LEX 78069 Decision Decision Letter.pdf

If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610

29 February 2024

Our reference: LEX 78069
B

Only by email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear B,
Decision on your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request, received by Services Australia (the Agency) on 24 January 2024, and
revised on 5 February 2024 for access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI
Act) to the following documents:
Reports, briefs, and letters between the CEO and the Senior Executive Staff from
2021-2024, regarding the workforce management system.
o Please advise if: Communication to include emails between the CEO’s positional
mailbox and the Senior Executive Staff divisional positional mailboxes with the
following keywords:
“workforce” + “management” + “system”
“monitor” + “staff” + “breaks”
“implement”.
My decision
I have decided to refuse your request under section 24(1) of the FOI Act because a 'practical
refusal reason' still exists under section 24AA of the FOI Act. I am satisfied that the work
involved in processing your request would substantially and unreasonably divert the
resources of the Agency from its other operations as specified in section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the
FOI Act.
The reasons for my decision, including the relevant sections of the FOI Act, are set out in
Attachment A.
You can ask for a review of our decision
If you disagree with the decision you can ask for a review. There are two ways you can do
this. You can ask for an internal review from within the agency, or an external review by the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. You do not have to pay for a review of the
decision. See Attachment B for more information about how to request a review.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please email xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.

PAGE 1 OF 8

Yours sincerely

Elizabeth
FOI Officer
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Reviews Branch | Legal Services Division
Services Australia

PAGE 2 OF 8

If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610

Attachment A
REASONS FOR DECISION
What you requested
I am submitting a FOI request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, the
request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act, to gain insight into the
decision-making process regarding the monitoring of staff breaks within the
organization.

I am specifically seeking access to any correspondence, interactions, reports, briefs,
or documents related to the decision to implement a system for monitoring staff
breaks.

Moreover, I am interested in understanding the communication and involvement of
the CEO and general management in this decision-making process.

Additionally, I am requesting information about how staff are notified and warned
about the monitoring of their breaks, as well as the procedures in place for
performance management related to this matter.

Please provide any relevant documents, policies, or communication materials
pertaining to staff warnings and performance management in connection with breaks.
Request consultation process
On 2 February 2024, I wrote to you providing a notice of intention to refuse your request
under section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act as your request did not clearly identify the documents
you were seeking access to. I gave you an opportunity to consult with the Agency to revise
your request so as to remove the practical refusal reason. Specifically, the Agency
suggested clarifying the specific type and nature of the documents you were seeking, and
providing a sender/recipient, and keywords if you were seeking access to emails.
On 2 February 2024, you revised your request to be:
To gain insight into the decision-making process regarding the monitoring of staff
breaks within the Services Australia organization, seeking access to any
correspondence, interactions, reports, briefs, or documents related to the decision to
implement a system for monitoring staff breaks by the CEO and executive team.
On 5 February 2024, I wrote to you again providing a notice of intention to refuse your
request under section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act as your request did not clearly identify the
documents you were seeking access to. I explained your request for ‘correspondence’ was
very broad, and if this were to include emails, that we would require you to provide a
sender/recipient and relevant keywords to enable searches to be conducted. Further, I
advised it was likely a request for emails would capture a high volume of emails, of which
FOI would need to manually review to determine if they relate to the scope of your request.
To be assistive, I provided a suggested revised scope for your consideration.

PAGE 3 OF 8

On the same day you revised the scope of your request to:
Reports, briefs, and letters between the CEO and the Senior Executive Staff from
2021-2024, regarding the workforce management system.
o Please advise if: Communication to include emails between the CEO’s positional
mailbox and the Senior Executive Staff divisional positional mailboxes with the
following keywords:
“workforce” + “management” + “system”
“monitor” + “staff” + “breaks”
“implement”.
On 8 February 2024, I wrote to you providing a notice of intention to refuse your request
under section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act as your request was too big to process. I explained that
preliminary searches relating to the component of your request for emails identified more
than 950 emails based on the current terms of your request.
I gave you an opportunity to consult with the Agency to revise your request so as to remove
the practical refusal reason. Specifically, the Agency suggested either removing internal
emails from the scope of your request, or providing more information in relation to the emails
requested, such as limiting the sender/recipient list and providing more targeted keywords
that would be less likely to capture a broad range of irrelevant material. Further, I advised
that based on further consultations with internal business areas about the information you
were seeking, you might wish to consider requesting the Agency’s Rostering Policy.
On 14 February 2024, you advised that you did not wish to revise your request.
What I took into account
In reaching my decision I took into account:
  your original request dated 24 January 2024
  your revised requests on 2 February 2024, and 5 February 2024
  other discussions and correspondence with you on 8 February 2024
  the documents that fall within the scope of your request
  consultations with Agency officers about:
o  the nature of the documents
o  the Agency's operating environment and functions
  guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of
the FOI Act (the Guidelines), and
  the FOI Act.
Reasons for my decisions
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Following the request consultation process outlined above, in accordance with section 24AB
of the FOI Act, I am satisfied that a practical refusal reason still exists in that the work
involved in processing your request would substantially and unreasonably divert the
resources of the Agency from its other operations. The reasons for my decision, including
consideration of the factors I am required to take into account in section 24AA(2), are
outlined below.
PAGE 4 OF 8

Practical refusal reason
Section 24AA of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to a
request for a document if the work involved in processing the request would:
'substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other
operations'.
The word 'substantial' has previously been interpreted to mean severe, of some gravity, large
or weighty or of considerable amount, real or of substance and not insubstantial or of
nominal consequence. The use of the word 'unreasonable' has been interpreted to mean
that a weighing of all relevant considerations is needed, including the extent of the resources
needed to meet the request.
In determining whether processing the request would substantially and unreasonably divert
the Agency's resources, section 24AA(2) requires me to have regard to the resources that
would have to be used for the following:
  identifying, locating or collating the documents within the filing system of the Agency
  deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a document including resources
used for examining the document and consulting with any person or body in relation
to the request
  making a copy or an edited copy of the document, and
  notifying of any decision on the request.
In accordance with section 24AA(3), I did not consider your reasons for requesting access to
the documents.
Why your request is substantial
In making my decision I estimate that more than 950 emails would equate to over 83 hours of
processing time required to process this request.
I have estimated the time to process your request as follows:

Search and retrieval time
1 hour
Saving and converting the emails at an
31.5 hours
average of 2 minutes per page
Examine emails for decision making at an
47.5 hours
average of 3 minutes per page
Draft statement of reasons
3 hours
Total
83 hours

Why your request is unreasonable
For the purposes of deciding whether your request would unreasonably divert the resources
of the Agency from its other operations, I considered whether the substantial resource
burden would be unreasonable having regard to the following:
PAGE 5 OF 8

 one individual processing your request would be required to spend over 2 weeks and
1 day processing your request
 your request involves duplication of documents for example email trails which would
require identification and removal
As discussed above, I have estimated that your request would take approximately 83 hours
to process. The Agency receives approximately 300- 400 FOI requests per month, the
majority of which are requests from people seeking their own information. I am satisfied that
the processing of your request would divert Agency resources from the processing of these
other requests.
In making this finding, I have given weight to the significant possibility that the second
proposed narrowed scope of request could satisfactorily meet your legitimate interest in
seeking access to documents concerning the monitoring of staff breaks, and the
implementation of a system to monitor staff breaks.
Conclusion
In summary I am satisfied that the work involved in processing your request would
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the Agency from its other operations,
namely the processing of other FOI requests and the delivery of social services to all
Australians more broadly.
I have found that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to your request for access to the
documents. Accordingly, I have decided to refuse your request under section 24(1) of the
FOI Act.

PAGE 6 OF 8

If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610

Attachment B

INFORMATION ON RIGHTS OF REVIEW

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982

Asking for a full explanation of a freedom of information (FOI) decision
Before you ask for a formal review of a FOI decision, you can contact us to discuss your
request. We will explain the decision to you. This gives you a chance to correct
misunderstandings.
Asking for a formal review of an FOI decision
If you still believe a decision is incorrect, the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)
gives you the right to apply for a review of the decision. Under sections 54 and 54L of the
FOI Act, you can apply for a review of an FOI decision by:
1.  an Internal Review Officer in Services Australia (the Agency); and/or
2.  the Australian Information Commissioner.
Applying for an internal review by an Internal Review Officer
If you apply for internal review, a different decision maker to the Agency delegate who made
the original decision will carry out the review. The Internal Review Officer will consider all
aspects of the original decision and decide whether it should change. An application for
internal review must be:
  made in writing
  made within 30 days of receiving this letter
  sent to the address at the top of the first page of this letter, or by email to
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Note: You do not need to fill in a form. However, it is a good idea to set out any relevant
submissions you would like the Internal Review Officer to further consider, and your reasons
for disagreeing with the decision.
Applying for external review by the Australian Information Commissioner
If you do not agree with the original decision or the internal review decision, you can ask the
Australian Information Commissioner to review the decision.
If you do not receive a decision from an Internal Review Officer in the Agency within 30 days
of applying, you can ask the Australian Information Commissioner for a review of the original
FOI decision.
You will have 60 days to apply in writing for a review by the Australian Information
Commissioner.

PAGE 7 OF 8

You can lodge your application:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
Australian Information Commissioner
GPO
Box
5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx

Note: The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner generally prefers FOI
applicants to seek internal review before applying for external review by the Australian
Information Commissioner.
Important:
  If you are applying online, the application form the 'FOI Review Form' is available at
www.oaic.gov.au.
  If you have one, you should include with your application a copy of the Agency's
decision on your FOI request
  Include your contact details
  Set out your reasons for objecting to the Agency's decision.
Complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner and Commonwealth
Ombudsman
Australian Information Commissioner

You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner concerning action taken by
an agency in the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act,
There is no fee for making a complaint. A complaint to the Australian Information
Commissioner must be made in writing. The Australian Information Commissioner's contact
details are:

Telephone:    1300 363 992
Website:      www.oaic.gov.au

Commonwealth Ombudsman

You may also complain to the Commonwealth Ombudsman concerning action taken by an
agency in the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act. There is
no fee for making a complaint. A complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman may be
made in person, by telephone or in writing. The Commonwealth Ombudsman's contact
details are:

Phone: 1300 362 072
Website:      www.ombudsman.gov.au

The Commonwealth Ombudsman generally prefers applicants to seek review before
complaining about a decision.

PAGE 8 OF 8