Contact:
FOI Team
Telephone:
(02) 6215 1783
e-mail:
xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Mr James Smith
Right to Know
via ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Mr Smith
Request for Information
Thank you for your email to the Department of Finance (Finance) requesting access to the
following:
I request the document(s) which describe the data provided to the external
organisation(s) responsible for conducting the ballot(s) for all Enterprise
Agreements put to staff for a vote.
The scope of this request is limited only to those ballots undertaken for enterprise
agreements which were proposed to take effect after 30 June 2014.
The document shall describe the data given to the ballot agent. For example,
employee name, employee identification number, employee email address, etc. I
exclude the data for specific employees here; I am only after the 'meta-data'.
On 8 March 2017 Finance advised that a response to your request would be provided to you
administratively, outside the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982. The Assistant Secretary of People Branch and the Workplace Relations Team, in
consultation with interested parties, was responsible for the coordination of Finance’s
Enterprise Agreement 2015-2018 vote. ORIMA Research Pty Ltd (ORIMA) was the
independent body responsible for conducting the vote between 24 November 2015 and
27 November 2015.
ORIMA was engaged by Finance for the sole purpose of conducting the voting ballot for the
Finance Enterprise Agreement 2015-2018. In the lead-up to the voting period, Finance held
information sessions with its staff, during which staff were made aware that ORIMA would
conduct the ballot and see completed ballots, with only aggregate results provided to
Finance.
One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603 • Telephone 02 6215 2222
Internet www.finance.gov.au
Finance confirms that the following information about employees was provided to ORIMA
for the purpose of conducting the ballot:
• name;
• email address – this was provided to enable ORIMA to send voting instructions
(including an employee’s unique voting PIN for online voting) to each employee. If
an employee was intending to take leave over the voting period, they could provide a
personal email address where they could be sent voting details;
• employee (AGS) number – for security reasons, this information was provided to
ORIMA for the sole purpose of verifying the identity of employees when they cast
their vote; and
• home or postal address – this was provided to give employees on leave an equal
opportunity to cast a vote.
The voting instructions email sent to Finance employees by ORIMA also included a privacy
notice confirming that only ORIMA would see completed ballots, and that AGS numbers
would only be used for security purposes and would be automatically removed from the
voting data base once the employee cast their vote (either online or by telephone).
Further Assistance
Please contact the FOI Team, on the above contact details, if you wish to discuss further.
Yours sincerely
FOI Coordinator (A/g)
Legal Services Branch
21 March 2017
One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603 • Telephone 02 6215 2222
Internet www.finance.gov.au
