LEX 57211
Decision and Statement of reasons issued under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982
Decision and reasons for decision of Ramona (Position Number 62336362), Assistant Director,
Information Access Unit, Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch, Department of Veterans’
Affairs
Applicant:
Mr Alan L. Ashmore
Decision date:
12 May 2023
FOI reference number:
LEX 57211
Sent by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Freedom of Information Request: LEX 57211
Decision
1. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (
Department) has undertaken a reasonable search of its
records and, in accordance with section 17 of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
(
FOI Act), I have made a decision to create and grant access in full to one (1) document that
meets the scope of your request.
2. The document that I have chosen to grant access to is set out in
Schedule 1.
Authority to make decision
3. I, Ramona (Position Number 62336362), Assistant Director, Information Access Unit, Client
Access and Rehabilitation Branch, am an officer authorised by the Secretary of the
Department to make decisions about access to documents in the possession of the
Department in accordance with section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
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Summary
4. On 13 April 2023, you made a request for access to a document in the possession of the
Department. Your request sought access to:
‘…With reference to Open Arms, I require the fol owing information, namely:
: The number of full time equivalent, (FTE), APS staff,
: The number of FTE contracted staff, and
: The percentage of total staff involved in the fol owing activities:
- Administration/clerical duties,
- Frontline counsel ing, and
- Managing contracted staff…’
5. On 14 April 2023, the Department acknowledged your request via email.
6. As no extensions of time have been applied to process your request, a decision on your
request is due by 15 May 2023.
7. I have decided not to impose a charge in relation to this request, in accordance with
Regulation 8 of the
Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019.
Material taken into account
8. In accordance with section 26(1)(a) of the FOI Act, my findings on any material question of
fact, the material on which those findings were based, and the reasons for my decision to
grant access to the document fol ows.
9. I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
the terms of your request on 13 April 2023;
the types of information and documents that are in the Department’s possession;
the content of the document that fal s within the scope of your request;
the availability of information relevant to your request, including the practicality and
time required in which the Department may create a document under section 17 of
the FOI Act;
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Sections 3, 11 and 11A of the FOI Act which give the Australian community a legally
enforceable right to obtain access to information held by the Government of the
Commonwealth. I also considered the following provision of the FOI Act relevant to my
decision:
- Section 15 Request for Access
- Section 17 Requests involving use of computers etc. (e.g. request for the
Department to create a document)
the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (
FOI Guidelines).
10. A full extract of all FOI Act provisions used to make my decision are provided in
Schedule 2.
Reasons for decision
11. I have decided to
grant ful access to the document within the scope of your request.
Creation of a document in response to your FOI request (section 17)
12. After consultation with the Mental Health & Wellbeing Services Division, it was determined
that information relevant to your request was not entirely held by the Department in a
discrete document form.
13. In order to provide you with access to all relevant information regarding your request, the
Mental Health & Wellbeing Services Division extracted the data from the Department’s
wider database to create a document in accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act.
14. The document, which listed in
Schedule 1, is comprised of data about FTE for APS staff. FTE
is not recorded for Non-APS staff, therefore a head count has been provided instead.
Access to documents
15. The document released to you in accordance with the FOI Act is enclosed.
Information Publication Scheme
16. The Information Publication Scheme requires the Department to publish information
released in response to individual requests made under the FOI Act, except in specified
circumstances.
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17. I am of the view that details of your request should be made available on the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log. As such, details of your request will be published on the Department’s
FOI Disclosure Log which can be accessed at
http://www.dva.gov.au/about-dva/freedom-
information/foi-disclosure-log. Please note that the Department does not publish details of
FOI applicants, it only publishes details of the FOI request and the documents released in
response to the request.
Your rights of review
18. If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or request the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) review my decision. We
encourage you to seek internal review as a first step to resolve any concerns you may have.
Internal review
19. Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Department for an Internal
Review of my decision. The Internal Review application must be made within 30 days of the
date of this letter. Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the
decision is necessary. The internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30
days.
20. You can make your application for Internal Review in one of the following ways:
Post:
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
OAIC review
21. Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the OAIC to review my decision. An
application for review by OAIC must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of this
letter, and be lodged in one of the fol owing ways:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
Director of FOI Dispute Resolution
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Facsimile:
(02) 9284 9666
Phone:
1300 363 992
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
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22. More information about your review rights under the FOI Act is available in Fact Sheet 12
published by the OAIC:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-
complaints/information-commissioner-review/
Contact us
23. If you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the Information Access
Unit using the following details:
Online:
https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview/reporting/freedom-
information/access-information
Post:
Information Access Unit
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001
Phone:
1800 838 372
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Ramona (Position Number 62336362)
Assistant Director
Information Access Unit
Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
12 May 2023
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LEX 57211
Schedule 1
Schedule of documents
Applicant:
Mr Alan L. Ashmore
Decision date:
12 May 2023
FOI reference number:
LEX 57211
Document Date of
Document description
Page
Decision
FOI Act
reference document
number
provision
1
24/03/2023 Open Arms data 31/03/2023
1
Release
s 17
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LEX 57211
Schedule 2
Schedule of relevant provisions in the FOI Act
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Objects—general
(1)
The objects of this Act are to give the Australian community access to information held by
the Government of the Commonwealth or the Government of Norfolk Island, by:
(a)
requiring agencies to publish the information; and
(b)
providing for a right of access to documents.
(2)
The Parliament intends, by these objects, to promote Australia’s representative democracy
by contributing towards the fol owing:
(a)
increasing public participation in Government processes, with a view to promoting
better informed decision-making;
(b)
increasing scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of the Government’s
activities.
(3)
The Parliament also intends, by these objects, to increase recognition that information held
by the Government is to be managed for public purposes, and is a national resource.
(4)
The Parliament also intends that functions and powers given by this Act are to be
performed and exercised, as far as possible, to facilitate and promote public access to
information, promptly and at the lowest reasonable cost.
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Right of access
(1)
Subject to this Act, every person has a legally enforceable right to obtain access in
accordance with this Act to:
(a)
a document of an agency, other than an exempt document; or
(b)
an official document of a Minister, other than an exempt document.
(2)
Subject to this Act, a person’s right of access is not affected by:
(a)
any reasons the person gives for seeking access; or
(b)
the agency’s or Minister’s belief as to what are his or her reasons for seeking
access.
11A Access to documents on request
Scope
(1)
This section applies if:
(a)
a request is made by a person, in accordance with subsection 15(2), to an agency or
Minister for access to:
(i)
a document of the agency; or
(ii)
an official document of the Minister; and
(b)
any charge that, under the regulations, is required to be paid before access is given
has been paid.
(2)
This section applies subject to this Act.
Note:
Other provisions of this Act are relevant to decisions about access to documents, for example the fol owing:
(a)
section 12 (documents otherwise available);
(b)
section 13 (documents in national institutions);
(c)
section 15A (personnel records);
(d)
section 22 (access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted).
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Mandatory access—general rule
(3)
The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document in accordance with
this Act, subject to this section.
Exemptions and conditional exemptions
(4)
The agency or Minister is not required by this Act to give the person access to the
document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is an exempt document.
Note:
Access may be given to an exempt document apart from under this Act, whether or not in response to a request
(see section 3A (objects—information or documents otherwise accessible)).
(5)
The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally
exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that
time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
Note 1: Division 3 of Part IV provides for when a document is conditional y exempt.
Note 2: A conditional y exempt document is an exempt document if access to the document would, on balance, be
contrary to the public interest (see section 31B (exempt documents for the purposes of Part IV)).
Note 3: Section 11B deals with when it is contrary to the public interest to give a person access to the document.
(6)
Despite subsection (5), the agency or Minister is not required to give access to the
document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is both:
(a)
a conditional y exempt document; and
(b)
an exempt document:
(i)
under Division 2 of Part IV (exemptions); or
(ii)
within the meaning of paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of exempt
document in subsection 4(1).
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Requests for access (as related to the requirements for requests)
Persons may request access
(1) Subject to section 15A, a person who wishes to obtain access to a document of an agency
or an official document of a Minister may request access to the document.
Requirements for request
(2)
The request must:
(a)
be in writing; and
(aa) state that the request is an application for the purposes of this Act; and
(b)
provide such information concerning the document as is reasonably necessary to
enable a responsible officer of the agency, or the Minister, to identify it; and
(c)
give details of how notices under this Act may be sent to the applicant (for
example, by providing an electronic address to which notices may be sent by
electronic communication).
(2A) The request must be sent to the agency or Minister. The request may be sent in any of the
following ways:
(a)
delivery to an officer of the agency, or a member of the staff of the Minister, at the
address of any central or regional office of the agency or Minister specified in a
current telephone directory;
(b)
postage by pre-paid post to an address mentioned in paragraph (a);
(c)
sending by electronic communication to an electronic address specified by the
agency or Minister.
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Requests involving use of computers etc.
(1)
Where:
(a)
a request (including a
request in relation to which
a practical refusal reason exists)
is made in accordance with the requirements o
f subsection 15(2) to an
agency;
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(b)
It appears from the
request that the desire of th
e applicant is for information that
is not available in discrete form in writte
n documents of the
agency; and
(ba)
it does not appear from the
request that th
e applicant wishes to be provided with
a computer tape or computer disk on which the information is recorded; and
(c)
th
e agency could produce a written
document containing the information in
discrete form by:
(i) the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the
agency for retrieving or collating stored information; or
(ii) the making of a transcript from a sound recording held in th
e agency;
th
e agency shall deal with the
request as if it were
a request for access to a written
document so produced and containing that information and, for that purpose, this Act
applies as if th
e agency had such
a document in its possession.
(2)
An
agency is not required to comply wit
h subsection (1) if compliance would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of the
agency from its other operations.
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Decisions to be made by authorised persons
(1)
Subject to subsection (2), a decision in respect of a request made to an agency may be
made, on behalf of the agency, by the responsible Minister or the principal officer of the
agency or, subject to the regulations, by an officer of the agency acting within the scope of
authority exercisable by him or her in accordance with arrangements approved by the
responsible Minister or the principal officer of the agency.
(2)
A decision in respect of a request made to a court, or made to a tribunal, authority or body
that is specified in Schedule 1, may be made on behalf of that court, tribunal, authority or
body by the principal officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body or, subject to the
regulations, by an officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body acting within the scope
of authority exercisable by him or her in accordance with arrangements approved by the
principal officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body.
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Document Outline
