LEX 62195
Decision and Statement of reasons
Decision and reason for decision of Joshua (Position Number 62336362),
Assistant Director, Information Access Unit,
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations Branch, Department of Veterans' Affairs
Applicant:
Mr Trent Morrison-Francis
Decision date:
8 April 2024
LEX reference number:
LEX 62195
Sent by email,:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Morrison-Francis,
Information Access Request: LEX 62195 and MR23/01528
Purpose of this notice
1.
I provide this statement of reasons to explain the department’s informal decision to refuse
access to your revised request on the basis that the fol owing practical refusal reasons exist:
a. Processing your request, as best the Department can understand the terms, is likely to
result in a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources from
its other operations.
Authority to make decision
2.
I, Joshua (Position Number 62336362), Assistant Director, Information Access Unit,
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations, am an officer authorised by the Secretary
of the Department to make decisions about access to documents in the possession of the
Department.
Scope of your request
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3.
On 31 October 2023 you made a request for access to documents in the possession of the
Department. Your request sought access to:
‘…'I am seeking:
Al active Memorandum of Understanding, Heads of Agreement, Data Sharing
Agreements, and Service Contracts that result in the sharing of veteran data, even if
de-identified.
Similar documents for programs that ceased within the last 10 years….’
4.
On 1 November 2023, the Department acknowledged your request via email.
5.
On 21 November 2023 I requested further clarification in relation to your scope and whether
there were any opportunities to further refine it.
6.
On 25 November 2023 you responded with the fol owing:
‘…Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,
I am asking for any agreements that affect more than 10 veterans where your
department provides veterans data to a third party such as University for SA,
Services Australia, RSL etc…’
7.
On 20 March 2024 I consulted with you and I advised you, that I intend to refuse your
request on the basis that a practical refusal reason exists. In this consultation I provided
information on how you could adjust your scope and requested you provide a response by
COB 27 March 2024. It was also indicated that in the absence of a response by 27 March
2024, the request wil be taken to have been withdrawn.
Reasons for my decision
8.
If the Department is satisfied that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to a request,
then the Department must undertake a consultation process with you, and if, after that
consultation process, the Department remains satisfied that the practical refusal reason stil
exists, the Department may refuse to give you access to the documents subject to the
request.
9.
The due date for your response, 27 March 2024 has since lapsed and the Department has
not received a response to revise the scope. We wil consider this request to have been
withdrawn.
When does a practical refusal reason exist
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10. The practical refusal reason applicable to your request is that:
a. processing your request, as best the Department can understand the terms, is likely to
result in a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department’s resources from
its other operations.
Request is substantial
11. The Department must have regard to the resources that would have to be used for:
• identifying, locating or col ating the documents within the filing system of the
agency;
• deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a document to which the
request relates, or to grant access to an edited copy of such a document (including
resources that would have to be used for examining the document or consulting
with any person or body in relation to the request);
• making a copy or an edited copy, of the document; and
• notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
12. Further, we have identified matters that may be relevant when deciding whether processing
the request will unreasonably divert an agency’s resources from its other functions. These
include:
• the staffing resources available to the agency for processing;
• the impact that processing a request may have on other work in the agency,
including processing;
• whether an applicant has cooperated in framing a request to reduce the processing
workload;
• whether there is a significant public interest in the documents requested; and
• other steps taken by an agency or minister to publish information of the kind
requested by an applicant.
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13. Based on the original scope and the clarification received on 25 November 2023 the business
area have redirected 4 staff from their current duties who have accumulated approximately
60 hours conducting manual and thorough searches within records management systems,
internal drives, coordinated several meetings to locate the documents requested, as well as
review the documents found. To date, it is approximated that only 3 years’ worth of
documents have been located, mainly consisting of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The scope is for the past 10 years and the business area have calculated that it would take
an additional 125-150 hours of work in order to source and review the remaining 7 years of
documents within your request, when you extrapolate the time taken already for only the
first 3 years. In addition to what the business area has been able to locate, they have also
indicated that additional searches wil need to be conducted by al Divisions within DVA,
requesting additional resources in order to locate agreements that each Division is
responsible for. Upon location of these additional agreements, those Divisions will also be
required to review and analyse. Additional y, there wil be documents found that are
between DVA and various external agencies. These external agencies could be other
government departments, businesses within the private sector, educational institutions, or
medical providers to name a few. Requested documents that relate to multiple third parties
and their personal and or business information will require third party consultations.
14. Based on the documents currently on hand, it is estimated that conservatively, DVA wil
require an additional 117 hours of processing time to clear the documents currently located.
The reasons for this are as follows:
• Based on the documents currently on hand, it is estimated that there are
approximately 2000 pages of material relevant to your request based on a highly
conservative average of 10 pages per document. These 2000 pages are contained
over 200 documents identified as being relevant to your request.
• The business area have calculated, based on the documents they have been able to
locate that it would stil require an additional 50 hours of work to review and
comment for clearance to the IAU.
• As there currently approximately 2000 pages within the documents we have been
able to locate. Assuming this material can be converted, collated, analysed, and
exemptions applied at a minimum average of 2 minutes per page, this equates to
approximately 67 hours of processing time.
• Further to the previous point, a statement of reasons wil need to be provided to
you. I anticipate that it would take approximately 2 hours to draft the statement of
reason for this decision.
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• In addition to the above is the extra time that wil be required to complete the
request in its entirety. The business area have indicated an additional minimum of
125 hours to source the documents. There would also be the times associated with
all DVA Divisions conducting their own searches and reviews, as well as the
processing times required by the IAU to provide this to the applicant.
15. Taking these factors into account, I have concluded the request is substantial.
Request is unreasonable
16. I have considered whether the substantial resource burden would be unreasonable having
regard to the following:
• 117 hours
of processing time for what is currently available is, at face value, an
unreasonable burden for a single request, taking into account the need to process
multiple requests at any given time, and the impact such a burden would have on
responding to other applicants and for the relevant business area to undertake
their designated duties.
• As aforementioned, 4 staff were previously removed from their business as usual
responsibilities in order to obtain documents related only to the past 3 years. The
business area would require the continued application of those 4 staff in order to
complete your request. The 4 staff represent 10% of the business areas’ capabilities
and taking them from their business as usual responsibilities would be of detriment
to their overall capabilities and various stakeholders.
• Additional y, each Division within the Department would be required to source and
review documents within the scope of the request. With over 10 Divisions within
DVA, this would at minimum require an additional 2 staff per Division in order to
source, analyse, and clear with the Information Access Unit.
• At a minimum, it is anticipated that 25 staff within the Department, when you
include the Information Access Officer, that would be required at various APS and
SES levels in order to process this request, taking them away from their business as
usual responsibilities in supporting Veterans’ and their Families through the various
programs available within DVA.
• While there is a level of interest related to DVA’s sharing of data, the public interest
has been focused on the Medicines Advice and Therapeutics Education Services
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(MATES) program and the consent surrounding it. The scope of the request expands
beyond the MATES program and during informal consult, the scope was not
reframed nor clarification provided in a way that would reduce the current
processing workload and there is little evidence to suggest that there is a significant
public interest in the documents, outside of those related specifical y to the MATES
program.
• Due to the broad nature of your request the relevant business areas would be
required to spend a significant amount of time and resources in document retrieval
and scoping activities.
17. Taking the above factors into account, I am of the view that the request as it currently stands
is unreasonable, as well as substantial.
Summary of my informal decision
18. In summary, I am satisfied that:
a. processing your request, as best the Department can understand the terms, is likely
to result in a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the Department's resources
from its other operations.
Your rights of review
19. If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may request the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (
OAIC) review my decision. We note that you currently have a
review with the OAIC under MR23/01528. This decision letter will also be provided to the
OAIC for their records and to address the IC review they currently have with the
Department.
Contact us
20. 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
6
Phone:
1800 838 372
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Joshua (Position Number 62336362)
Assistant Director
Information Access Unit
Ministerial, International & Stakeholder Relations Branch
8 April 2024
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Document Outline
