PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
17 November 2023
Our reference: LEX 76729
Trent Morrison-Francis
Right to Know
Only by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Morrison-Francis
Your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request, received by Services Australia (the Agency) on 31 October 2023 for
access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the following documents:
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. I am looking for similar documents for programs and agreements that
ceased within the last 10 years or are stil active.
Your request involves too much work for the Agency
Your Freedom of Information (FOI) request covers a wide range of documents. We are
asking you to revise your request because of the amount of work involved for the Agency.
Additionally, your request is unclear and does not sufficiently identify the documents you
require.
The Agency is formally consulting with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act.
This letter is giving you an opportunity to provide us with specific information about the
documents you need. Providing this additional information wil assist the Agency in
processing your request.
If you decide not to provide further information or revise your request, I wil have to refuse
your FOI request as a 'practical refusal reason' exists. For a more detailed explanation of
what this means, including some suggestions on what to consider when revising your
request, please see
Attachment A.
How to send us a 'revised request'
Before I make a final decision on your request, you can narrow the size of your original
request and submit a revised request.
Within the next 14 days you must do one of the following, in writing:
• withdraw the request
PAGE 1 OF 5
PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
• make a revised request, or
• tell us you do not want to revise your request.
Your response wil be expected by
1 December 2023. If you do not contact us during the 14
day consultation period, your matter wil be taken as withdrawn by operation of the FOI Act.
Contact officer
I am the contact officer for your request. During the consultation period you are welcome to
ask for my help in revising your request. You can contact me:
• via email to
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx, or
• in writing to the address at the top of this letter.
Note: When you contact us please quote the reference number FOI LEX 76729.
Further assistance
If you have any questions, please email
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Alexander
FOI Officer
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Ombudsman Branch | Legal Services Division
Services Australia
PAGE 2 OF 5
PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
Attachment A
What I took into account
You requested access under the FOI Act to the following documents:
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. I am looking for similar documents for programs and agreements that
ceased within the last 10 years or are stil active.
On 8 November 2023, I consulted with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You
responded to my consultation on 14 November 2023. Your response was:
Dear FREEDOMOFINFORMATION,
It appears that services Australia among DVA are the perpetrators of the Mates
privacy breach -
https://www.dva.gov.au/news/latest-stories/statement-department-
veterans-affairs-veterans-mates-program-update
It’s not unreasonable to ask the department what other persons you are receiving our
data about nor who you are sharing it with.
For clarity I am at this stage only looking for data that is only specific to veterans and
not general streams like interest information, company data etc. to be clearl it’s only
schemes and sharing that relates specifically to veterans such as income sharing with
DVA, hearing services entitlement checking, sharing DVA holders bil ing history to SA
University and other providers though Proda etc.
I loo forward to you working with me for a new scope
Yours sincerely,
Trent Morrison-Francis
As your request currently stands, it requires too much work for the Agency, and I am unable
to identify the documents falling within the scope of your request. Consequently, I am unable
to process your request.
Further internal consultations have identified that the information you provided in response to
my consultation on 14 November 2023, does not change the Agency’s original position that
we would stil be required to review over 900 documents to capture a decade of exchanges.
As advised in our previous consultation letter on 8 November 2023, Veterans’ data is not
mutually exclusive to agreements between the Department of Veterans’ Af airs (DVA) and
Services Australia (the Agency), as Veteran information may be shared in conjunction with
our business-as-usual Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support and administrative service offers,
or where information is provided to support other Federal entities to assist their
administrative responsibilities.
Although you provided further information regarding your request, there would still be a
significant amount of work required from a large number of areas within the Agency to
facilitate this request, as this request could still extend to every exchange which
may include
Veterans’ data. Therefore, I consider the processing time for your request in its current form
PAGE 3 OF 5
PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the Agency from its other
operations.
From the information you provided in your response to my consultation on 14 November
2023, I seek clarification on:
• What is meant by income sharing with DVA?
• What hearing services entitlements are you referring to (is this income, allowance,
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item numbers etc)?
• What does a “DVA holders billing history” mean?
• what is meant by “providers through Proda”?
Suggestions on revising your request
To enable the Agency to process your request, I recommend that you provide additional
information relating to the documents you are seeking access to, or otherwise consider
revising the scope of your request. To assist you in providing additional information to the
Agency to revise the scope of your request, you may wish to consider:
• Providing the title of the documents you are seeking access to
• Providing the format of the documents that you are seeking access to
• Providing further information about the content of the documents that you are seeking
access to
• Limiting your request to a smaller timeframe, or an ‘as at’ date, or
• Excluding particular documents that are not of interest.
If you do not sufficiently revise your request, I intend to refuse your FOI request as a
'practical refusal reason' exists under sections 24AA(1)(b) and 24 of the FOI Act. Under the
FOI Act, the practical refusal reason is your request does not satisfy the requirements in
section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act (identification of documents).
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act provides a practical refusal reason exists in relation to a
FOI request if the work involved in processing the request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of the Agency from its other operations.
Section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act sets out certain factors which the Agency must consider
when determining whether providing access in relation to a request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the Agency's resources. The Agency must specifically have regard to the
resources which would have to be used for:
• identifying, locating or collating the documents within Services Australia's filing
system
• 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 in relation to the
request
PAGE 4 OF 5
PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
• making a copy, or an edited copy, of the document, and
• notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
Section 24AB(6) of the FOI Act provides the applicant must, before the end of the
consultation period, do one of the following, by written notice to the Agency or the Minister:
• withdraw the request,
• make a revised request, or
• indicate that the applicant does not wish to revise the request.
Section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act provides the request is taken to have been withdrawn at the
end of the consultation period if:
• the applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice, or
• the applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
PAGE 5 OF 5
