Official diary/calendar for Assistant Secretary Community Policy & Research
Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,
I request for the purposes of the FOI Act copy of the Assistant Secretary Community Policy & Research’s official diary and/or calendar entries for 16 October 2023 and 5 February 2024, that can be produced using computers ordinarily available to the Department.
I also request copy of any email or Teams entry of the Assistant Secretary Community Policy & Research made between 1 October 2023 and 10 February 2024 that has “DDVA HREC” or “HREC” in it.
The names of any individual who is not a SES employee of the Department is irrelevant as are signatures, emails, phone numbers and desk locations.
Where a document produced contains information which is not official information but personal private activity then that part is irrelevant and may be removed.
As there has been significant media reporting on this matter please ensure that the FOI decision and documents released are accessible for all, consistent with the purpose and object of Right to Know.
Yours faithfully,
Jenny
Dear Jenny,
The Department of Veterans' Affairs (the department) has received your
request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act). I note you have requested access to the following:
'...I request for the purposes of the FOI Act copy of the Assistant
Secretary Community Policy & Research's official diary and/or calendar
entries for 16 October 2023 and 5 February 2024, that can be produced
using computers ordinarily available to the Department.
I also request copy of any email or Teams entry of the Assistant Secretary
Community Policy & Research made between 1 October 2023 and 10 February
2024 that has "DDVA HREC" or "HREC" in it.
The names of any individual who is not a SES employee of the Department is
irrelevant as are signatures, emails, phone numbers and desk locations.
Where a document produced contains information which is not official
information but personal private activity then that part is irrelevant and
may be removed.
As there has been significant media reporting on this matter please ensure
that the FOI decision and documents released are accessible for all,
consistent with the purpose and object of Right to Know...'
Your request was received by the department on 19 February 2024 and the
ordinary 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date.
If we are in a position to make a decision on your request earlier than
this date, we will endeavour to do so.
The statutory period may also 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.
Charges
If the Department considers that a charge will apply to your request, you
will be notified within 14 days of an estimate of the charges that will
apply to your request for non-personal information before we process any
requested documents or impose a final charge.
Your address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address that we can send
notices to. You have advised your contact address is
[1][FOI #11144 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
Kevin| Information Access Officer
Position 62373493
Information Access Unit
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations Branch
Ministerial, Communication & Engagement Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)
[3][DVA request email]
[4]www.dva.gov.au
[5]cid:image008.jpg@01D8EA24.8F7FA8A0
[6]cid:image009.jpg@01D8EA24.8F7FA8A0
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #11144 email]
2. mailto:[DVA request email]
3. mailto:[DVA request email]
4. http://www.dva.gov.au/
Dear Jenny,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request, received by the
Department of Veterans’ Affairs (the Department) on 19 February 2024. The
scope of your request is a follows:
‘...I request for the purposes of the FOI Act copy of the Assistant
Secretary Community Policy & Research’s official diary and/or calendar
entries for 16 October 2023 and 5 February 2024, that can be produced
using computers ordinarily available to the Department.
I also request copy of any email or Teams entry of the Assistant Secretary
Community Policy & Research made between 1 October 2023 and 10 February
2024 that has “DDVA HREC” or “HREC” in it.
The names of any individual who is not a SES employee of the Department is
irrelevant as are signatures, emails, phone numbers and desk locations.
Where a document produced contains information which is not official
information but personal private activity then that part is irrelevant and
may be removed.
As there has been significant media reporting on this matter please ensure
that the FOI decision and documents released are accessible for all,
consistent with the purpose and object of Right to Know...’
The purpose of this correspondence is to notify you that a practical
refusal reason exists, with regards to your request, on that grounds that
processing your request is likely to result in a substantial and
unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources from its other
operations (section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act).
As explained in the attached document, please consider revising your
request to make it more manageable, for example, by providing narrowing
the scope of the second part of your request.
Please provide your response via return email by 19 March 2024 (14 days
from the date of this notification) in order for us to continue processing
your request.
Please be aware that if you decline to refine the scope of your request,
your request may result in a practical refusal decision.
Please get in touch if you have any questions regarding this process.
Kind regards,
Cassandra | A/g Assistant Director
Information Access Unit
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations Branch
Ministerial, Communication & Engagement Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)
E: [1][DVA request email]
W: [2]dva.gov.au
[3]cid:image007.jpg@01D97E71.443616E0
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[DVA request email]
2. https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview...
Dear A/AD Cassandra,
You gave notice of a request consultation today claiming that 78 documents identified in scope, of less than 200 pages, would if processed create an unreasonable burden for the Department.
Reviewing past determinations of the Information Commissioner as to what number of pages/documents would be a un unreasonable burden to process for an agency indicates that 78 documents of 200 pages in total is well below that threshold.
It is also well below the number of pages/documents the Department has previously released under a single FOI decision.
LEX 55101 for example released over 600 pages of in a bundle of documents (in excess of 78) that contained numerous information relating to third party business and personal details, and the Department did not make a practical refusal or request consultation in respect of that FOI or others like it.
So it does not appear that your request consultation is genuine. It seems its purpose is only to unlawfully interfere with access otherwise required to be provided under the FOI Act.
As the request consultation was issued today, and its extension of time provisions do not commence until tomorrow, I give response that the FOI is not withdrawn or varied as the Department has not met its onus to demonstrate reasonably that processing of this FOI would be unreasonable. The documents identified by the Department (200 pages compromising 78 documents) is well below other FOIs the Department processed (in excess of 600 pages) without any such practical refusal claim being made for those FOIs.
As I have responded to you today telling you the request is not withdrawn, the request consultation has ceased today as outlined by section 24AB(8) and no extension of time applies to this FOI.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny
Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
My FOI of 19 February 2024, which the Department acknowledged on 20 February 2024, was required by section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act to have received a decision today as the request consultation concluded the same day notice was given.
Yet again the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has forced another FOI to received a deemed refusal response, as a way of unlawfully preventing access to official documents. I still have not received a decision to my FOI of 17 November 2023, despite your Assistant Director Joshua saying on 19 January that a decision was imminent. This is the fourth deemed refusal response in as many weeks.
It is no surprise there is a Royal Commission investigating DVA, with such unethical inappropriate behaviour of the Department that it has displayed here.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny
Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
Is there a reason you have still not responded to the notice of your failure to provide a decision, even though weeks have passed?
Is this just rudeness on your part, or something more sinister?
These multiple failures by DVA to give decisions in the times specified by the FOI Act is a deliberate and intentional strategy it now is demonstrated. Is flouting your statutory obligations just how DVA operates? The Royal Commission was long overdue it seems.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny
Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
Is there a reason you have still not responded to the notice of your failure to provide a decision, even though months have passed?
Is this just rudeness on your part, or something more sinister?
These multiple failures by DVA to give decisions in the times specified by the FOI Act is a deliberate and intentional strategy it now is demonstrated. Is flouting your statutory obligations just how DVA operates? The Royal Commission was long overdue it seems.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny
Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
I request copy of the record of administration of this FOI you registered as LEX 65295, which I can see from other FOIs here you can produce from LEX, to see why such an unreasonable and excessive delay occurred to not give access.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny
Good afternoon Jenny,
Thank you for your emails regarding your FOI request with the Department.
I am able to provide you with an update regarding your case.
We have reconsidered whether a practical refusal reason exists on the
grounds of the request being too voluminous. This was originally
considered because the business area responsible for this case has a small
number of staff and the sourcing and reviewing of documents would have
posed a significant burden to their everyday processes.
We have proceeded to identify a number of documents which are potentially
within scope of your request and are undertaking our initial review. This
is taking longer than anticipated due to staffing pressures within the
Department.
I thank you for your patience while we undertake this process and hope to
be able to provide you with a decision on this matter shortly.
Kind regards,
Cassandra | A/g Assistant Director
Position Number: 62258141
Information Access Unit
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations Branch
Ministerial, Communication & Engagement Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
[1]cid:image008.jpg@01D9F770.FFEAB530
[2]cid:image013.png@01DA8F1A.881A0820[3]cid:image001.png@01DA10AE.79E29FA0 [4]Linkedin
Icon Svg Download : Linkedin Logo Vector at GetDrawings | Free
...[5]Youtube, Logo Youtube, Logo Youtube PNG, Logo Youtube Vektor, Logo
...
P: 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)
E: [6][DVA request email]
W: [7]www.dva.gov.au
[8]cid:image007.jpg@01D97E71.443616E0
Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
You have issued the same type of response previously to FOIs that still months later have no decision - the worst being one FOI from November last yeae.
These type of meaningless responses that give no date as to when these long overdue FOI decisions will be made are just deceptive and unethical.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny
Dear Jenny,
The Department of Veterans' Affairs (the Department) has received your
request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act). I note you have requested access to the following:
'...I request copy of the record of administration of this FOI you
registered as LEX 65295, which I can see from other FOIs here you can
produce from LEX, to see why such an unreasonable and excessive delay
occurred to not give access...'
Your request was received by the Department on 23 April 2024 and the
ordinary 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date.
Administrative access
The Department considers that your request is more appropriately processed
under administrative access arrangements. Where requests are made under
the FOI Act, the Department is required to consider whether any exemptions
apply to the material, preventing its release. The Department must also
prepare a formal statement of reasons for the decision.
As your request relates to your own personal information, with your
agreement, the above requirements will not apply. If you agree to the
administrative access arrangements, please reply to this email by 6 May
2024 acknowledging your agreement for the Department to process your
request administratively and withdrawing your request under the FOI Act.
The Department endeavours to make decisions on administrative access
requests within 30 days, however please note the Department is currently
experiencing a high volume of requests and your request may exceed 30
days.
Charges
If the Department considers that a charge will apply to your request, you
will be notified within 14 days of an estimate of the charges that will
apply to your request for non-personal information before we process any
requested documents or impose a final charge.
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.
Your address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address that we can send
notices to. You have advised your contact address is
[1][FOI #11144 email] . Unless you tell us
otherwise, we will send all notices and correspondence to this address.
Further assistance
If you have any questions about your request, please email
[2][DVA request email]
We look forward to receiving your response to our request for your
agreement to process your request under administrative access
arrangements.
Yours sincerely
Kevin| Information Access Officer
Position 62373493
Information Access Unit
Client and Information Access Branch
Ministerial, Communication & Engagement Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)
[3][DVA request email]
[4]www.dva.gov.au
[5]cid:image008.jpg@01D8EA24.8F7FA8A0
[6]cid:image009.jpg@01D8EA24.8F7FA8A0
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #11144 email]
2. mailto:[DVA request email]
3. mailto:[DVA request email]
4. http://www.dva.gov.au/
Dear Jenny,
Thank you for your request for information under the FOI Act 1982,
received by the Department on 23 April 2024.
Please find attached a 24AB Consultation Notice.
Zoey| Senior Information Access Officer
Position Number: 62214764
Information Access Unit
Client and Information Access Branch
Ministerial, Communication & Engagement Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
P: 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)
E: [1][DVA request email]
W: [2]www.dva.gov.au
[3]cid:image001.png@01DAA15D.34C1D680[4]cid:image001.png@01DA10AE.79E29FA0[5]Linkedin
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...[6]Youtube, Logo Youtube, Logo Youtube PNG, Logo Youtube Vektor, Logo
...
[7]Title: Flags - Description: 3 Australian flags in a row (from left to
right): the Australian National flag, the Australian Aboriginal flag and
the Torres Strait Islander flag.
[8]cid:image007.jpg@01D97E71.443616E0
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[DVA request email]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/
3. https://www.facebook.com/DVAAus
4. https://twitter.com/DVAAus
5. https://au.linkedin.com/company/australi...
6. https://www.youtube.com/@DVATVAus/featured
Dear Zoey of INFORMATION.ACCESS,
Section 24 of the FOI Act requires an agency to undertake a requestion consultation
process if they are satisfied, when dealing with a request, that a practical refusal reason
exists. This means that it was appropriate to commence a request consultation process only
if a practical refusal reason existed in relation to the request.
Section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in
relation to a request if the request does not satisfy the requirement in section 15(2)(b) of the
FOI Act to include such information as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible
officer of the agency to identify the documents requested.
The Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section
93A of the FOI Act (the Guidelines) provide the following guidance to agencies at
paragraphs 3.109 and 3.110 when dealing with requests that are considered unclear:
A formal requirement of making an FOI request is that the request must provide such
information as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency
or the minister to identify the document that is requested (s 15(2)(b)). This differs
from other formal requirements, in that a failure to comply with this requirement is
classified by the Act as a ‘practical refusal reason’ for which a request consultation
process is required.
An agency should not wait until the practical refusal stage to help an applicant to
clarify their request. The following considerations should also be borne in mind
before a request consultation process is commenced:
• A request can be described quite broadly and must be read fairly by an agency or
minister, being mindful not to take a narrow or pedantic approach to its
construction.
• An applicant may not know exactly what documents exist and may describe a
class of documents, for example: all documents relating to a particular person or
subject matter; or all documents of a specified class that contain information of a
particular kind; or all documents held in a particular place relating to a subject
or person. Where the applicant has requested a class of documents, it may be
useful for the agency to explain to the applicant the information that is contained
in those documents, as this may assist the applicant to narrow the scope of his or
her request to a specific set of documents, resulting in less time spent on
processing irrelevant material.
• Although a request under the FOI Act must be for ‘documents’, rather than for
‘information’, a request may be phrased by reference to the information that a
document contains. This may in fact be an effective and concise way for an FOI
applicant to identify documents.
• A request does not need to quote a file or folio number.
Paragraph 3.128 of the Guidelines also provides:
Before commencing a formal request consultation process, agencies and ministers’
offices are encouraged to discuss the request with the applicant. This is often a more
efficient way of obtaining further information from the applicant and helping them
to refine a request that is too large or vague. However, if the applicant cannot be
contacted promptly, or the discussion does not elicit information that allows
relevant documents to be identified, the request consultation process should be
commenced.
FINDINGS
A request consultation process should not have been undertaken, as the Department
could not have been reasonably satisfied that a practical refusal reason existed in
relation to the request. Although the applicant’s request included the phrase “record of administration”, it appeared within the phrase “the record of administration of this FOI … which I can see from other FOIs here you can produce from LEX”, which was not vague and the documents the applicant was seeking were clear.
As stated in paragraph 3.110 of the Guidelines, a request can be described
broadly and for a class of documents, in this case for documents that can produced using LEX regarding how this FOI was administered.
Examples of such documents are, as the FOI request stated, been previously released on Right to Know by the Department such as in LEX 50625 which in the first 15 pages of the bundle released shows the LEX report that can be produced under s 17 to provide a record of the administration of a FOI made to the Department.
The FOI therefore did provide sufficient information to enable the Department to locate the documents sought, contrary to the Department’s claim.
Section 24AB(6) states that I must elect to either withdraw, vary or indicate I do not wish to vary my FOI. Section 24AB(8) states that once I do any of those three options, the request consultation period ends and no further extension of time applies.
I give response that I do not wish to vary my FOI (nor do I wish to bundle separately made FOIs) as the scope of the FOI does satisfy s 15(2)(b) in that it identified the documents in scope where those documents that can be produced in LEX for that FOI that records how the Department processed that FOI and referred you to the examples available on Right to Know of such LEX reports. As such, the FOI scope was within s 15(2)(b) and the Information Commissioner Guidelines.
As the practical refusal consultation notice was issued today, and the practical refusal consultation extension of time period only commences the day after such a notice is given, my section 24AB(6)(c) response today means that no extension of time applies to this FOI.
This FOI still is due for decision no later than 23 May 2024.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny