Alleged Medicare fraud in immigration detention facilities
Dear Services Australia,
This is a request under the FOI Act.
I seek access to documents in relation to an investigation involving the agency's Fraud Fusion Taskforce regarding an alleged Medicare fraud conducted out of immigration detention facilities.
Specifically, I seek:
1. Briefs prepared for the agency's executive.
2. Briefs prepared for the agency's portfolio ministers.
Date range: 1 January 2025 to today.
I agree to exclude personal affairs information of employees of Services Australia and any other agencies involved. However this should not exclude position designations and domain names. E.g. @department.gov.au
Yours faithfully,
Edward Pellew
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team of Services
Australia (the Agency).
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides general FOI
information .
We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of requests,
which has resulted in some delays in our review and response process. We
are seeking your agreement to extend the processing time by an additional
30 days. If you agree to this additional time, we would appreciate it if
you could reply to this email with “I agree to a 30 day extension of time”
at your earliest opportunity.
Administrative release of documents
The Agency uses administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') to
release certain types of documents outside the FOI Act. We will advise you
if the documents you seek are suitable for release to you under the
arrangements. If you consent to receiving documents under the
arrangements, please reply to this email with “I agree to receive
documents via the arrangements where appropriate”.
Personal information of Agency staff
As part of the FOI process, we seek your consent to remove any information
that may identify junior staff. Please reply to this email with “I agree
to exclude staff details”.
Once you consent to remove this information, it will be irrelevant under
Section 22 of the FOI Act.
How we will send documents to you
We will use this email address to send you documents. We will advise you
if we are unable to send documents to you via email due to their size.
How long do I have to wait?
Unless your request has been extended, we are required to notify you
within 30 days.
Requesting a formal external review of a FOI deemed refusal decision
After the due date has past and you did not receive a decision, the
request becomes a ‘deemed refusal decision’. You may request the
Information Commissioner to review the ‘deemed refusal decision’. For
further information, see [1]Apply for an Information Commissioner review |
OAIC (or visit [2]www.oaic.gov.au).
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1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
Attention: Edward Pellew (Right to Know)
Please find attached the decision relating to your request for access to
documents held by Services Australia under the Freedom of Information Act
1982.
If you have any questions regarding this matter or are unable to open the
attachment, please contact me by replying to this email.
Kind regards,
Cherie
Senior FOI Officer
FOI & Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division
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Dear Services Australia,
I am writing to request an internal review of my FOI request 'Alleged Medicare fraud in immigration detention facilities'. Thank you for the FOI decision dated 14 November 2025.
I ask the internal review officer to consider if the documents are capable of being released in an edited form considering the usual FOI decision-making factors, and that certain information is available in the public domain about the investigation. For example, reporting in the media by the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, and questions answered in Senate Estimates by agency officials.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available at this address: http://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/al...
Yours faithfully,
Edward Pellew
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team of Services
Australia (the Agency).
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides general FOI
information .
We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of requests,
which has resulted in some delays in our review and response process. We
are seeking your agreement to extend the processing time by an additional
30 days. If you agree to this additional time, we would appreciate it if
you could reply to this email with “I agree to a 30 day extension of time”
at your earliest opportunity.
Administrative release of documents
The Agency uses administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') to
release certain types of documents outside the FOI Act. We will advise you
if the documents you seek are suitable for release to you under the
arrangements. If you consent to receiving documents under the
arrangements, please reply to this email with “I agree to receive
documents via the arrangements where appropriate”.
Personal information of Agency staff
As part of the FOI process, we seek your consent to remove any information
that may identify junior staff. Please reply to this email with “I agree
to exclude staff details”.
Once you consent to remove this information, it will be irrelevant under
Section 22 of the FOI Act.
How we will send documents to you
We will use this email address to send you documents. We will advise you
if we are unable to send documents to you via email due to their size.
How long do I have to wait?
Unless your request has been extended, we are required to notify you
within 30 days.
Requesting a formal external review of a FOI deemed refusal decision
After the due date has past and you did not receive a decision, the
request becomes a ‘deemed refusal decision’. You may request the
Information Commissioner to review the ‘deemed refusal decision’. For
further information, see [1]Apply for an Information Commissioner review |
OAIC (or visit [2]www.oaic.gov.au).
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/
Dear Mr Pellew,
Please find attached an acknowledgement letter dated 24 November 2025 in
relation to your request for internal review of the Freedom of Information
(FOI) decision made by an authorised decision maker of Services Australia
dated 14 November 2025.
Kind regards,
Kylie, Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information and Reviews Branch
Legal Services Division
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with Services Australia wording to the right of the symbol. Underneath is
servicesaustralia.gov.au and icons representing our social media accounts.
To follow us on social media go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/socialmedia
Aligning the bottom of the signature block is the Services Australia
indigenous artwork strip consisting of cultural elements depicting our
agency’s progress story for First Nations people.
Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we
live on. We pay our respects to all Elders, past and present, of all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.
This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.
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