Dear Julie

Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request – FOI 40240

I refer to your request for access to documents held by the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act).

Your request was received by the Department on 14 January 2021, and was
made in the following terms:

‘…For the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, I request copy of
records held by the Department regarding how it resolves its practices of
failing to comply with the Information Commissioner's guidance in (page
numbers refer to documents in file
[1]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/6...
):

* making FOI EOT requests "early in the processing cycle" instead of after
a deemed decision, or only a day or two before a processing period expires
(pages 80 and 89);

* distinguishing between the disclosure of SES officer names and other
officer names (despite the clear guidance given in Maurice Blackburn
Lawyers and Department of Immigration and Border Protection [2015] AICmr
85);

* failing to identify the full name of delegates (Page 141, section
26(1)(b) FOI Act, Bartucciotto and Commissioner for Complaints [2006] AATA
36, Dreyfus and Attorney-General [2015] AATA 995, Lever and Australian
Federal Police [2017] AATA 1407, 'AH' and Australian Federal Police [2013]
AICmr 59, Rudd and Civil Aviation Safety Authority [2013] AICmr 87, 'BB'
and Department of Human Services [2014] AICmr 11, Stephen Waller and
Department of Environment [2014] AICmr 133, John Mullen and Australian
Aged Care Quality Agency [2017] AICmr 11, 'MA' and Department of Veterans
Affairs [2017] AICmr 72, Maria Jackel and Department of Immigration and
Border Protection [2017] AICmr 101, Reece Walters and Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority [2019] AICmr 9, 'FM' and Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade [2015] AICmr 31, and 'PO' and Australian Federal Police
[2018] AICmr); and

* failing to provide direct access on FOI disclosure logs to released
material (as detailed at page 102 and 105), which the Information
Commissioner describes as "an unnecessary barrier to accessing government
information...’

The Department has 30 days to finalise your request. The 30 day statutory
timeframe commenced the day after your request was received by the
Department.

Ordinarily you should expect a decision from the Department by 15 February
2021.

When the processing period may be extended or suspended

There are times when the timeframe for processing your request might be
extended by an additional 30 days. This can occur where an extension of
time has been agreed to by yourself under section 15AA of the FOI Act or
where the OAIC has granted an extension of time under sections 15AB or
15AC of the FOI Act.

In addition, if documents you seek contain information of third parties
and the Department is of the view that is practical to consult with the
third parties, then the Department will be afforded an additional 30 days
to undertake that consolation process (see sections 15(6), 26A, 27 and 27A
of the FOI Act).

The Department will advise you if a third party consultation process is
required and of the revised due date for your request to be finalised by.

Additionally, there are occasions where the time to process your request
may be suspended. This will usually take place if a practical refusal
consultation process takes place (section 24AB of the FOI Act). As you are
seeking access to your own personal information, charges will not apply.
However, if a practical refusal consultation process is required, the
Department will notify you.

Communication with you

The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[2][FOI #7017 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address. Please advise us 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.

FOI Disclosure log – Publication of documents released under the FOI Act

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the Department’s website at
[3]https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview....
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.

When a decision is provided to you, the Department will advise if the
documents released to you will be published on the Department’s FOI
Disclosure log.

Contacting us about your FOI request

We will email again when the Department has more information. Should you
have any enquiries concerning this matter, please send an email to
[4][email address].

Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
OAIC at [5]https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor....

Yours sincerely,

Tayla (Position Number 62213294)

Information Access Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

T: 1800 555 254 | E: [6][email address]

A: GPO Box 9998, Canberra, ACT, 2601 | W: [7]www.dva.gov.au

show quoted sections

You have received a secure message from the Department of Veterans'
Affairs.
To view your secure message:

1. Open the attachment to this email.

2. Follow the instructions.
[1]Help
Please follow the instructions above to use secure mail.: Do not reply to
this email. A secure reply may be sent from within the opened secure
message.
Secured by Proofpoint Encryption, Copyright © 2009-2020 Proofpoint, Inc.
All rights reserved.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dva.gov.au/site-help/sensitiv...

Please use this validation code to complete your registration: 568207

Note: This code will expire in 30 minutes.

Please use this validation code to complete your registration: 699014

Note: This code will expire in 30 minutes.

Good Afternoon Julie

Can you please provide more information for correspondence sent 3 February 2021
Regards
Natalie (Position number 62214719)
Team Leader – Registrations
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 838 372 | e [DVA request email] | www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

Please consider the environment before printing this email
IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis that those persons also keep it confidential.
You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

show quoted sections

Dear Julie,

Please find attached Statement of Reasons for LEX 40240 and email sent to
you on 3 February 2021.

Kind regards,

Harrison (Position Number 62329529 )

Information Access Officer

Information Access Unit

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

e [1][email address]

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Please use this validation code to complete your registration: 495400

Note: This code will expire in 30 minutes.

Please use this validation code to complete your registration: 520454

Note: This code will expire in 30 minutes.