Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia (the Agency).

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Administrative release of documents   

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. If you agree to the release of documents under these
arrangements, we may provide you with documents under the arrangements,
where appropriate.  

Any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents being
released under the arrangements will be considered withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements. 

Personal information of Agency staff 

We consider staff details to be personal information of those staff
members. As part of the FOI application process, we will seek your consent
to exclude the following information from documents that may be captured
by your request:  

* names of Services Australia staff below the Senior Executive level
(junior staff) 
* direct staff telephone numbers, signatures, logon identifiers and
email addresses. 

If you consent to exclude this information, we will treat it as outside
the scope of your request and therefore irrelevant under Section 22 of the
FOI Act. 

Charges 

No charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information.
If you are requesting non-personal information the Agency will advise you
as soon as practicable if a charge is payable to process your request, and
the amount of any such charge. 

How we will send documents to you 

Unless you have requested to receive correspondence and documents relating
to your FOI request via post we will communicate with you via this email
address. Some documents may be too large to send to you via email. If
applicable, we will seek your consent to provide the requested documents
to you electronically via a secure file sharing platform. Please advise us
as soon as possible if you wish correspondence or documents to be sent to
another address, or if your email address changes. 

How long do I have to wait? 

We are required to answer your request within 30 days unless the time
frame is extended under the FOI Act.  

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

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Dear Mr Moorcroft,

I am writing to you in regards to your Freedom of Information (FOI)
request to Services Australia (the Agency) on 2 July 2024.

Your request was made in the following terms:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 I seek the briefing pack
prepared for the CEO of Services Australia for the 2024-25 Budget
Estimates hearings.

As your request currently stands the Agency is unable to undertake
searches, as you are seeking access to documents with a future date
(2024-2025).

The Agency provides a publicly available list of documents that have been
released in response to FOI access requests on its FOI Disclosure Log
site. CEO briefs prepared for Senate Estimates on 14 February 2024 (LEX
78422) is currently listed on the Disclosure Log, and can be requested via
this link: [1]Freedom of Information Disclosure Log - About us - Services
Australia.

If you are seeking access to the latest estimates on 3 June 2024, you may
wish to consider rescoping your FOI request to the following:

o The latest Senate Estimates Briefing Packs prepared for the CEO of
Services Australia for his appearance at Senate Estimates on 3 June
2024.

For your action

If you could please confirm you wish to:

o rescope your FOI request for the latest CEO briefings for 3 June 2024
(as proposed above), or
o amend your FOI request for the 14 February 2024 briefings held on the
Agency’s Disclosure Log (LEX 78422).

A response by close of business Friday 5 July 2024 would be appreciated.

Kind regards

Leanne, Senior FOI Officer

FOI and Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division

[2]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

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.

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/fre...

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Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia (the Agency).

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Administrative release of documents   

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. If you agree to the release of documents under these
arrangements, we may provide you with documents under the arrangements,
where appropriate.  

Any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents being
released under the arrangements will be considered withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements. 

Personal information of Agency staff 

We consider staff details to be personal information of those staff
members. As part of the FOI application process, we will seek your consent
to exclude the following information from documents that may be captured
by your request:  

* names of Services Australia staff below the Senior Executive level
(junior staff) 
* direct staff telephone numbers, signatures, logon identifiers and
email addresses. 

If you consent to exclude this information, we will treat it as outside
the scope of your request and therefore irrelevant under Section 22 of the
FOI Act. 

Charges 

No charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information.
If you are requesting non-personal information the Agency will advise you
as soon as practicable if a charge is payable to process your request, and
the amount of any such charge. 

How we will send documents to you 

Unless you have requested to receive correspondence and documents relating
to your FOI request via post we will communicate with you via this email
address. Some documents may be too large to send to you via email. If
applicable, we will seek your consent to provide the requested documents
to you electronically via a secure file sharing platform. Please advise us
as soon as possible if you wish correspondence or documents to be sent to
another address, or if your email address changes. 

How long do I have to wait? 

We are required to answer your request within 30 days unless the time
frame is extended under the FOI Act.  

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

hide quoted sections

Our reference: LEX 80427

Dear Mr Moorcroft

Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). As confirmed by email 8 July 2024, you
have agreed to revise the scope of your request to:

The latest Senate Estimates Briefing Packs prepared for the CEO of
Services Australia for his appearance at Senate Estimates on 3 June 2024.

Your request was received by Services Australia (the Agency) on 2 July
2024 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date. You should therefore expect a decision from
us by 1 August 2024. The period of 30 days may be extended if we need to
consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this
happens.

Administrative Release of Documents

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. If you agree to the release of documents under these
arrangements, we may provide you with documents under the arrangements,
where appropriate.

Any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents being
released under the arrangements will be considered withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements.

Disclosure Log

Please note information released under the FOI Act may be published in a
disclosure log on the agency's website. 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.

Personal information of Agency staff

We consider staff details to be personal information of those staff
members. As part of the FOI application process, we will seek your consent
to exclude the following information from documents that may be captured
by your request:

o names of Services Australia staff below the Senior Executive level
(junior staff)
o direct staff telephone numbers, signatures, logon identifiers and
email addresses.

If you consent to exclude this information, we will treat it as outside
the scope of your request and therefore irrelevant under Section 22 of the
FOI Act.

Charges

No charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information. If you are requesting non-personal information the Agency
will advise you as soon as practicable if a charge is payable to process
your request, and the amount of any such charge.

How we will send documents to you

Unless you have requested to receive correspondence and documents relating
to your FOI request via post we will communicate with you via this email
address. Some documents may be too large to send to you via email. If
applicable we will seek your consent to provide the requested documents to
you electronically via a secure file sharing platform. Please advise us as
soon as possible if you wish correspondence or documents to be sent to
another address, or if your email address changes.

Action

Please advise whether you consent to the removal of junior staff details
as described above, under section 22 of the FOI by responding to this
email with “I agree to remove staff details”.

In addition, please advise whether you agree to receive documents where
appropriate under the arrangements by responding to this email with “I
agree to receive documents under the administrative arrangements”.

A response by close of business Monday 15 July 2024 would be appreciated.

Further assistance

If you have any questions please email
[1][Services Australia request email]

Yours sincerely

Leanne

FOI Officer

Freedom of Information Team

FOI and Reviews Branch | Legal Services Division

Services Australia

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Services Australia request email]

hide quoted sections

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia (the Agency).

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Administrative release of documents   

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. If you agree to the release of documents under these
arrangements, we may provide you with documents under the arrangements,
where appropriate.  

Any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents being
released under the arrangements will be considered withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements. 

Personal information of Agency staff 

We consider staff details to be personal information of those staff
members. As part of the FOI application process, we will seek your consent
to exclude the following information from documents that may be captured
by your request:  

* names of Services Australia staff below the Senior Executive level
(junior staff) 
* direct staff telephone numbers, signatures, logon identifiers and
email addresses. 

If you consent to exclude this information, we will treat it as outside
the scope of your request and therefore irrelevant under Section 22 of the
FOI Act. 

Charges 

No charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information.
If you are requesting non-personal information the Agency will advise you
as soon as practicable if a charge is payable to process your request, and
the amount of any such charge. 

How we will send documents to you 

Unless you have requested to receive correspondence and documents relating
to your FOI request via post we will communicate with you via this email
address. Some documents may be too large to send to you via email. If
applicable, we will seek your consent to provide the requested documents
to you electronically via a secure file sharing platform. Please advise us
as soon as possible if you wish correspondence or documents to be sent to
another address, or if your email address changes. 

How long do I have to wait? 

We are required to answer your request within 30 days unless the time
frame is extended under the FOI Act.  

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

hide quoted sections

Dear Gary

I am writing in regards to your Freedom of Information request to Services
Australia (the Agency) as follows:

The latest Senate Estimates Briefing Packs prepared for the CEO of
Services Australia for his appearance at Senate Estimates on 3 June 2024.

I am currently in the final stages of processing your request and require
additional time to finalise the decision and progress the matter through
the quality assurance process. 

If a decision is not notified to you within time, your request will be
deemed to be refused by operation of the FOI Act. The Agency will still
continue to process your request as a Statement of Reasons, however you
will unfortunately lose your internal review rights. Our objective for
this extension of time request is to ensure the decision and documents
relevant to your request are released on time under the FOI Act, thus
maintaining your internal review rights.

On this basis, I respectfully request an extension of time of 11 days to
process your request. The effect of the extension would mean the new
decision due date would be 12 August 2024. If we are able to process your
request and provide you with a decision before this date, we will do so.

If you agree to this extension of time, it would be greatly appreciated if
you could please respond to this email stating ‘I agree’ by close of
business 29 July 2024.

Please note, if we do not receive a reply from you by the above date we
will still continue to process your request.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Kind regards,

Cherie
Senior FOI Officer

Freedom of Information & Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division

[1]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links

hide quoted sections

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia (the Agency).

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Administrative release of documents   

The Agency has administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') for
the release of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI
request. If you agree to the release of documents under these
arrangements, we may provide you with documents under the arrangements,
where appropriate.  

Any parts of your FOI request that are addressed by documents being
released under the arrangements will be considered withdrawn. The
arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
You will be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements. 

Personal information of Agency staff 

We consider staff details to be personal information of those staff
members. As part of the FOI application process, we will seek your consent
to exclude the following information from documents that may be captured
by your request:  

* names of Services Australia staff below the Senior Executive level
(junior staff) 
* direct staff telephone numbers, signatures, logon identifiers and
email addresses. 

If you consent to exclude this information, we will treat it as outside
the scope of your request and therefore irrelevant under Section 22 of the
FOI Act. 

Charges 

No charge is payable for providing a person with their own personal
information.
If you are requesting non-personal information the Agency will advise you
as soon as practicable if a charge is payable to process your request, and
the amount of any such charge. 

How we will send documents to you 

Unless you have requested to receive correspondence and documents relating
to your FOI request via post we will communicate with you via this email
address. Some documents may be too large to send to you via email. If
applicable, we will seek your consent to provide the requested documents
to you electronically via a secure file sharing platform. Please advise us
as soon as possible if you wish correspondence or documents to be sent to
another address, or if your email address changes. 

How long do I have to wait? 

We are required to answer your request within 30 days unless the time
frame is extended under the FOI Act.  

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

hide quoted sections

Dear Gary

Please find attached the decision letter and documents relating to your
request for access to documents held by Services Australia.

Kind regards,

Cherie
Senior FOI Officer

Freedom of Information & Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division

[1]Visual brand element showing Services Australia progress symbol to left
with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************

References

Visible links

hide quoted sections