If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
19 January 2017
Our reference: LEX 25282
Mr Justin Warren
Right to Know
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Mr Warren
Acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request
I refer to your request for access to documents under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982
(the
FOI Act). I have taken your request to be for:
' - The business case document(s) for the Pay As You Go (PAYG) data matching
initiative that is the subject of Question on Notice HS 15 from the Senate Community
Affairs Legislation Committee Budget Estimates hearing on 3 June 2015.
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Senate_Estimates/clacctte/estimates/
bud1516/DHS/index
- Documents that describe the algorithm or process used to perform the data
matching that identified the "approximately 1,080,000" discrepancies between PAYG
data and data reported by DHS customers, as referred to in the Answer to Question
HS 15.
- Documents that describe the analysis process for how the value of "historical
discrepancies", as described in the Answer to Question HS 15, was determined. Such
documents should describe the statistical method, the sampling process used,
statistics returned (standard error, mean, confidence interval, etc.), how the likely
average debt value was determined, etc.
- Documents containing the program specifications/requirements used to define how
the data matching process should be implemented by programmers. Such documents
would refer to, for example, the use of certain fields to match on such as ABN,
Business Name, Customer Name, etc'.
Your request was received by the department on 14 January 2017 and the 30 day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. You should
therefore expect a decision from us by 14 February 2017.The period of 30 days may be
extended if we need to consult third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this
happens.
The department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your request and the
amount of any such charge as soon as practicable.
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Your Address
The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send notices to. You
have advised your electronic address is
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx. We
will send all notices and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as
possible if you wish correspondence to be sent to another address or if your address
changes. If you do not advise us of changes to your address, correspondence and notices
will continue to be sent to the address specified above.
Administrative Release of Documents
A number of the documents you are seeking may be generally available to you without the
need for a formal FOI request and can be released through the department's administrative
access arrangements ('the arrangements'). Unless you advise us otherwise, in processing
your request we may provide you with documents under these arrangements where
appropriate. The arrangements do not extend to information or materials of third parties.
Where documents are released to you under the arrangements we will advise you in our
decision letter.
Disclosure Log
Please note that information released under FOI Act may be published in a disclosure log on
the department's website. Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication, however it is
subject to certain exceptions, including where publication of personal, business, professional
or commercial information would be unreasonable.
Exclusion of junior department employee details
The department is working towards ensuring that all employees have a choice about whether
they provide their full name, personal logon identifiers and direct contact details in response
to public enquiries. Where such details are included in the scope of a request, this may add
to processing time and applicable charges as it may be necessary to consider whether the
details are exempt under the FOI Act. On this basis, unless you tell us otherwise, we will
assume that these details are out of scope of your request and they will be redacted under
section 22 of the FOI Act.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please ema
il xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
FOI Registration Officer
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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Department of Human Services
