Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) inbox of the
Australian Department of Social Services (the department). Your email,
should it be a request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982, will be actioned by the DSS FOI Team.

If your email is for any other type of enquiry, you should direct it to
[1][email address]. It will not be actioned from this inbox.

GENERAL INFORMATION

If you are seeking general information about FOI, you may find the
following websites useful:

[2]http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...

[3]http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...

PROCESS

An FOI Officer has received your email and it will be actioned
accordingly. In the case of a valid FOI request, you can expect us to
provide you with an acknowledgment that the request has been received
within 14 days. We may contact you earlier if we need to discuss
particular aspects of your request.

REQUESTS OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS

Please note that if this message has been received outside our business
hours of 9am to 5pm (Eastern Standard Time), Monday to Friday or on
a public holiday, your request will be actioned on the next business day.

                CHRISTMAS SHUTDOWN PERIOD

The department will be closed from midday 24 December 2019 to 2 January
2020. Please note this mailbox will not be monitored during this time.

The FOI team will contact all applicants making FOI requests in December
2019 to request a 30-day extension in order to complete their request. The
extension timeframe is negotiable pending discussion with the applicant.

 

Kind regards

DSS FOI Team
Email: [4][Department of Social Services request email]

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dss.gov.au/contact/freedom-of...
3. http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
4. mailto:[Department of Social Services request email]

Dear Julie,

 

Thank you for your query. The Department has investigated your enquiry.
Officers within the Policy Analysis & Reporting  Branch, and Participation
& Supplementary Payments Branches have advised that the information you
are requesting is available publically.

 

A breakdown of Newstart Allowance recipients classified as ‘Incapacitated’
is available from a range of publically available papers and reports:

 

·         The ‘Statistical Paper Series: Statistical Overview’ series of
papers, initially published by the then Australian Government Department
of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, commenced in June
2002, with papers up to 2013. A link to the Statistical Overview series is
below.

·         A Statistical Overview for June 2001 was published as an
occasional paper, by the then Australian Government Department of Families
and Community Services A copy of this paper is attached, and a link to
this paper is below.

·         These papers was not prepared for earlier periods, however
equivalent data was published by the then Australian Government Department
of Families and Community Services in 2001, in the ‘Income support and
related statistics: a 10-year compendium, 1989–1999’ paper. This paper
contains a time series that reports the number of Newstart Allowance
recipients classified as ‘Incapacitated’ from 1992 to 1999. A copy of this
paper is attached, and a link to this is below.

 

·        
[1]https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-departm...

·        
[2]https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-departm...

·        
[3]https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-departm...

 

 

Equivalent data is not available for 2000, however similar data is
available from the Labour Market and Related Payments publication for June
back to 1996. This data differs from the Statistical Overview in that it
reports the number of Newstart Allowance recipients collected each week
for the reference month and averaged over that month, rather than
reporting recipient populations as at the end of the month.

 

Attached are copies of the Labour Market and Related Payments publication
for June, 1996 to 2001. The number of Newstart Allowance recipients
classified as ‘Incapacitated’ is reported in table 2 of the publication.
Please refer to the explanatory notes, glossary and appendix for further
information regarding the publication.

 

We trust this information answers your query and would appreciate your
advice if you would like to continue with the formal FOI request. If we do
not hear from you by 9 January 2020 this request will be closed.

 

Regards

Case Officer DSS

 

Strategic Coordination Section

Government and Executive Services Branch

Department of Social Services

 

DSS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia,
and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and
present.            

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