If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
10 March 2017
Our reference: LEX 26376
Mr Justin Warren
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Mr Warren
Decision on your Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request received by the Department of Human Services (the
department) on 1
February 2017 for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the
FOI Act) to the
following documents:
'I request the following information relating to the new Online Compliance Intervention
programme, the initiative to match Centrelink data with data from the Australian Tax
Office (ATO) to detect potential overpayment and the recovery of those overpayments
from citizens, referred to in the media as "robodebt". 1. Documents, such as reports to management on the progress of the OCI programme,
that provide a summary of the number of letters sent to payment recipients asking for
more information ("Discrepancy Letters") and the value of potential debt identified in
those letters.
2. Documents, such as reports to management on the progress of the OCI programme,
that provide a summary of the number of debts raised against payment recipients and
their value, both as a total and average.
3. Documents, such as reports to management on the progress of the OCI programme,
that contain a breakdown of the number and value of debts in the following
categories, each a subset of the total debts raised at that date:
a. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be exactly the same
as when originally raised after response from the customer,
b. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be higher than
originally raised after response from the customer, and the total or average
amount of value adjustment required,
c. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be lower than
originally raised after response from the customer, and the total or average
amount of value adjustment required,
d. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be zero after
response from the customer, and the total or average amount of debt
adjustment required, For each category, the following summary totals should
be provided at a minimum:
i. number of debts in the category
ii. total value of debts in the category
iii. amount of adjustment in debt amount required compared to the
original debt amount identified.
The summary totals should also be provided for the entire set of records, so that the
category amounts can be compared to the total amounts.
PAGE 1 OF 8
I expect that such summary reports would be provided to management on at least a
monthly basis, if not more frequently'.
On 22 February 2017, following a consultation process under section 24AB of the FOI Act,
the scope of your request was limited to the following:
‘I only require the latest document provided in each calendar week of this time period that
contains the summary information I have requested. Where multiple documents exist that
contain the same information, I only require the latest document as at 11:59pm on the
Friday of that week.
If the information can be produced as a report from a database system (as per section 17
of the Freedom of Information Act 1988) that report will satisfy this request for information.
e.g.: A summary report showing each statistic as at 11:59pm on the Friday of each
calendar week from 1 June 2016 to the date of my initial request’.
My decision
I have decided to refuse your request for access under section 24A of the FOI Act on the
basis that all reasonable steps have been taken to locate the documents you have requested
and I am satisfied that they do not exist. Further, I have decided that the department is not
able to produce a document containing the information you seek in accordance with section
17 of the FOI Act. Please see
Attachment A for the reasons behind my decision.
You can ask for a review of our decision
If you disagree with any part of the decision you can ask for a review. There are two ways
you can do this. You can ask for an internal review from within the department, or an external
review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. You do not have to pay for
reviews of decisions. See
Attachment B for more information about how arrange a review.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please email
xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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Department of Human Services
Attachment A
REASONS FOR DECISION
What you requested
'I request the following information relating to the new Online Compliance Intervention
programme, the initiative to match Centrelink data with data from the Australian Tax
Office (ATO) to detect potential overpayment and the recovery of those overpayments
from citizens, referred to in the media as "robodebt".
1. Documents, such as reports to management on the progress of the OCI programme,
that provide a summary of the number of letters sent to payment recipients asking for
more information ("Discrepancy Letters") and the value of potential debt identified in
those letters.
2. Documents, such as reports to management on the progress of the OCI programme,
that provide a summary of the number of debts raised against payment recipients and
their value, both as a total and average.
3. Documents, such as reports to management on the progress of the OCI programme,
that contain a breakdown of the number and value of debts in the following
categories, each a subset of the total debts raised at that date:
a. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be exactly the same
as when originally raised after response from the customer,
b. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be higher than
originally raised after response from the customer, and the total or average
amount of value adjustment required,
c. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be lower than
originally raised after response from the customer, and the total or average
amount of value adjustment required,
d. Number of debts where the debt amount is determined to be zero after
response from the customer, and the total or average amount of debt
adjustment required, For each category, the following summary totals should
be provided at a minimum:
i. number of debts in the category
ii. total value of debts in the category
iii. amount of adjustment in debt amount required compared to the
original debt amount identified.
The summary totals should also be provided for the entire set of records, so that the
category amounts can be compared to the total amounts.
I expect that such summary reports would be provided to management on at least a
monthly basis, if not more frequently'.
On 16 February 2017, I wrote to you providing a notice of intention to refuse your request
under section 24AB(2) of the FOI Act as your request was too big to process. I gave you an
opportunity to consult with the department to revise your request so as to remove the
practical refusal reason.
On 22 February 2017 you revised your request to:
‘I only require the latest document provided in each calendar week of this time period that
contains the summary information I have requested. Where multiple documents exist that
contain the same information, I only require the latest document as at 11:59pm on the
Friday of that week.
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Department of Human Services
If the information can be produced as a report from a database system (as per section 17
of the Freedom of Information Act 1988) that report will satisfy this request for information.
e.g.: A summary report showing each statistic as at 11:59pm on the Friday of each
calendar week from 1 June 2016 to the date of my initial request'.
What I took into account
In reaching my decision I took into account:
your request received 1 February 2017 and revised on 22 February 2017;
consultations with departmental officers about searches conducted to find documents
within the scope of your request;
guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of
the FOI Act (the
Guidelines);
the FOI Act.
Reasons for my decisions
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Section 24A of the FOI Act
Section 24A of the FOI Act provides that:
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency's or Minister's possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
The only relevant business area who potentially held documents in scope of your request
was the department’s Compliance Risk Branch (the
Branch).
The Branch conducted searches of their electronic records and undertook discussions with
relevant internal stakeholders regarding the type of management information and
operational information available. The Branch did not identify any documents matching the
description in your request. The Branch has informed me that, upon close inspection of the
documents that were initially expected to have fallen in the scope of your request, no
reporting exists that matches the description you have provided.
On the basis of these searches, I am satisfied that in accordance with section 24A of the
FOI Act:
1. all reasonable steps have been taken to find the documents; and
2. the documents do not exist.
Section 17 of the FOI Act
Section 17 of the FOI Act relevantly provides that:
(1) Where:
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Department of Human Services
(a) a request … is made in accordance with the requirements of subsection 15(2) to
an agency;
…
(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 collating stored information; or
(ii) the making of a transcript from a sound recording held in the agency;
The agency shall deal with the request as if it were requested for access to a written
document so produced and containing that information and, for that purpose, this Act
applies as if the agency had such a document in its possession.
Paragraph 3.185 of the Guidelines provides:
‘…the reference in s 17(1)(c)(i) to a ‘computer or other equipment that is ordinarily
available’ means ‘a functioning computer system including software, that can produce
the requested document without the aid of additional components which are not
themselves ordinarily available … [T]he computer or other equipment … must be
capable of functioning independently to collate or retrieve stored information and to
produce the requested document.’
The Branch have clarified that management and operational information related to the Online
Compliance Intervention programme is not held in in a way that would allow it to be
presented at the level of granularity you seek. The Branch has indicated that producing a
document that contains the information you seek would involve the combination of
information from three separate databases, and the analysis and validation of records on a
case-by-case basis to identify outcomes and variations.
In order to extract the data relevant to your request, the department would be required to
instruct a computer programmer to write a program that does not currently exist. Accordingly,
I have been advised that there would be a substantial cost and delay involved in extracting
the data, which would involve acquiring numerous approvals from the relevant areas of the
department, developing the computer programming required and performing the data
extraction.
The decision of the Federal Court in
Collection Point Ptd Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2012] FCA 720 (affirmed by the Full Court of the Federal Court in
Collection Point Pty Ltd v
Commissioner of Taxation [2013] FCAFC 67) makes clear that where a new computer
program is required to be written to produce a written document, then a computer is not
being used in a manner that is ‘ordinarily available’ to the agency because of the
extraordinary step that is required to be taken. In considering the obligations of the Australian
Taxation Office (
ATO), the Court held (at [22]):
The documents requested by Collection Point were not capable of being
produced by the ATO by the use of a computer, being a use that is ordinarily
available to the ATO for retrieving and collating stored information.
Instead, to
answer the request, the ATO would have been required to use a computer in an
extraordinary manner, as compared to the ordinary processes available for the
retrieval and collation of such material. Put simply, the ATO would be required to
use a computer in a manner other than that which is ordinarily available to it.
I am satisfied that to produce a document containing data relevant to your request, the
department would not be using a computer in a manner that is ordinarily available.
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Department of Human Services
Based on the above, I am satisfied that section 17 of the FOI Act does not apply to your
request, as the department cannot use an ordinarily available computer system to produce a
written document containing the information you have requested.
If you would like to access information that is readily available relating to the services and
payments that the department delivers, you can access this through making a request via
xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx. Further, I note that the Australian Government publishes
a comprehensive suite of data online at
: http://data.gov.au.
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Department of Human Services
If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
Attachment B
INFORMATION ON RIGHTS OF REVIEW
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982
Asking for a full explanation of a Freedom of Information decision
Before you ask for a formal review of an FOI decision, you can contact us to discuss your
request. We will explain the decision to you. This gives you a chance to correct
misunderstandings.
Asking for a formal review of an Freedom of Information decision
If you still believe a decision is incorrect, the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)
gives you the right to apply for a review of the decision. Under sections 54 and 54L of the
FOI Act, you can apply for a review of an FOI decision by:
1. an Internal Review Officer in the Department of Human Services (the department);
and/or
2. the Australian Information Commissioner.
Note 1: There are no fees for these reviews.
Applying for an internal review by an Internal Review Officer
If you apply for internal review, a different decision maker to the departmental delegate who
made the original decision will carry out the review. The Internal Review Officer will consider
all aspects of the original decision and decide whether it should change. An application for
internal review must be:
made in writing
made within 30 days of receiving this letter
sent to the address at the top of the first page of this letter.
Note 2: You do not need to fill in a form. However, it is a good idea to set out any relevant
submissions you would like the Internal Review Officer to further consider, and your reasons
for disagreeing with the decision.
Applying for external review by the Australian Information Commissioner
If you do not agree with the original decision or the internal review decision, you can ask the
Australian Information Commissioner to review the decision.
If you do not receive a decision from an Internal Review Officer in the department within 30
days of applying, you can ask the Australian Information Commissioner for a review of the
original FOI decision.
You will have 60 days to apply in writing for a review by the Australian Information
Commissioner.
PAGE 7 OF 8
You can
lodge your application:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Note 3: The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner generally prefers FOI
applicants to seek internal review before applying for external review by the Australian
Information Commissioner.
Important:
If you are applying online, the application form the 'Merits Review Form' is available at
www.oaic.gov.au.
If you have one, you should include with your application a copy of the Department of
Human Services' decision on your FOI request
Include your contact details
Set out your reasons for objecting to the department's decision.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner and Commonwealth Ombudsman
Information Commissioner
You may complain to the Information Commissioner concerning action taken by an agency in
the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act, There is no fee for
making a complaint. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in writing.
The Information Commissioner's contact details are:
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Website:
www.oaic.gov.au Commonwealth Ombudsman
You may also complain to the Ombudsman concerning action taken by an agency in the
exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act. There is no fee for
making a complaint. A complaint to the Ombudsman may be made in person, by telephone
or in writing. The Ombudsman's contact details are:
Phone: 1300 362 072
Website:
www.ombudsman.gov.au
The Commonwealth Ombudsman generally prefers applicants to seek review before
complaining about a decision.
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Department of Human Services
