Requests made via Right to Know
Ben Fairless made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Taxation Office
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Australian Taxation Office,
This is a request pursuant to s.15 of the Freedom of Information Act and is made in my capacity as an individual.
I request access to:
- All documents created by the ATO in relation to the decision not to respond to requests via Right to Know ("the decision").
- All documents detailing any discussion, via any means, with Right to Know and the OpenAustralia Foundation in relation to the decision.
- Correspondence with the OAIC in relation to the decision including any response.
I specifically exclude as irrelevant from the above request:
- The names of employees not in the Senior Executive Service.
- Mobile telephone numbers and email addresses of employees not in the Senior Executive Service.
- Personally identifiable information of any individual not employed by the Public Service.
This request satisfies s.15 of the Freedom of Information Act, specifically it:
- is a request made in writing
- states that it is a request for the purposes of the Act
- provides such information concerning the documents as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the agency to identify it
- give details of how notices under the Act may be sent (please respond to this email address).
The request is also consistent with the Freedom of Information Guidelines, specifically 3.48 which states in part:
The request must be sent to the agency or minister, in any of the following ways: ........ This requirement can be met by posting the request on a public website which forwards the request to a specified address of the agency or minister
I look forward to the ATO processing my request.
Yours faithfully,
Ben Fairless
Dear Mr Fairless,
The ATO does not process FOI requests received via righttoknow.org.au.
Please send your FOI request direct to [1][ATO request email], or lodge via
paper form available at
[2]https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con....
Alternatively, you can contact the ATO on 13 28 69 and ask for Freedom of
Information.
Regards,
FOI team
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ATO request email]
2. https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con...
Dear Australian Taxation Office,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Australian Taxation Office's handling of my FOI request 'Requests made via Right to Know'.
The request is a valid request under the Freedom of Information Act - please process it accordingly.
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,
Ben Fairless
Form Submitted
You submitted a form called: FOI Review_.
Your form tracking code is: 37GRPG
Your submission reference number is: ICR_1-6292429-320
To check the progress of your submission and/or confirm it has been received you
should contact the agency that provides the form. Where available these details
may be displayed below. Alternatively the agency name is usually displayed on
the front page of the form or as part of the form logo.
Please see the attached PDF for a copy of your form submission.
Please do not reply to this email as it has been sent from an automated system
and replies are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. For further information
regarding your form please contact the relevant Government Agency:
Agency Name: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Agency URL: [1]www.oaic.gov.au
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.oaic.gov.au
Dear Mr Fairless,
The ATO does not process FOI requests received via righttoknow.org.au.
Please send your FOI request direct to [1][ATO request email], or lodge via
paper form available at
[2]https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con....
Alternatively, you can contact the ATO on 13 28 69 and ask for Freedom of
Information.
Regards,
FOI team
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ATO request email]
2. https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con...
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
I have made a complaint to the OAIC. I'm still waiting on a response in relation to that request.
Dear Australian Taxation Office,
I refer to the Recommendation of the Information Commissioner in Complaint CP16/01606, which was provided to Jonathan Todd on 5 May 2017.
Can you please confirm when the ATO will begin processing my valid Freedom of Information request?
The details of this request (which were sent to you via email) can be found here: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/r...
Yours sincerely,
Ben Fairless
Dear FOI,
I do not consent to withdraw the request. I seek information up to the date of the recent OAIC decision which I don't believe has been released.
Yours sincerely,
Ben Fairless
Locutus Sum left an annotation ()
It looks as if the correct thing to do now is to lodge a formal complaint with the OAIC. I cannot see anything in the Act that could allow an agency to refuse to respond to a request because the agency does not like the email address. It is as disgraceful and unlawful as if the Australian Taxiation Office said that they did not like to answer emails from people who have email addresses at bigpond.com or uq.edu.au! Section 15(2A) says that a request may be sent by ... (c) sending by electronic communication to an electronic address specified by the agency or Minister. If Right to Know is sending the emails to foi@ato.gov.au (this is the address specified by the agency in the document https://www.ato.gov.au/uploadedFiles/Con... ) then it is valid. The agency could be blackhatted and announce that they revoke any previous email address (so no person could make an application by email because no address would be "specified by the agency") but this is not what they have done.