Frank N Fearless
By email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Frank N Fearless
Freedom of Information Request 53844 – Decision on access
I refer to the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act) request to the Department of Social Services
(
Department) on 28 May 2025. The request seeks access to:
The latest statement of meeting outcomes from the Administrative Review Council refers to the fol owing:
"responses received from .. Minister for Social Services and the Secretary, Department of Social Services in
relation to the Notice of Systemic Issue No. 1 of 2024"
I am authorised to make decisions in respect of FOI requests under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Decision
I have decided to grant partial access to the document sought by the request as it contains material that is
irrelevant to the request and deleted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
The document and my decision in relation to it is set out in the Schedule of Documents at
Attachment A
(
Schedule).
The reasons for my decision are set out in the Statement of Reasons at
Attachment B.
Review rights and complaints
Information concerning how you may seek a review of this decision or make a complaint about the handling
of this request is at
Attachment C.
Publication
Section 11C of the FOI Act requires agencies to publish details on how to access documents released in
response to FOI requests on their website within 10 days of release unless except where that publication
would be unreasonable.
GPO Box 9820 Canberra ACT 2601
Email Facsimile Telephone 1300 653 227
National Relay Service: TTY: 133 677, Speak and listen: 1300 555 727, Internet relay: www.relayservice.com.au
www.dss.gov.au
The document released in response to this request does not contain any information that would be
unreasonable to publish. As a result, details on how to access it wil be published on the Department’s
disclosure log within 10 days of this decision.
Contact
If you would like to discuss any aspect of my decision, please contact me at
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Sarah B
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
27 June 2025
Attachments
A – Schedule of Documents
B – Statement of Reasons
C – Review rights
ATTACHMENT A
SCHEDULE OF DOCUMENTS
Doc No Description of document
Decision
1.
Letter
Release in part
Secretary, Department of Social Services, response to Notice of Systemic Section 22 – email addresses and signatures
Issue No 1 of 2024 – Response under section 294B of Administrative
Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth)
ATTACHMENT B
STATEMENT OF REASONS
Material on which the decision is based
1. I relied on the following material in coming to this decision:
• the terms of the FOI request;
• the documents subject to the FOI request;
• advice from subject matter experts within the Department regarding the nature and sensitivity
of the document subject to the request;
• the FOI Act; and
• the Guidelines issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner under section
93A of the FOI Act (
FOI Guidelines).
Section 22 – Irrelevant material
2. Under section 22 of the FOI Act, the Department may delete material from documents that it
considers irrelevant to the scope of your request.
3. At the outset of this request, you agreed to exclude the following information from its scope:
a) all personal information of non-Senior Executive Service (SES) government staff;
b) all email addresses; and
c) all signatures.
4. Where present in the document, this information has been deleted under section 22 of the FOI Act.
ATTACHMENT C
INFORMATION ON REVIEW RIGHTS
You may seek review of this decision via:
(a) an internal review; or
(b) the Australian Information Commissioner (
Information Commissioner).
Internal review
If you apply for internal review, a fresh decision will be made by a different decision-maker within the
Department. An application for internal review must be:
(a) made in writing;
(b) made within 30 days of receiving this letter; and
(c) sent to
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
The application should also include the reasons why you think this decision should be reviewed.
If the internal review decision results in you not being provided access to all of the documents to which
you have requested access, you have the right to seek a further review by the Information
Commissioner.
Information Commissioner review
You can apply for the Information Commissioner to review this decision either immediately or following
an internal review decision. You must apply to the Information Commissioner within 60 days of the
receipt of this decision letter.
Further details on this process can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/.
COMPLAINTS TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner concerning actions taken by the
Department while exercising its powers or performing its functions under the FOI Act.
Further details on this process can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/.
