LEX 75074
(MR25/01438)
Revised decision made under section 55G of the Freedom of Information
Act 1982
Decision and reason for decision of Amy (Position Number 62232671),
Assistant Director, Information Access Unit,
Client and Information Access Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Applicant:
Mr John MCNEILL
Date of deemed decision:
18 April 2025
LEX reference number:
LEX 75074
Revised decision date:
20 October 2025
OAIC reference number:
MR25/01438
Sent by email/SIGBOX:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr McNeill,
Freedom of Information Request: LEX 75074
1. The purpose of this correspondence is to advise you of a revised decision the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (
Department) has made under section 55G of the
Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (
FOI Act) in relation to LEX 75074.
2. The Department has undertaken a reasonable search of its records and has identified one
document relevant to your request.
3. I have made a decision to grant full access to one (1) document. The document that I have
chosen to grant access is set out in
Schedule 1.
Authority to make decision
4. I, Amy (Position Number 62232671), Assistant Director, Information Access Unit, Client and
Information Access 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.
1
Summary 5. On 18 March 2025, you made a request for access to a document in the possession of the
Department. Your request sought access to:
‘…
I am seeking the fol owing information:
- The number of compensation/injury claims submitted in each of the fol owing
years, 2022, 2023 and 2024 for:
- Claims submitted by ESO's,
- Claims submitted by Legal/Paid Advocacy entities, and
- Claims submitted by veterans themselves.
and in what state the veteran resides.
NOTE: By injury claims submitted, this is for the number of claim itself NOT CLAIMS
FOR SPECIFIC CONDITIONS (i.e. One claim with 5 separate conditions claimed is ONE
CLAIM)…’
6. On 18 March 2025, the Department acknowledged your request via email.
7. As no extensions of time were applied to process your request in accordance with the FOI
Act, a decision on your request was due by 17 April 2025.
8. In accordance with section 15AC of the FOI Act, the principal officer of the Department is
taken to have made a decision personally refusing to give access to the documents on the
last day of the initial decision period. Even where a decision has not been issued within the
prescribed timeframe, the Department retains an obligation to process and finalise the FOI
request. I would like to apologise for the delay in issuing this decision to you and any
inconvenience it may have caused.
9. On 13 August 2025, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) sent the
Department a notice under s 54Z of the FOI Act advising the Department that the OAIC had
commenced a review of the Department’s decision.
10. On 2 September 2025, the Department sent you a Section 24AB Consultation Notice to seek
clarification on the scope of your request. Furthermore, you were informed that the
Department intended to refuse access to the documents on practical refusal grounds. The
2
reason for this intention was that processing your request would substantial y and
unreasonably divert the Department’s resources from its other operations (section
24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act).
11. On 16 September 2025, you responded to the Section 24AB Consultation Notice and revised
the scope of your request:
‘…
The number of compensation/injury claims submitted in 2024 for
- Claims submitted by ESO's,
- Claims submitted by Legal/Paid Advocacy entities, and
- Claims submitted by veterans themselves.
and in what state the veteran resides.
NOTE: By injury claims submitted, this is for the number of claim itself NOT CLAIMS
FOR SPECIFIC CONDITIONS (i.e. One claim with 5 separate conditions claimed is ONE
CLAIM)...’
Material taken into account
12. 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 follows.
13. I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
the terms of your request on 18 March 2025 (and as revised on 16 September 2025);
the terms of your request for external review through the OAIC;
the types of documents that are in the possession of the Department;
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;
3
the relevant sections of the FOI Act; and
the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A
of the FOI Act (
FOI Guidelines).
14. A full extract of all FOI Act provisions used to make my decision are provided in
Schedule 2.
Reasons for decision
15. I have decided to
grant full access to the document within the scope of your request.
Creation of a document in response to your FOI request (section 17)
16. After consultation with the Client Benefits Division, it was determined that information
relevant to your request was not entirely held by the Department in a discrete document
form.
17. In order to provide you access to al relevant information regarding your request, it was
requested the Data & Insights Branch extract the data listed in the Department’s wider
database to create a document.
18. This document is comprised of a table that exhibits the count of initial liability and
permanent impairment claims by submission type and client residential state for 2024.
19. Please note that the Department was unable to provide accurate data for one part of the
scope of your request, namely:
‘…
claims submitted by Legal/Paid Advocacy entities…’
20. The Advocate Submission Claim Count of the table includes Ex-Service Organisations (ESO),
legal entities, family members/friends, and Fee-for-Service Advocates. Reliable data is not
currently col ected by DVA to be able to distinguish between these distinct Advocate types.
21. This document is listed in
Schedule 1. This document was created in accordance with section
17 of the FOI Act.
Access to documents
22. The document released to you in accordance with the FOI Act is enclosed.
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Information Publication Scheme
23. 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.
24. 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.
Application for Information Commissioner Review – request to withdraw application
25. Given the Department has now provided you with a revised decision, we seek your views
regarding withdrawing your application for IC Review before the OAIC.
26. We confirm that we wil provide the OAIC with a copy of this revised decision in accordance
with section 55G(2)(a) of the FOI Act.
Your rights of review
27. If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may advise the OAIC that you do not wish to
withdraw your application for IC Review.
28. You can contact the OAIC in one of the fol owing ways:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Facsimile:
(02) 9284 9666
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
In person: Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
29. More information about your review rights under the FOI Act is available in Fact Sheet 12
published by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
http://oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-resources/freedom-of-information-fact-
sheets/foi-factsheet-12-your-review-rights
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Contact us
30. 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,
Amy (Position Number 62232671)
Assistant Director
Information Access Unit
Client and Information Access Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
20 October 2025
6
LEX 75074
(MR25/01438)
Schedule 1
Schedule of documents
Applicant:
Mr John McNeill
Decision date:
20 October 2025
LEX reference number:
LEX 75074
Document Date of
Document description
Page
Decision Exemption
reference document
number
provision
1
2024
Section 17 Document
1-2
Full Access
Nil
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LEX 75074
(MR25/01438)
Schedule 2
Schedule of relevant provisions in the FOI Act
3
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 d
iscrete 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.
26
Reasons and other particulars of decisions to be given
(1)
Where, in relation to a request, a decision is made relating to a refusal to grant access to a
document in accordance with the request or deferring provision of access to a document,
the decision-maker shall cause the applicant to be given notice in writing of the decision,
and the notice shal :
(a)
state the findings on any material questions of fact, referring to the material on
which those findings were based, and state the reasons for the decision; and
(aa)
in the case of a decision to refuse to give access to a conditionally exempt
document—include in those reasons the public interest factors taken into account
in making the decision; and
Note:
Access must general y be given to a conditional y exempt document unless it would be contrary to the public
interest (see section 11A).
(b)
where the decision relates to a document of an agency, state the name and
designation of the person giving the decision; and
(c)
give to the applicant appropriate information concerning:
(i)
his or her rights with respect to review of the decision;
(ii)
his or her rights to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner in
relation to the decision; and
(iii)
the procedure for the exercise of the rights referred to in subparagraphs (i)
and (ii); including (where applicable) particulars of the manner in which an
application for internal review (Part VI) and IC review (Part VII) may be
made.
(1A)
Section 13 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 does not apply to a
decision referred to in subsection (1).
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(2)
A notice under this section is not required to contain any matter that is of such a nature
that its inclusion in a document of an agency would cause that document to be an exempt
document.
(see section 11A).
55G
Procedure in IC review--revocation or variation of access refusal decision
(1) An agency or Minister may vary (or set aside and substitute) an access refusal decision (the
original decision ) in relation to a request or an application under section 48 at any time
during an IC review of the access refusal decision if the variation or substitution (the revised
decision ) would have an effect of:
(a) giving access to a document in accordance with the request; or
(b) relieving the IC review applicant from liability to pay a charge; or
(c) requiring a record of personal information to be amended or annotated in
accordance with the application.
Note: When making the revised decision, a consultation requirement under section 26A
(documents affecting Commonwealth-State relations etc.), 27 (business documents)
or 27A (documents affecting personal privacy) may apply.
(2) If an agency or Minister varies (or sets aside and substitutes) an access refusal decision
under subsection (1):
(a) the agency or Minister must, in writing, notify the Information Commissioner as
soon as practicable after the agency or Minister makes the variation or
substitution; and
(b) the Information Commissioner must deal with the IC review application for review
of the original decision as if it were an IC review application for the review of the
varied or substituted decision, subject otherwise to this Part.
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Document Outline
