OAIC MR18/00724 & MR18/00692 & s 70 Referral - Australian Digital Health Agency
Verity Pane made this Freedom of Information request to Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
Under FOI I request copy of all documents (the full meaning of the defined term ‘documents’, including any text messages) held by the OAIC dealing with OAIC MR18/00724 & MR18/00692 and the s 70 referral made on 26 September 2018 to the OAIC, including s 17 compilation of any RESOLVE entries.
Yours faithfully,
Verity Pane
Our reference: FOIREQ18/00179
Dear Ms Pane
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 2 November 2018.
Scope of your request
In your email you seek access to the following:
Under FOI I request copy of all documents (the full meaning of the defined
term ‘documents’, including any text messages) held by the OAIC dealing
with OAIC MR18/00724 & MR18/00692 and the s 70 referral made on 26
September 2018 to the OAIC, including s 17 compilation of any RESOLVE
entries
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires this office to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
As we received your request on 2 November 2018, we must process your
request by Monday, 3 December 2018.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss this matter please contact me on my contact
details set out below.
Regards
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D4453F.0FED8EB0 Megan McKenna | FOI Officer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 8231 4292 | [3][email address]
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Dear Ms Pane
I refer to your request for access to documents, made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the FOI Act) and received by the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on 2 November 2018.
You have sought access to:
Under FOI I request copy of all documents (the full meaning of the defined
term ‘documents’, including any text messages) held by the OAIC dealing
with OAIC MR18/00724 & MR18/00692 and the s 70 referral made on 26
September 2018 to the OAIC, including s 17 compilation of any RESOLVE
entries.
Could you please confirm by 22 November 2018 whether you are seeking to
include in scope, correspondence you have received and sent and your
contact details.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D4453F.0FED8EB0 Megan McKenna | FOI Officer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 8231 4292 | [3][email address]
[8]Subscribe
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newsletter
References
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2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.facebook.com/OAICgov
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8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...
Dear Megan McKenna,
I *exclude* from scope any emails sent by me, unless they are part of a chain of the OAIC’s communications. My email address is to be redacted.
Yours sincerely,
Verity Pane
Dear Ms Pane
Please find attached the decision and documents in relation to your FOI
request, FOIREQ18/00179.
Regards
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D4453F.0FED8EB0 Megan McKenna | FOI Officer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 | [2]oaic.gov.au
+61 2 8231 4292 | [3][email address]
[8]Subscribe
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newsletter
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. mailto:[email address]
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Dear Megan McKenna,
Thank you Megan, although it is disappointing to note that the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) was not directly relevant to the OAIC’s questions in its responses, including refusing to identify the alleged third party until doing so quite late in the piece (and interestingly claimed the ADHA claimed it was a Minister’s office DLO to me, but to the OAIC claimed it was Accenture, but also stated to the OAIC they never actually had any third party consultation with Accenture after all!).
It was also disappointing that the OAIC’s responses to the ADHA’s multiple failures to respond to deadlines the ADHA set itself, was to give the ADHA additional time, each time, and even on the third extended failure, is only looking to provide additional time, just with a more formal letter.
It’s not surprising that if agencies are aware that, in ignoring deadlines and multiple extensions granted by the OAIC, the worse that will happen is the OAIC will just give them an additional several weeks extension, that they will abuse that OAIC practice (and also that if the agency doesn’t answer the OAIC’s questions, the OAIC won’t use its coercive powers regardless, so it has no incentive to give answers to the OAIC’s questions).
It does make a mockery of the s 15(5)(a) and s 15(5)(b) deadlines, if these administrative extensions (not part of the Act) can just be given ad nauseam. If a decision is not provided shortly, I am sure claims of Christmas leave will ensure a decision notice will not be forthcoming from the ADHA until Feb 2019 at the earliest (but more likely we’ll into 2019).
It does seem that while most agencies will handle FOIs in line with the Act, a handful are (thanks to the Act not being enforced) openly thumbing their nose at it, confident the OAIC will do nothing to pull them up.
Sincerely,
Verity Pane