Lyndal
Buik on (02) 6240 7335 if you would like to discuss.
Kind regards
The FOI team
Department of Education and Training
Dear Education - FOI,
So, Ive been thinking and also I talked to people. I don't think I should pay. Like I said first in the first email its' in the public interest.
I Googled your department and theirs nothing, like nothing at all about how such a big size of money got approval. Also nothing to say what it was really for exactly and how any one could know if the universities' idea was any good. Its easy to say it worked if its all over, even if it didn't. You can make anything look good at the end. I think people want to know from the start line what the plan is. Then they can see whether the universities that got all the money were honest on how they researched, not that Im saying they werent.
Like I said, theres not any information on Google, not even for one project like the smallest and you can see that the one Im asking about is the biggest. How can a department spend so big alot of money like that and not tell peple all about it. $22millions of dollars is the biggest size of money for any project (you can see that on Google) and it didn't work. So you should really tell people what the plan was to start. Thats the publics interest!!
Anyhow I know you want me to pay $138. I know the goverment wants to make people pay for FOI so they dont use it too much but its not really fair. Even if I have got a job thats' alot for me but the university can get $22million dollars. Is that OK when your not transparent!?
Thank you for your patients. Yours sincerely,
Jenny Hare
Dear Ms Hare
Thank you for your email below, which we will consider as a formal contention that the charge should be not imposed. We will consider your submissions, and in accordance with the FOI Act, will notify you of our decision in respect of the charge within 30 days.
In the interim, below we have provided a link to Evaluation of Bridges to Higher Education, which is the final report prepared by KPMG for the Bridges to Higher Education Management Committee in April 2015:
http://www.bridges.nsw.edu.au/__data/ass...
The report, which was referred to in the article that prompted your request, ‘summarises findings covering the period 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2014, provides an analysis of work to [that] date, including a full cost-benefit analysis of the Bridges initiative, and offers opportunities to further improve Bridges in light of the findings’. This report is freely available on the Bridges to Higher Education Website: http://www.bridges.nsw.edu.au.
If you haven’t already had an opportunity to consider this report, hopefully you find that it provides some of the information that is of interest of you.
Please let us know if having considered the report you decide that you no longer wish for us to continue processing your request. Otherwise, if we have not heard from you by the end of next week (Friday 11 December) we will continue to process you request in accordance with the FOI Act.
Kind regards
The FOI team
Department of Education and Training
Dear Education - FOI,
Yes thank you I do want to "contend" that the charge should not be imposed. Also thanks for the email on the report, it is very interesting. Sorry I didn't reply before, my internet died for about three days completely.
Another thing. I was thinking if I could make the request shorter.
I said I don't want anyone's names and that kind of thing but theres more. The request/application for the money also maybe had information of all the peoples' cv's and details of how the money would be spent. I don't need any of that information now because there was alot in the report you sent about what they did with the money they got. I would like to make the request just for what the universities' said they would do to know if what they did was any good. So please can you shorten my request to only anything in the application about appraisment/assessment/evaluating/evaluation of the project and how they planned to do that. I know the report is all about what they say the program did but that is later. I would like to know what they said at the beginning. I hope that is OK.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Hare
Dear Ms Hare
Thank you for your email. Taking into consideration your comments below,
we understand the revised scope of your FOI request to be as follows:
A copy of the request/application for Higher Education Participation and
Partnerships Program (HEPPP) funding
that was made by the consortium of universities that delivered the Bridges
to Higher Education initiative.
You are confining this request to ‘only anything in the application about
appraisement/assessment/evaluating/evaluation of the project and how they
planned to do that’.
You are expressly excluding:
• any names or other personal information; and
• ‘information of all the peoples' cv's and details of how the
money would be spent’.
The department will take this refined scope into consideration when
considering its charge decision. Please let us know if we have
misconstrued the scope of your request.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Australian Government Department of Education and Training
[1][email address]
Dear Ms Hare
Please find attached correspondence concerning the charge for processing
your FOI request.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education and Training
[1][email address]
From: Education - FOI
Sent: Wednesday, 9 December 2015 3:27 PM
To: [FOI #1302 email]
Subject: RE: Your Freedom of Information request [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Dear Ms Hare
Thank you for your email. Taking into consideration your comments below,
we understand the revised scope of your FOI request to be as follows:
A copy of the request/application for Higher Education Participation and
Partnerships Program (HEPPP) funding
that was made by the consortium of universities that delivered the Bridges
to Higher Education initiative.
You are confining this request to ‘only anything in the application about
appraisement/assessment/evaluating/evaluation of the project and how they
planned to do that’.
You are expressly excluding:
• any names or other personal information; and
• ‘information of all the peoples' cv's and details of how the
money would be spent’.
The department will take this refined scope into consideration when
considering its charge decision. Please let us know if we have
misconstrued the scope of your request.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Australian Government Department of Education and Training
[2][email address]
Dear Education - FOI,
I have sent the money. It's addressed to FOI Team (Mr Simpson). I hope it gets to you OK. Please let me know
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Hare
Dear Ms Hare
Thankyou. We can confirm that we have received payment of your charge.
In order for the department to provide you with your change, can you please email your bank account details to the FOI team at: [email address].
Please note that if you send your bank account details from your Right to Know email address, those details may be published on the Right to Know website. We therefore suggest that you use an alternative email address to send those details.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Australian Department of Education and Training [email address]
Dear Ms Hare
Please find the attached correspondence and document relating to your FOI
request.
As outlined in our email below, in order for the department to provide you
with your change, can you please email your bank account details to the
FOI team at: [1][email address]. Again, we suggest you may wish to
use an alternative email address to send those details.
Can you please provide us with these details by Friday, 5 February 2016.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact Matthew Simpson on
02 6240 9305.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education and Training
[2][email address]
Dear Education - FOI,
Thanks alot for the info. It's nice of you to ask but don't worry about the change. I think it would cost way too much hassle to pay it back so please just ignore it. I should have wrote sooner. Sorry.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Hare