Risk governance and oversight of Taskforce Integrity
Justin Warren made this Freedom of Information request to Services Australia
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Department of Human Services,
If possible, please treat this as an informal or administrative request. Otherwise, please treat this as a formal request for documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
I request the following information relating to Taskforce Integrity, the initiative to match Centrelink data with data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to detect potential overpayment and the recovery of those overpayments from citizens:
- Documents listing identified risks, categorisations (Likelihood, Impact), and treatments (i.e. Risk Registers) for Taskforce Integrity related projects in the period 1 Jan 2016 to 31 Dec 2016.
- Meeting agendas, minutes, and other notes for any meetings held with the Minister for Human Services between 1 Jan 2016 and 31 Dec 2016, inclusive.
- Meeting agendas, minutes, and other notes for any meetings held with the Minister for Social Services between 1 Jan 2016 and 31 Dec 2016, inclusive.
I further request that all charges in relation to this request be waived as this information is in the public interest. The initiative concerns all Australians who pay tax or who receive entitlements from Centrelink, and all citizens are concerned with the integrity of the entitlements system.
Yours faithfully,
Justin Warren
Hello Mr Warren,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request.
Kind regards,
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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OzEquitist left an annotation ()
Also of great interest would be the decision making process in relation to the prioritisation, breakdown and selection of clients to be targeted in each weekly batch of 20,000 new interventions. Is the target client selection process purely random, or is there some weighting system involved - such as by number of inconsistencies flagged by the algorithm, estimated debt amount, payment type, alphabetic name, age - &/or is there perhaps a spread by state &/or postcode, so as minimise the risk of overwhelming any particular Centrelink branch or vulnerable community with disputes and queries?
Dear Mr Warren
Please find a decision letter in relation to your FOI request attached.
Regards
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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Dear Department of Human Services,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Human Services's handling of my FOI request 'Risk governance and oversight of Taskforce Integrity'.
I find it hard to believe that a government department would have no documented risks or risk treatments for a major project that the Minister has made public statements about. Management of project risks is a standard part of good project governance. For such documents not to exist would represent a significant governance failure by the Department.
It would also appear that my request was confusing in what I was asking for. It mentioned Taskforce Integrity, but it also clearly stated that I meant "the initiative to match Centrelink data with data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to detect potential overpayment and the recovery of those overpayments from citizens" which may have other names within the department. This issue has been covered extensively in the media with various names including "robodebt" and I have asked numerous questions of the media unit about this issue.
The Department made no attempt to clarify my meaning, and appears to have chosen to interpret my request in such a way as to minimise or avoid the disclosure of information. I want to know the scope that the Department has chosen to use, without any discussion with me as the requester to clarify my intent.
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,
Justin Warren
The Department of Human Services acknowledges receipt of your
correspondence.
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Dear Mr Warren
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your Freedom of
Information request (LEX 26547).
Regards
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
* [1][email address]
[2]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
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Dear Mr Warren
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your Freedom of
Information request (LEX 26547).
Regards
FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
* [1][email address]
[2]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
Description: cid:image001.png@01CD1993.20C1C870
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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Mark Newton left an annotation ()
Related:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Relevantly:
The Department of Human Services source, who is no longer with the agency, told Guardian Australia the risks of using the automated data matching system in such a fashion would have been known at senior levels before it was rolled out.
“Knowing the process, a risk assessment would have been done,” they said. “The risks would have been discussed at very senior levels. The minister would have been briefed – if he wasn’t, it would be extremely rare.”