Dear Department of Human Services,

1. Documents relating to the Child Support Program's internal procedures, instructions, guides or written policies in:

a. assisting participants with disabilities who:

i. are attending an AAT hearing;
ii. are participating in a hearing when they are self represented;
iii. have stated that they have difficulty providing evidence;
iv. have stated that their disability may impact on their psychological health; and
v. have indicated to the Department that they have trouble responding to questions or providing oral evidence in the hearing.
vi. have made an application for a change of assessment and indicated that they have difficulty providing information due to a range of disabilities including "depression, acquired brain injury, intellectual impairment, cognitive impairment, psychiatric impairment, psychological impairment, or any other condition that impairs their ability to communicate with the Department.
vii. have otherwise communicated to the Department regarding their disability in any other format for any other purpose.

2. DHS documents demonstrating:

a. its compliance with provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth);
b. its obligations to apply legislation that does not disadvantage people who have a disability.

3. DHS documents demonstrating the steps taken to ensure that it does not discriminate against people who have a disability, including but not limited to the conditions mentioned above.

We believe that this information is in the public interest to be made available publicly.

Yours faithfully,

Keith Owen

Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

Thank-you for your response.

I advise the following:

1. This request is in the public interest.
2. This request was made to the AAT, and they were able to fulfil the request relatively easily. The same terms of reference were used.

I now request, what steps you have made to identify the extent of the documents required?

Further, due to the nature of the material requested, both being in the public interest, and given that there is a legislated duty for the Department of Human Services to adhere to the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth), it is a reasonable request made in the public interest to make these documents available for public use and knowledge.

I thus request that you finalize the intended refusal so that I may request an external review to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and then lodge a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Yours sincerely,

Keith Owen

Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

Accountability is the key here.

Can you please articulate why it is more difficult for the Department to comply with this request in light of the fact that other Government Departments/Agencies seem to have little difficulty with it?

Yours sincerely,

Keith Owen

Dear FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

A fair question has been asked regarding what steps have been taken to identify the documents concerned. This step is required before forming a 'preliminary' view that it presents too much work or the documents don't exist.

I will provide a further 7 days, and then I will escalate this to the OAIC not only for an external determination, but also as a formal complaint, and CC the Minister's office in seeking an explanation as to why DHS is not conforming to the Prime Minister's direction regarding open and accountable Government.

Yours sincerely,

Keith Owen