Dear Australian Taxation Office,

== Background ==
I have noticed that some responses from the ATO to requests on Right to Know were last created in 2017 by Julie Galeotti.

Obviously, the ATO believes that by publishing decisions on it's own websites, it is compliant with the FOI Act.

== Request ==
My request is for all documents from 1 June 2017 to 30 July 2024 that are related to the way requests made via Right to Know or that are from the OpenAustralia Foundation are handled.

== Exemptions ==
I am happy to discuss possible exemptions, however do not automatically agree to making anything irrelevant.

== Further Submissions==
I would appreciate the opportunity to make further submissions to the ATO should the decision be unfavourable and where the views of the applicant could be taken into account under the FOI Act and the FOI Guidelines.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Fairless

Dear Leigh Swift,

Thank you for your message. I am struggling to access the decision letter from your online service. I suspect that the time period of that decision and my request are slightly different.

Also happy to include the additional documents you mentioned.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Fairless

Dear FOI,

Just to follow up on my earlier email to Leigh Swift, can I confirm that my reading of the attachment is correct. There is a reference to the ATO “communicating decisions via the disclosure log”. Is this an official ATO practice? If so, I suspect documents would exist related to that decision which I do not believe have been released.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Fairless

Dear FOI,

Just to be clear, my request was for *all documents from 1 June 2017 to 30 July 2024 that are related to the way requests made via Right to Know or that are from the OpenAustralia Foundation are handled*

I have not consented to a reduction in scope, and while you have identified documents related to an OAIC complaint you should consider the full scope of my request.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Fairless

Dear FOI,

I refer to your email of 23 August 2024 advising that the decision had been made with respect to my request.

The notice you’ve provided does not comply with the Freedom of Information Act or the Freedom of Information Guidelines. As you would no doubt be aware, a single paragraph asking me to download documents from a non-government website is not a statement of reasons.

Considering you’ve been handling requests sent from this website in this way for years, I’m pretty sure you’re aware of that fact. I’ll be making a complaint to the OAIC later today about your persistent refusal to follow the Freedom of Information Act. In the meantime, please provide a valid statement of reasons and the documents requested.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Fairless

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/OpenAustralia Foundation'.

Contrary to the information provided by an unnamed official at the Australian taxation office, the FOY decision has not been sent to the address that I have nominated, but rather been published online for all to see.

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