Your Ref
Our Ref
LEX 638
Me
Right to Know
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Me
Your Freedom of Information request - charge
I refer to your revised request, received by the Department of Education (department) on 30
June 2023, for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the fol owing
documents:
1. Any emails or written correspondence that are:
a. dated 7 March - 29 November 2022, and
b. related to the amendment to s 67CC(2) (including documents that do not directly
mention s 67CC(2) but form part of the considerations that resulted in an
amendment to s 67CC(2) being sought), and
c. not already released via [FOI request to Services Australia with reference number]
LEX71589, and
d. sent or received by an entity acting on behalf of the Department of Education
(e.g., employee, contractor, etc.). This includes emails or written correspondence
sent directly to or received directly from an external source (e.g., a minister's office).
2. Any documents in the possession of the Department of Education that explain or could be
perceived to explain why, from page 2, 'we [the Department of Education?] are looking at
amending s 67CC(2)(d)'
3. Any documents in the possession of the Department of Education that confirm who the
'we' is in 2 above
4. Any documents in the possession of the Department of Education, not covered by point 2
above, that provide information as to what caused, prompted, or contributed to, the
Department of Education making the 28 July 2022 request for advice (page 2).
GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | www.education.gov.au | ABN 12 862 898 150
5. I am not clear whether the 'comprehensive layperson explanation for internal use only'
was later published. Assuming it was not published, or that the internal version is different to
the published version, I request the final version of the 'comprehensive layperson
explanation for internal use only'.
6. A document setting out, from page 5, any/al 'Minister's Rule changes by 1 July 2023' that
are consequent to or otherwise relate to the amendment to s 67CC(2)
7. [A document containing] The names of any CCS claimants, where the Department of
Education considered those claimants' claims as part of considering s 67CC(2) amendments
(e.g., as an example of why the amendment was needed, or a case study of what the
amendment would achieve, or similar). I wil grant extensions of time to consult with the
relevant third party CCS claimants
8. To the extent not included in point 5 above, a copy of (from page 9) 'the taper graph
demonstrating the new CCS rates and a very handy layperson explanation of the
amendments in the ED'
9. Documents that set out why the Department of Education thought it mattered to make it
so that, from page 15 at [73], 'It would not matter whether or not the child received care for
which another individual was receiving CCS.'
10. Documents that set out why, from page 15 at [74], the 'policy intent' needed to be
clarified.
11. Documents… that consider and/or justify, from page 15 at [75], the retrospective
application of the amendment.
12. Copies of any emails or written correspondence related to [FOI request to Services
Australia with reference number] LEX71589 that were sent or received by an SES or
equivalent (regardless of which department the SES worked for, and regardless of whether
they were in the 'to', 'from, 'cc', or 'bcc' field).
13. Copies of any emails or written correspondence related to [FOI request to Services
Australia with reference number] LEX71589 that were sent or received by a minister,
minister's office, or ministerial staff (regardless of which minister, and regardless of whether
they were in the 'to', 'from, 'cc', or 'bcc' field).
14. Correspondence internal to the Department of Education related to [FOI request to
Services Australia with reference number] LEX71589
15. Correspondence sent to/from the Department of Education/Services Australia and vice
versa related to [FOI request to Services Australia with reference number] LEX71589
On 27 June 2023, I notified you of my decision to affirm the imposition of the adjusted
charge in relation to your FOI request dated 17 April 2023. On 30 June 2023, you revised the
scope of your request as follows:
May I please amend the scope to exclude point 15, and to exclude documents that are
already published (provided they are already published in full with no redactions).
Noting the revised terms of your request, I have recalculated the preliminary assessment of
the charge payable for the processing of your revised request and my calculation is below.
Preliminary assessment of the charge
Under the FOI Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a charge for the processing of
your revised request. My preliminary assessment of the charge is $235.00, calculated as
follows:
Search and retrieval time: 5 hours, at $15.00 per hour
$75.00
Decision-making time including consultation with relevant third parties, after
$160.00
deduction of 5 hours*: 8 hours, at $20.00 per hour
TOTAL
$235.00
*The FOI Act provides that the first five hours of decision-making time are free of charge and this is reflected in
the calculation.
I am advised that, with the exclusion of part 15 from the scope of your request, the
department has in its possession 17 documents with approximately 110 pages relevant to
your revised request. As noted in the charge decision sent to you on 27 June 2023, I
excluded publicly available information from the calculation of the adjusted charge.
Accordingly, the exclusion of publicly available information from the scope of your revised
request has not affected the charge calculation for your revised request.
Required action
If you would like the department to continue processing your revised request, you must
notify the department in writing within 30 days of receiving this notice that you:
• agree to pay the charge
• wish to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, should be reduced or
not imposed or both or
• withdraw your revised request.
If you do not respond within 30 days, your revised request wil be taken to have been
withdrawn by the operation of the FOI Act.
Option - pay the charge
As the charge exceeds $25, you are required to pay a deposit of $58.75, which is 25% of the
total charge amount, within 30 days of receiving this notice. You may elect to pay the charge
in full at this point.
Payment can be made by credit card by completing the attached credit card authorisation
and sending a scanned copy to xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
If you are unable to pay by credit card, please contact us on the above email.
Please note that the charge is a fee for processing your request, not a payment for access to
documents. Payment of the charge does not guarantee you access to any or all of the
documents you have requested. Access to documents wil be considered by the decision
maker in accordance with the FOI Act.
Option - seek reduction or non-imposition of the charge
If you want to ask the department to reduce or not to impose the charge, you should tel us
why and give us evidence to support your reasons. You may wish to tell us:
• whether paying the charge would cause you financial hardship and/or
• whether access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the interest
of a substantial section of the public.
We must take these matters into account in deciding whether or not to reduce or not
impose the charge.
Time limits for processing your request
Under the FOI Act, the time limit for processing your request remains suspended from today
until the day fol owing payment of the charge (in full or the required deposit) or, if
applicable, the day following a decision not to impose the charge.
To assist you, I have set out the relevant sections of the FOI Act at
Attachment A.
Further assistance
As an alternative, you may wish to consider further revising the scope of your request. If you
would like to revise your request further, please email xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Alison
Authorised decision maker
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
4 July 2023
Attachment A
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
Charge
Section 29(1) of the FOI Act provides that, where the department decides that an applicant is
liable to pay a charge in respect of a request for access to a document, or the provision of
access to a document, the department must give the applicant written notice. The notice
must state, among other things, that the applicant must within 30 days after the notice was
given tell the department in writing that the applicant:
• agrees to pay the charge
• wishes to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced
or not imposed or both or
• wishes to withdraw the request.
Under section 29(2) of the FOI Act, if the applicant does not do one of these things within 30
days, the request wil be taken to have been withdrawn.
