Summary of Debt Notices dispatched in January and February 2023
Dear NSW Office of State Revenue,
Could you please provide for each day in January 2023 and February 2023, the number of “Debt Notice” letters printed and posted by NSW Revenue or its contractors.
Could you please also provide for each day in January 2023 and February 2023, the number of “Debt Notice” letters returned to NSW Revenue or its contractors as undeliverable or returned to sender.
Yours faithfully,
John Smith
Dear John Smith
I refer to your access application under the Government Information
(Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) to the Department of Customer Service
(DCS), received on 14 September 2023. I am writing with an update on your
application, and to explain what information we need from you before we
can proceed with your request.
In your application, you requested the following:
Could you please provide for each day in January 2023 and February 2023,
the number of “Debt Notice” letters printed and posted by NSW Revenue or
its contractors.
Could you please also provide for each day in January 2023 and February
2023, the number of “Debt Notice” letters returned to NSW Revenue or its
contractors as undeliverable or returned to sender.
Your formal application is not valid
An formal access application will only be valid if it meets the five
requirements set out under section 41(1) of the GIPA Act.
At this stage, your application is not a valid access application under
sections 41(1)(c) and 41(1)(e) of the GIPA Act i.e.:
o a formal access application must be accompanied by the $30 application
fee (section 41(1)(c))
o a formal access application must include enough information for our
agency to identify what information you require (section 41(1)(e)).
What you need to do
If you wish to proceed with your access application to DCS, please pay the
$30 application fee. To make this payment, you can transfer the funds
electronically to:
Subject description: Your surname - GIPA application fee
Pay: Department of Customer Service
ABN: 81 913 830 179
Bank: Westpac
BSB: 032 001
Account number: 203164
Once you have paid the fee, could you please send me a screenshot or other
evidence of payment. This way I can begin to process your application
without having to wait for the fee to reach our account.
In addition, please clarify your request as follows:
o what state debts/partner agencies you are seeking these statistics
about – see Revenue NSW website for further details
([1]https://www.nsw.gov.au/money-and-taxes/f...).
Note that some partner agencies may have additional notices issued.
o specify whether by ‘Debt Notice’ you mean the initial recovery notice
where the additional debt recovery fee is applied (known as ‘the debt
recovery order’). In some cases, an invoice is sent (no additional
fee), then the debt notice is issued (a reminder - no additional fee),
followed by the debt recovery order (additional $65 fee applied), and
finally the debt recovery action (further fee applied).
Further information
Please note that in deciding your application DCS may request processing
fees from you of $30 an hour. Your $30 application fee will count towards
these charges. If we require processing fees, I will provide you with an
estimate of all charges at the earliest opportunity.
Please note that my decision that this application is not valid is
reviewable under Part 5 of the GIPA Act. You can find more information
about your rights under the GIPA Act in a fact sheet from the Information
and Privacy Commission, available at:
[2]https://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/fact-sheet-yo...
What happens if you do not respond to this letter
If we do not hear from you and receive payment of the $30 application fee
by 5pm on 4 October 2023 then I will close off this application.
If you require further information, please contact me on
[3][OSR request email] or phone 02 9219 3700.
Regards
Hannah Stephenson
Senior Advisor | Government and Executive Support Services
Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Corporate Services
T (02) 9219 3700 E [4][email address]
[5]nsw.gov.au
McKell Building
2-24 Rawson Place
Sydney NSW 2000
[6]NSW Government logo with Department of Customer Service
descriptor
[7]Facebook icon [8]Twitter icon [9]YouTube icon [10]LinkedIn icon
I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and pay respects to
Elders past and present. I also acknowledge all the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander staff working with NSW Government at this time.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.nsw.gov.au/money-and-taxes/f...
2. https://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/fact-sheet-yo...
3. mailto:[OSR request email]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.nsw.gov.au/
7. https://www.facebook.com/NSWGovernment
8. https://twitter.com/nswcustomer
9. https://www.youtube.com/user/nswgovernment
10. https://www.linkedin.com/company/nswcust...
Dear GIPA-DCS,
You would be aware that the Information and Privacy Commission of NSW considers that formal requests should be lodged as a last resort. If possible, I request that this request be considered an informal request for access. Please advise if that informal request is denied.
In order to meet your request for narrowing of the request, I would be satisfied if the following criteria were used to narrow the request:
A) Debt notices sent where Revenue NSW has been engaged by NSW Ambulance to recover outstanding ambulance fees.
B) Debt Notices that contain the text “DEBT NOTICE A Debt Notice has been issued to you for an overdue Invoice. Pay by the due date to save $65 additional cost.” (I understand based off the graphic included in such notices that this is the second of four stages, the others being “Invoice Issued”, “Debt Recovery Order”, “Debt Recovery Action”.)
This request should be relatively easy to answer provided NSW Revenue or its contractors have proper information management procedures.
Yours sincerely,
John Smith
Hi John Smith
We are unable to process your request as an informal application under section 8 of the GIPA Act.
Thank you for providing further information about your request. On the second point can you confirm that you request this information only regarding Debt Notices (essentially a reminder after the first Debt Recovery Order/invoice is issued)?
Please let me know when you have paid the $30 fee so I can begin processing your request.
Regards
Hannah Stephenson
Senior Advisor | Government and Executive Support Services
Department of Customer Service
T (02) 9219 3700 E [email address]
Dear GIPA-DCS,
Just wanted to check, in relation to declining the informal access request if this falls outside the scope of the guidance in your Agency Information Guide: “We generally provide the following types of information in relation to an informal request … other reasonable requests for release of information that would not raise any potential public interest or privacy concerns.” or if you have opted for another reason to decide this should be considered a formal request?
The request (however it arises) will be for Debt Notices as described in my previous email. I think you’re confused because the Invoice is the first letter and the Debt Recovery Order is a third letter.
Once you’ve given me your final consideration of the informal request I’ll make my application fee payment (if needed).
Yours sincerely,
John Smith
Dear John Smith
Under section 8(3) of the GIPA Act an agency cannot be required to disclose information pursuant to an informal request and cannot be required to consider an informal request for government information. However, since you seek an explanation, one of the reasons why we cannot process this as an informal request is because the information is not readily available. I also note that we have previously provided you with a great deal of information on an informal/enquiry basis and offered to retrieve details regarding your specific case on an informal basis (which you have not requested).
Once you pay the fee we will process your formal GIPA application, including checking with the relevant business area whether your request is now clear. If we do not hear from you by 4 October 2023 regarding making a valid access application, we will close this request.
Regards
Hannah Stephenson
Senior Advisor | Government and Executive Support Services
Department of Customer Service
T (02) 9219 3700 E [email address]
Dear GIPA-DCS,
I do thank your agency for its voluminous clarifications and evasion of the actual question, but I do need to point out that you haven’t ever actually furnished genuine responses to any of the previous informal requests.
It is an astonishing admission that an agency charged with communicating about debts with citizens doesn’t have any procedures for that communication, nor any straightforward statistics on whether (and how many) letters are sent. How an agency can steadfastly apply charges when they cannot demonstrate that a letter was actually posted is beyond me. It is though illuminating on the general unaccountable administrative chaos within NSW Revenue.
I’ll work out how to pay you the application fee before 4 October and I’ll look forward to your next imaginative round of stonewalling.
Yours sincerely,
John Smith
Hi John
I have checked our payments system and I haven't seen a $30 payment from you. If this is incorrect please send proof of payment. Otherwise, if I don't hear from you, I will close of this request.
Regards
Hannah Stephenson
Senior Advisor | Government and Executive Support Services
Department of Customer Service
T (02) 9219 3700 E [email address]