PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
27 November 2025
Our reference: LEX 88450
Michael Betts
Only by email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Michael
Acknowledgement and Request Consultation Notice
I refer to your request for access to documents received on 6 November 2025 under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). You requested access to:
Any internal reports, reviews, statistical summaries, or briefing notes prepared for
ministerial purposes that reference suicides of payers of child support obligations
between 2019 and 2024.
The Services Australia (the Agency) is formally consulting with you under section 24AB of
the FOI Act, as I believe that processing your request in its current form would involve a
substantial and unreasonable diversion of the agency’s resources.
This letter is giving you an opportunity to provide us with specific information about the
documents you need. Providing this additional information will assist the Agency in
processing your request.
If you decide not to provide further information or revise your request, I will have to refuse
your freedom of information (FOI) request as a 'practical refusal reason' exists. For a more
detailed explanation of what this means, please see
Attachment A.
How to send us a 'revised request'
Before I make a final decision on your request, you can submit a revised request.
Within the next 14 days (consultation period) you must do one of the following, in writing:
• withdraw the request
• make a revised request, or
• tell us you do not want to revise your request.
The consultation process begins the day after the day you receive this notice. Accordingly,
your response is expected by
11 December 2025.
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If you do not contact us during the consultation period, your matter will be taken as
withdrawn by operation of the FOI Act. See
Attachment A for relevant sections of the FOI
Act.
If you decide to make a revised request, you should be specific about what documents you
require. This could help the Agency find the documents.
Contact officer
I am the contact officer for your request. During the consultation period you are welcome to
ask for my help in revising your request. You can contact me:
• via email to arrange a phone call, by providing a contact number and advising of a
suitable time
• in writing to the address at the top of this letter, or
• via email
to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Note: When you contact us, please quote the reference number FOI LEX 88450.
Further assistance
If you have any questions, please email
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Alexander
FOI Officer
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Reviews Branch | Legal Services Division
Services Australia
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PO Box 7820, Canberra BC ACT 2610
Attachment A
What I took into account
You requested access under the FOI Act to the following documents:
Any internal reports, reviews, statistical summaries, or briefing notes prepared for
ministerial purposes that reference suicides of payers of child support obligations
between 2019 and 2024.
Because of the amount of work involved for the Agency, under sections 24AA(1)(a)(i), 24 and
24AA(2) of the FOI Act I intend to refuse your FOI request as a 'practical refusal reason'
exists. Under the FOI Act, the practical refusal reason is that processing your request 'would
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources' of the Agency.
Why your request is voluminous
To identify whether any documents fall within scope, multiple business areas conducted
searches and reviewed the types of records they hold. These business areas are responsible
for the Child Support program, as well as service delivery for Child Support matters.
Therefore, I consider they would be the relevant business areas of the Agency that would
have awareness of any documents that relate to what you are seeking.
These business areas advised that they did not identify any reports, reviews, statistical
summaries or ministerial briefing material that specifically reference suicides of payers of
child support obligations.
Additionally, the Ministerial and Parliamentary Service Branch (the Branch) conducted
keyword searches of the repository for ministerial and executive documents, using
references that relate to the subject matter you have requested.
The keyword / phrase search returned:
• 0 documents containing the exact phrases:
o “Suicides of payers of child support obligations”, and
o “Child support payer suicide”.
• A broader search for the combined terms “child support” and “suicide” returned 942
documents.
These 942 documents include a wide range of routine and likely unrelated or irrelevant
material. For example, customer complaints and correspondence (which would capture third
party personal information, executive communications, ministerial briefs, ministerial
submissions, question time briefs, senate estimates briefs, senate estimates questions on
notice and other administrative records.
To determine whether any of the 942 documents actually fall within the scope of your
request, the Agency would need to manually review each document in full.
While the number of pages for each document varies, I estimate that on average it would
take 3 minutes to review each document to determine if it meets the scope of your request.
More time would be required if the document has any attachments.
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On this basis, I estimate it would take
more than 47 hours to review each of above-
mentioned documents to determine if they are in scope of your request. This does not
include any additional time that would be required to review any in scope documents for
sensitivities, marking redactions (if any exemptions apply), internally consulting with all
relevant business areas who authored the documents, and decision-making. Therefore, the
time to process your request would likely be substantially higher
Given the size and nature of these documents, this would require a significant and
unreasonable diversion of the Agency’s resources, consistent with section 24AA of the FOI
Act.
Assistance with your request
You may wish to consider narrowing the scope of your request, for example by:
• Limiting it to specific document types (e.g. “ministerial briefs only”), and
• Reducing the date range, and
• Clarifying the specific incident, issue, or program you are seeking information about.
You are welcome to suggest any refinement that suits what you need.
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 24AA(1)(a)(i) of the FOI Act provides a practical refusal reason exists in relation to a
FOI request if the work involved in processing the request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of the Agency from its other operations.
Section 24AA(2) of the FOI Act sets out certain factors which the Agency must consider
when determining whether providing access in relation to a request would substantially and
unreasonably divert the Agency's resources. The Agency must specifically have regard to the
resources which would have to be used for:
• identifying, locating or collating the documents within the Agency's filing system
• deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a document to which the request
relates, or to grant access to an edited copy of such a document, including resources
that would have to be used for examining the document or consulting in relation to the
request
• making a copy, or an edited copy, of the document, and
• notifying any interim or final decision on the request.
Section 24AB(6) of the FOI provides the applicant must, before the end of the consultation
period, do one of the following, by written notice to the Agency or the Minister:
• withdraw the request,
• make a revised request, or
• indicate that the applicant does not wish to revise the request.
Section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act provides the request is taken to have been withdrawn at the
end of the consultation period if:
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• the applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice, or
• the applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6) before the
end of the consultation period.
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