Reasons FOI Disclosure Log documents unavailable for download
Dear Services Australia,
Your Freedom of Information disclosure log states upon all table entries:
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/fre...
"The document available upon request." or "The documents are available upon request."
The FOI Guidelines state in part 14.7 and part 14.42 - relevant parts:
"The Information Commissioner is of the view that consistent with better practice, agencies and ministers should seek to make all documents released in response to FOI requests available for download from the disclosure log"
and
"the Information Commissioner considers that documents should be made available for download from a website (ss 11C(3)(a) or (b)). Publication of documents on the disclosure log, rather than providing a description of the documents and how they can be obtained on request from the agency or minister, is consistent with the FOI Act object of facilitating public access to government information. [6] Agencies should only publish a description of a document on the disclosure log and ask members of the public to contact them for access if it is not technically possible to upload documents due to file size, or the requirement for specialist software to view the information, or for any other reason of this nature."
This action appears based on information available to the public in direct contravention of what the Information Commissioner considers legal practice.
I request under the Freedom of information Act 1982 documents containing:
Internal communications/documentation on reasons why it is not technically possible to upload documents to the Services Australia FOI Disclosure log and/or link to elsewhere where they are/could be available (such as operational blueprints).
If no such documents exist, I would accept an administratively generated explanation.
Yours faithfully,
OpenWelfare
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia.
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.
Timeframe For processing your request
Under the FOI Act you have a right, with limited exceptions, to access
documents the agency holds. A FOI request normally takes 30 days to
process.
Please note this period may be further extended if we need to consult
third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
Charges
Services Australia 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. We will send all notices and correspondence to the address you
have used to email us. Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish
correspondence to be sent to another address or if your 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 junior staff details
Services Australia 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 Act.
Dear OpenWelfare
Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia in relation to
your request for access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Kind regards
Spencer
[1][email address]
Information Access Branch
LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01D6BC07.2D63B370
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
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References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear OpenWelfare
I refer to your request to Services Australia (Agency) for access to
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
We are continuing to undertake enquiries to identify all business areas
within the Agency that may hold documents that are relevant to the scope
of your request and do not anticipate the Agency will be in a position to
provide a decision to you within 30 days as required by the FOI Act.
Accordingly, I respectfully request your agreement to extend the timeframe
to deal with your request by an additional 30 days under s 15AA of the FOI
Act.
The effect of this extension will be that the Agency is required to
provide a decision to you by 12 October 2022 and that your right to seek
internal review of any decision made by that date will be preserved. If we
are able to provide this decision to you sooner than 12 October 2022, we
will do so.
I would be grateful for your response via email by close of business
Monday 12 September 2022 (i.e. today), confirming whether you agree to the
extension of time.
Kind regards
Spencer
Spencer
Information Access Branch
LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION
[1]cid:image002.jpg@01D6BC07.2D63B370
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 Spencer,
Considering I’d like to avoid a deemed refusal and bothering the oaic, yes.
I agree to an extension of 30 days.
Yours sincerely,
OpenWelfare
Dear OpenWelfare
Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia in relation to
your request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982.
Kind regards
Spencer
Spencer
[1][email address]
Information Access Branch
LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01D6BC07.2D63B370
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.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Spencer,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Services Australia's handling of my FOI request 'Reasons FOI Disclosure Log documents unavailable for download'.
Firstly, I will accept that you have likely searched all available documents and cannot locate any matching my criteria.
What I'm requesting an internal review on is your administrative explanation. Generate a better one please.
I did not ask for an explanation of the "agencies approach" to publication, to which you have replied with meaningless, feel-good words that ultimately do nothing to improve access to your website that you insist is 'simple and helpful'.
What I asked for was very specific - "why it is not technically possible
to upload documents to the Services Australia FOI Disclosure log and/or link to
elsewhere where they are/could be available (such as operational blueprints)"
You have not answered this question at all, and generated your own.
Just tell me there's no technical reason that FOI documents are unavailable for download, that's the words I'm expecting to hear.
It's not hard. have a go.
I had hoped that this might spark some form of internal reflection, but it appears not - I vainly hoped that perhaps *someone* would reflect on the current state of things and attempt to improve access, instead of actively giving you (yes you, Spencer) MORE work to do should people actually request access to the documents.
This is an governmental anti-pattern, but perhaps you realise this may be the point.
I appear to be the only person who believes that you could do well better on this front, so I implore to your managements better nature that this should be being reviewed by.
Consider making FOI documents available for download, as per the OAIC's reccomendation. advise me if there's any timeline where this can happen if it's too embarrassing for you to admit that there's no real reason to make them downloadable. This will actually serve your "Agency’s committment to
providing simple, helpful, respectful and transparent services for customers, and compliance
with disclosure log obligations under the FOI Act".
You're Services Australia, not ASIO, admitting that things could be done better is not a threat to national image or your agency.
Do better.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/r...
Yours faithfully,
OpenWelfare
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia.
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.
Timeframe For processing your request
Under the FOI Act you have a right, with limited exceptions, to access
documents the agency holds. A FOI request normally takes 30 days to
process.
Please note this period may be further extended if we need to consult
third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
Charges
Services Australia 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. We will send all notices and correspondence to the address you
have used to email us. Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish
correspondence to be sent to another address or if your 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 junior staff details
Services Australia 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 Act.
Dear OpenWelfare
Thank you for your email to Services Australia (the Agency) of 15 October
2022, requesting internal review of the Agency’s decision regarding your
request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(FOI Act).
You have specified the sole focus of your internal review request to be
the administrative explanation provided in the decision letter issued to
you, requesting that the Agency: ‘Generate a better one’. You confirm you
accept the Agency’s explanation that appropriate searches were conducted
for the documents requested but the documents do not exist.
Section 54 of the FOI Act sets out that internal review (IR) can only be
sought in relation to certain decisions, including an access refusal
decision, by an Agency following a valid FOI request.
However, as your request for review is not focused on the substantive
access refusal decision in this matter, nor the way the agency conducted
searches noted in the decision letter, the Agency does not view your
request to review the matter as a valid IR request.
If you wish to proceed with your request for internal review, please
clearly outline the basis for your request and respond to this email by 31
October 2022. If we do not receive a response from you by this date, we
will assume you do not wish to proceed with your request for internal
review.
Kind regards
Spencer
Spencer
[1][email address]
Information Access Branch
LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01D6BC07.2D63B370
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.
Renee left an annotation ()
Great job! Having documented proof that there's no reason for them not to make links available on the FOI disclosure log clearly shows that they are avoiding accountability and transparency.
When it comes to analyzing how this impacts public opinion, it's a doozy. This kind of avoidance can erode trust in the institution and make people skeptical of their actions. It's a classic example of the "information asymmetry" that governments often employ, where they hold all the cards and the public is kept in the dark. This lack of transparency can be manipulated to keep the public disengaged and uninformed, thereby making it easier for the government to make decisions without scrutiny.
The long-term impact? A disillusioned and disengaged citizenry that feels like they can't affect change or hold the government accountable. And let's be real, in a democracy, that's bad news