The number of adult clients with complex needs over 26 who have cochlear implants.
Dear Australian Hearing,
Could you please provide me with the following:
- Documents stating the number of adult clients of Australian Hearing with complex needs over the age of 26 who have cochlear implants and the number of all clients of Australian Hearing over the age of 26 who have cochlear implants.
- Documents showing the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the government) for each cochlear implant speech processor provided to clients under the age of 26 and the total number and cost of speech processors provided each year.
- Documents comparing the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the government) of speech processors and hearing aids.
Yours faithfully,
Peter Demmery,
Sent request to Australian Hearing again, using a new contact address.
Sent request to Australian Hearing again.
Sent request to Australian Hearing again, using a new contact address.
Hi Peter ,
We will reply shortly.
Thanks for your enquiry
Kind regards,
Paul Grimble
HEAD OF LEGAL AND PROCUREMENT
Australian Hearing Hub
Level 5, 16 University Avenue
Macquarie University NSW 2109
[email address]
www.hearing.com.au
I wish to advise that your request is progressing and a reply will be provided in due course.
Regards
FOI Contact Officer
Australian Hearing
Dear Mr Demmery,
A response to your FOI request is attached.
Regards
Jim Brown
Australian Hearing is a quality certified organisation.
(Certification no: 14272 to AS/NZS ISO 9001: 2008)
Alex Sadleir left an annotation ()
Australian Hearing Services (d/b/a Hearing Australia)
is a Commonwealth authority. Commonwealth authorities must report each contract they have entered into with a value over $400,000 on the internet http://www.finance.gov.au/procurement/pr...
While I cannot find any records for Australian Hearing Services on the AusTender website, the total value of the "HEARING SERVICES PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE OBLIGATION" payment from the Department of Health to Hearing Services for the period 1/07/2012 to 30/06/2015 is $177,754,411.00 as reported in this document tabled in the Senate
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/p...
The Department of Health has claimed no confidentiality exemption on that contract so perhaps you could get a copy from them (under FOI or otherwise) instead?
Dear Australian Hearing,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Australian Hearing's handling of my FOI request 'The number of adult clients with complex needs over 26 who have cochlear implants.'.
I believe that it is in the public interest to disclose all the documents in the subject of my FOI Request as under present legislation, some of the clients of Australian Hearing over the age of 26 are discriminated against and excluded from replacement and upgrade hearing devices while other clients, who are of the same class of clients, are provided with replacement and upgrade hearing devices. The result of this discrimination is that the most profoundly disabled clients (ie those who clinically need cochlear implant speech processors because they can get no benefit from hearing aids), are excluded while those whose disability is of a lesser degree,(ie those who clinically need hearing aids but are not deaf enough to require cochlear implants), are provided with replacement and upgrade hearing devices. I contend that information relating to this discrimination and exclusion is therefore, on balance, definitely in the public interest.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/th...
Yours faithfully,
Peter Demmery
Dear Mr Demmery
Application for an extension of time under section 54D(3) of the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)
As you know on 6 February 2013 Australian Hearing (AH) received your
request under the FOI Act. That request sought access to the following:
1. Documents stating the number of adult clients of Australian Hearing
with complex needs over the age of 26 who have cochlear implants and the
number of all clients of Australian Hearing over the age of 26 who have
cochlear implants.
2. Documents showing the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the government)
for each cochlear implant speech processor provided to clients under the
age of 26 and the total number and cost of speech processors provided each
year.
3. Documents comparing the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the
government) of speech processors and hearing aids.
On 7 March 2013 (within the 30 day statutory time-frame in section
15(5)(b)) AH provided you with a decision. AH decided that all of the
documents falling within the scope of the FOI request were exempt under
sections 47 and 47G of the FOI Act. AH also provided information in that
decision letter in accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act which sought
to respond to the Applicant's request.
The internal review application
On 7 March 2013 you sent an email applying for internal review of the
decision. The 30 day timeframe expires on 7 April 2013.
Since the internal review application was received we have been involved
in undertaking further search processes. Upon review of your request it
has become apparent that the scope of your request is broader than
originally thought.
The fact that your request does not specify a time-frame within which
documents were created is a considerable concern to Australian Hearing.
Further, some of the documents that have been identified as potentially
being within the scope of the request contain both business and personal
information.
Australian Hearing is a small Authority and has only a single FOI contact
officer. That officer performs the role of FOI contact officer in
addition to normal duties within the Authority.
Further, the 30 day timeframe for internal review includes the Easter
period which is a reduced period of business days within which to process
this request.
Australian Hearing therefore seek your agreement to an extension of 30
days within which to process your application for internal review.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries in relation to this
request.
Regards
Jim Brown
FOI Contact Officer
Australian Hearing
Australian Hearing is a quality certified organisation.
(Certification no: 14272 to AS/NZS ISO 9001: 2008)
Dear Mr Brown,
I agree to your request for an extension of the 30 days within which to review my application as the 30 days includes the Easter period. However, I agree to a reasonable time period and not an unlimited extension as this matter has been unresolved now for many years with the result that this inequity is causing a critical adverse and negative affect on the lives of these complex clients of Australian Hearing.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Demmery
Dear Mr Demmery,
Thank you for agreeing to an extension of time to respond to your request.
Australian Hearing understands that this is not an agreement to an unlimited extension and will respond to you as soon as practicable.
Yours sincerely
Jim Brown
FOI Contact Officer
Australian Hearing
Dear Mr Demmery,
Please find attached information in relation to your request for access to documents held by Australian Hearing.
Regards
Jim Brown
FOI Contact Officer
Australian Hearing is a quality certified organisation.
(Certification no: 14272 to AS/NZS ISO 9001: 2008)
Dear Mr Brown,
Thank you for your letter advising me of the opportunity to revise my request under s24AB of the FOI Act. Accordingly, I would like to make a revised request.
Could you please provide me with the following:
1. Documents stating the number of adult clients of Australian Hearing with complex needs over the age of 26 who have cochlear implants and the number of all clients of Australian Hearing over the age of 26 who have cochlear implants as well as the number of clients under the age of 26 who have cochlear implants as at 6 February 2013.
2. Documents created in the month of February 2013 showing the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the government) for each cochlear implant speech processor provided to clients under the age of 26. For the purposes of this part of the request, I am not seeking access to personal information or individual purchase orders or invoices. This was never my intention. To avoid any doubt, I am seeking access only to those parts of the documents that show the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the government) for each cochlear implant speech processor provided to clients under the age of 26.
3. Documents created for the period 7 February 2012 to 6 February 2013 showing the total number and cost of speech processors and the total number and cost of hearing aids provided each year.
4. Documents comparing the cost to Australian Hearing (or to the government) of speech processors and hearing aids created for the period 7 February 2012 to 6 February 2013.
Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.
If you require any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Demmery
Our reference: RQ13/00634
Mr Peter Demmery
Right To Know
Dear Mr Demmery
Extension of time request under s54D
On 8 April 2013, Australian Hearing requested further time to make a
decision on your FOI request of 7 March 2013.
The Information Commissioner has decided to grant Australian Hearing an
extension of time for this request, to 8 May 2013. This decision has been
made under 54D of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the Act).
Review rights
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled this matter, you may
complain to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. This service is free, and you can
contact the office on 1300 362 072 or visit [1]www.ombudsman.gov.au.
If you would like to discuss this matter you may contact me on 1300 363
992 or via email [2][email address].
Yours sincerely
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 2999 CANBERRA ACT 2601 |www.oaic.gov.au
Fax: +61 2 6239 9187
Email: [3][email address]
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Dear Mr Demmery,
Please find internal review decision dated 8 May 2013 attached.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Grimble
HEAD OF LEGAL AND PROCUREMENT
Australian Hearing Hub
Level 5, 16 University Avenue
Macquarie University NSW 2109
T: (02) 9412 6919 | F: (02) 9412 6711 | 0412 182 075
[1][email address]
[2]www.hearing.com.au
This email is confidential. If received in error, please delete it from
your system.
Australian Hearing is a quality certified organisation.
(Certification no: 14272 to AS/NZS ISO 9001: 2008)
References
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2. http://www.hearing.com.au/
http://www.hearing.com.au/
Matthew Landauer left an annotation ()
I'm working with the IT people at Australian Hearing to resolve this email problem. It looks like there's probably something misconfigured at their end. Hopefully we'll get this sorted out quickly and get your FOI request going!