OFFICIAL
Our ref: FOI-2025-80080
13 August 2025
Mr Doug Steley By ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Steley
Freedom of Information request - Access decision
1. I refer to your 14 July 2025 request to this Office under the
Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (FOI Act), for access to documents in the following terms:
‘Dear Commonwealth Ombudsman,
I would like to request under Australian Federal Freedom of Information Law how
many complaints were lodged with the Office of the Commonwealth
Ombudsman between 1st January 2010 and and the January 1st 2025 with
regards the Department of Veterans Affairs
I would also like the number of these complaints that were found to be valid and
what action the office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman took to rectify the
issues raised by the complainants.’
Scope clarification and interpretation
2. On 22 July 2025, I emailed you to acknowledge receipt of your FOI request and to put
in writing a proposed amendment to the scope of your request. I confirmed in this
email that I would contact you via telephone, noting this is your preferred method of
communication.
3. On 24 July 2025, I contacted you via telephone to seek your approval to amend the
scope of your request. Specifical y, where you request documents regarding the
number of times the Office has found a complaint “to be valid”.
4. As discussed, the Office is an oversight and integrity body and as such, our role is
not to find whether a complaint is valid or not. Rather, our role is to assist to resolve
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complaints, undertake investigations when considered necessary and provide
suggestions or recommendations to other agencies.
5. During this telephone conversation, you agreed to change the scope of your request
as follows:
Change from:
I would also like the number of these complaints that were found to be valid and
what action the office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman took to rectify the
issues raised by the complainants.
To:
The outcomes in finalised complaints formal y investigated by the Office of the
Commonwealth Ombudsman, and suggestions or recommendations the Office
made to the Department of Veterans Affairs based on investigation findings
between 1st January 2010 and 1st January 2025.
6. The scope of your FOI request has therefore been understood as:
I would like to request under Australian Federal Freedom of Information Law how
many complaints were lodged with the Office of the Commonwealth
Ombudsman between 1st January 2010 and the January 1st 2025 with regards
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The outcomes in finalised complaints formal y investigated by the Office of the
Commonwealth Ombudsman, and suggestions or recommendations the Office
made to the Department of Veterans Affairs based on investigation findings
between 1st January 2010 and 1st January 2025.
Decision
7. This letter constitutes notice of my decision on your request for access. I am
authorised to make decisions on behalf of our Office under section 23 of the FOI Act.
8. When processing an FOI request, an agency is required to ensure that al reasonable
steps have been taken to find documents within the scope of the FOI request in
accordance with section 24A of the FOI Act.
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9. Searches have been undertaken of our case management and record
management systems, using key words for any documents this Office may hold,
that would fal within the scope of your request. I have also undertaken consultation
with staff within the Office with knowledge relating to the subject matter of your
request, who would be best placed to identify where documents responsive to your
request may be located to conduct searches.
10. Our Office has identified 3 documents relevant to your request to which we grant:
a. full access to 2 documents
b. part access to 1 document.
11. A schedule setting out the relevant document is at Attachment A.
12. The documents have been produced from data contained within the Office’s case
management system, in accordance with section 17 of the FOI Act.
13. Section 17 of the FOI Act al ows for an agency to produce a written document in a
discrete form if:
(c)
the 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 col ating stored
information; or
Material taken into account
14. In making my decision I had regard to the following:
• the terms of your request
• relevant provisions of the FOI Act
• internal consultation with relevant areas within the Office
• consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs
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• Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under s 93A of
the FOI Act, available
at www.oaic.gov.au (FOI Guidelines).
Part access - Personal privacy – Section 47F
15. Section 47F of the FOI Act conditional y exempts a document where
‘its disclosure
would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any
person.’ I must give access unless access would, on balance, be contrary to the
public interest (s 11A(5)).
16. ‘Personal information’ is defined in section 4 of the FOI Act to mean:
information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is
reasonably identifiable: (a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
(b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
17. The partial y released document 2 contains personal information. Disclosure of
figures of less than 10 may lead to an individual being reasonably identifiable by
members of the Veteran community, based on the ability to link pieces of
information to identify them.
18. In considering whether disclosure would be unreasonable, subsection 47F(2) of the
FOI Act requires that I take into account:
• the extent to which the information is wel known
• whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to
have been) associated with the matters dealt with in the document, and
• the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources, and
any other matter considered relevant.
19. I find that release of such information would involve the unreasonable disclosure of
personal information and the information is conditional y exempt under section
47F(1) of the FOI Act.
Public interest
20. I am required to give access to this material unless, in the circumstances access
would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.
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21. In deciding whether access would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest, I
have taken into account the public interest factors favouring disclosure set out at
section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, as wel as the FOI Guidelines at paragraphs 6.229 –
6.233. I confirm I have not taken into account any irrelevant factors.
22. While disclosure may to some degree promote the objects of the FOI Act, in my view,
it would not increase scrutiny, discussion or comment around decision making or
increase public participation in Government processes.
23. I consider the following factors weigh against disclosure:
a. disclosure could reasonably be expected to prejudice the protection of
individuals’ right to privacy, including the privacy of vulnerable people. We
consider that people who recognise or identify themselves or persons they
know in the statistics due to the low numbers could reasonably be expected
to feel aggrieved
b. disclosure of the complaints made by a member of the public about DVA to
our Office could deter complainants and therefore undermining both
agencies’ ability to effectively perform their respective functions.
24. I have given considerable weight to the factors weighing against disclosure.
25. Pursuant to subsection 11A(5) of the FOI Act, I have decided disclosure at this time
would be, on balance, contrary to the public interest.
Disclosure Log
26. Please note that information released in your FOI request may be published on our
Office’s disclosure log. More information about the kinds of information and FOI
requests published on our website can be found on our website at
FOI disclosure log
| Commonwealth Ombudsman.
Review Rights
Internal review
27. No particular form is required to apply for review although it will assist your case to
set out the grounds on which you believe that the original decision should be
changed. Applications for internal review can be made:
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• via email to
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
• by mail to Commonwealth Ombudsman GPO Box 442 Canberra ACT 2601
28. If you choose to seek an internal review, you wil afterward have a right to apply for
Information Commissioner review (IC review) of the internal review decision.
Information Commissioner review or complaint
29. You also have the right to seek IC review of this decision. For FOI applicants, an
application for IC review must be made in writing within 60 days of the decision. For
third parties who object to disclosure of their information, an application for IC
review must be made in writing within 30 days of the decision.
30. If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your FOI request, you
can lodge a complaint with the OAIC. However, the OAIC suggests that complaints
are made to the agency in the first instance.
31. While there is no particular form required to make a complaint to the OAIC, the
complaint should be in writing and set out the reasons for why you are dissatisfied
with the way your request was processed. It should also identify the Ombudsman’s
Office as the agency about which you are complaining.
32. You can make an IC review application or make an FOI complaint in one of the
following ways:
• online at
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-
information-rights/freedom-of-information-complaints/make-an-foi-
complaint
• via email to
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
• by mail to GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001, or
• by fax to 02 9284 9666.
33. More information about the Information Commissioner reviews and complaints is
available at its website:
www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-review-
process.
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Contact
34. You may contact me via email
at xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx or via
telephone on 1300 362 072.
Yours sincerely
Carolina
Senior Legal Officer
Legal Team
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Attachment A
Schedule of Documents - Freedom of Information Request FOI-2025-80080
Doc
Total pages
Description of Document
Decision on
Exemption
Notes
No.
Access
1
1
Complaints lodged with the Office of the
Full access
N/A
Data created under
Commonwealth Ombudsman between 01/01/2010
s 17 FOI Act
and 01/01/2025 with regards the Department of
Veterans Affairs
2
1
Outcomes in finalised complaints formally
Part access
S 47F – personal
Data created under
investigated between 01/01/2010 and 01/01/2025
information
s 17 FOI Act
3
1
Suggestions or recommendations the Office of the
Full access
N/A
Data created under
Commonwealth Ombudsman made to the
s 17 FOI Act
Department of Veterans Affairs based on
investigation findings between 01/01/2010 and
01/01/2025.
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