Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia (the Agency).

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Charges

The Agency will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request
and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. No charge is
payable for providing a person with their own personal information.

Your address

The FOI Act requires you to provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. We will send correspondence and notices to your email address.
Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish correspondence to be sent
to another address or if your email address changes.

Administrative release of documents

The Agency has administrative access arrangements in place for the release
of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI request. These
arrangements do not extend to information or material of third parties.

Exclusion of staff details

The Agency is working towards ensuring all staff have a choice about
whether they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and
direct contact details in response to FOI requests. Where such details are
included in documents they will be redacted. If you request staff details
as part of your FOI application, this may add to processing time and
applicable charges as it will be necessary to consider whether these
details are exempt under the FOI Act.

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Our reference: LEX 75590

Ben Faithful

Right to Know

Only by email: [1][FOI #10603 email]

Dear Ben Faithful

Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). You requested access to:

Under the FOI Act, requesting access to the business case document(s) for
the Pay As You Go (PAYG) data matching initiative that was the subject of
Question on Notice HS 15 from the Senate Community Affairs Legislation
Committee Budget Estimates hearing on 3 June 2015.
[2]http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...
bud1516/DHS/index

- Documents that describe the algorithm or process used to perform the
data matching that identified the "approximately 1,080,000" discrepancies
between PAYG data and data reported by DHS customers, as referred to in
the Answer to Question HS 15.

- Documents that describe the analysis process for how the value of
"historical discrepancies", as described in the Answer to Question HS 15,
was determined. Such documents should describe the statistical method, the
sampling process used, statistics returned (standard error, mean,
confidence interval, etc.), how the likely average debt value was
determined, etc.

Where multiple revisions of documents exist, I am only interested in the
version current at the time the Department referred to in its answer to
HS15.

Your request was received by Services Australia (the Agency) on 22 August
2023 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date. You should therefore expect a decision from
us by 21 September 2023. The period of 30 days may be extended if we need
to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this
happens.

Charges

The Agency will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request
and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. No charge is
payable for providing a person with their own personal information.

Your Address

The FOI Act requires you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[3][FOI #10603 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as possible
if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your
address changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address,
correspondence and notices will continue to be sent to the address
specified above.

Administrative Release of Documents

The Agency has administrative access arrangements (arrangements) for the
release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI request.
Unless you advise us otherwise, in processing your request we may provide
you with documents under these arrangements where appropriate. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements.

Disclosure Log

Please note information released under the FOI Act may be published in a
disclosure log on the Agency's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act
requires this publication, however it is subject to certain exceptions,
including where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.

Exclusion of junior staff details

The Agency is working towards ensuring all staff have a choice about
whether they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and
direct contact details in response to public enquiries. Where such details
are included in the scope of a request, this may add to processing time
and applicable charges as it may be necessary to consider whether the
details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you tell us
otherwise, we will assume these details are out of scope of your request
and they will be redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act.

Further assistance

If you have any questions please email
[4][Services Australia request email].

Kind regards

Jan

FOI Practitioner

Freedom of Information and Ombudsman Branch

Legal Services Division

Email: [5][Services Australia request email]

[6]cid:image003.jpg@01D6B8DA.4DF87C40

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References

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1. mailto:[FOI #10603 email]
2. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...
3. mailto:[FOI #10603 email]
4. mailto:[Services Australia request email]
5. mailto:[Services Australia request email]

Dear Ben Faithful

I refer to your request for access to documents from Services Australia
(the Agency) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

The Agency has identified we will not be in a position to notify you of a
decision by the current due date of 21 September 2023.

We respectfully request an additional 30 days to process your request
under section 15AA of the FOI Act. Should you agree to the extension of
time, a decision on your request would be due on 23 October 2023.

We would be grateful if you could advise if you agree to extend the
processing time of this request by responding “I agree” by close of
business 18 September 2023.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards

Kylie, Senior FOI Officer

FOI and Ombudsman Branch

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email

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Dear Ben Faithful

Thank you for your response and agreement to a 7 day extension of time for
LEX 75590. The new due date for your request is now 28 September 2023.

Kind regards,
Cherie

Freedom of Information & Ombudsman Branch

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

Please note: This email and any attachments may contain information
subject to legal professional privilege or information that is otherwise
sensitive or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this
email, you are prohibited from using or disseminating this communication.
If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender
immediately and permanently delete this email.

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Dear Ben Faithful

Thank you for your agreement to the additional 7 day extension of time.

However, due to the age of the documents and subsequent structural changes
within the Agency, the relevant business areas within the Agency required
significant additional time to search for and retrieve documents.

The FOI team has commenced review of the documents but due to the delay in
search and retrieval, we are unlikely to be a in a position to notify you
of a decision by the extended due date of 5 October 2023.

The Agency is now continuing to seek your agreement to an additional 23
day extension of time.

We would be grateful if you could advise if you agree to extend
the processing time of this request by responding “I agree” by close
of business 26 September 2023.

If you do not agree to the further extension of time, I may request
additional time from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
under section 15AB of the FOI Act.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards,

Hannah

Freedom of Information Branch, Legal Services Division

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agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email

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References

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Dear Mr Faithful,

Please find attached the documents relating to your request for access to
documents held by Services Australia, under the Freedom of Information Act
1982.

If you are unable to open the attachment please contact me by replying to
this email.

Kind Regards,

Hannah

Freedom of Information Branch, Legal Services Division

[1]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email

show quoted sections

References

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