If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
18 January 2019
Our reference: LEX 41827
Emily Robinson
Right to Know
By email on
ly: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear Ms Robinson
Your Freedom of Information (FOI) request – Consultation
I refer to your revised request, dated and received by the Department of Human Services
(
department) on 11 January 2019, for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982
(
FOI Act) in the following terms:
Centrelink staff training packages, policies, guidelines, directives, and
procedures that are not publicly available and used in conjunction with the
operational blueprint ‘Circumstances affecting capacity to comply with
compulsory requirements (001-10050000)’;
o these documents may include documents by the department for
internal use and provided to the department by another department.
Centrelink documents (staff training packages, policies, guidelines, directives,
and procedures) that are not publicly available and use the term ‘vulnerability
indicators’ applicable to customers and/or staff in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013;
Centrelink documents (staff training packages, policies, guidelines, directives,
and procedures) that are not publicly available and describe the process that
staff should follow when identifying customers who are vulnerable, in 2010,
2011, 2012 and 2013;
Centrelink documents that are used by staff to provide support to ‘vulnerable’
customers;
Centrelink documents that are used by staff to manage any risk presented by
a ‘vulnerable’ customer, either to themselves or others.
Centrelink documents that are used by staff to review ‘vulnerability indicators’.
PAGE 1 OF 7
Note: I am seeking documents that were used at any point during the time
period of 2010 - 2013.
Further consultation – a practical refusal risk remains
I note that you previously revised your request following an earlier consultation under section
24AB of the FOI Act. However, after further investigation with internal business areas, I
consider that a practical refusal reason remains in relation to the identification of documents.
Your revised request does not provide sufficient information as is reasonably necessary to
enable the department to identify the documents that you are requesting.
Please revise your request to give me more specific details about the documents you are
requesting.
For a more detailed explanation of what this means, see
Attachment A.
As mentioned in the last consultation letter, if you decide not to revise your request in order
to resolve the issues raised above, I will have to refuse your request on the basis that one or
more practical refusal reason still exists.
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 me that you do not want to revise your request.
If you do not do one of these three things during this second consultation period, your
request will be deemed to have been withdrawn by operation of the FOI Act.
See
Attachment A for relevant sections of the FOI Act.
We have 30 days to notify you of our decision on your request, however, the time taken to
consult with you is not included in this 30 day time period.
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:
in writing to the address at the top of this letter; or
via email to xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Note: When you contact us please quote the reference number
FOI LEX 41827.
PAGE 2 OF 7
Department of Human Services
Further assistance
If you have any questions please emai
l xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely
Ellen
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and Freedom of Information Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
PAGE 3 OF 7
Department of Human Services
If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
Attachment A
Your request
Following the first consultation letter, on 11 January 2019, you revised your request to the
following documents:
Centrelink staff training packages, policies, guidelines, directives, and
procedures that are not publicly available and used in conjunction with the
operational blueprint ‘Circumstances affecting capacity to comply with
compulsory requirements (001-10050000)’;
o these documents may include documents by the department for
internal use and provided to the department by another department.
Centrelink documents (staff training packages, policies, guidelines, directives,
and procedures) that are not publicly available and use the term ‘vulnerability
indicators’ applicable to customers and/or staff in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013;
Centrelink documents (staff training packages, policies, guidelines, directives,
and procedures) that are not publicly available and describe the process that
staff should follow when identifying customers who are vulnerable, in 2010,
2011, 2012 and 2013;
Centrelink documents that are used by staff to provide support to ‘vulnerable’
customers;
Centrelink documents that are used by staff to manage any risk presented by
a ‘vulnerable’ customer, either to themselves or others.
Centrelink documents that are used by staff to review ‘vulnerability indicators’.
Note: I am seeking documents that were used at any point during the time
period of 2010 - 2013.
On 11 January 2019, the department wrote to you to confirm their understanding of your
revised request and the term ‘vulnerable’. The department’s email provided:
The meaning of ‘vulnerable’
To assist the FOI team in processing your request, could you also please identify
what definition you are using when you refer to ‘vulnerable’. In particular, please
identify whether you are using the term vulnerable in the same way as used in the
Guide to Social Security Law or in some other way.
The Guide to Social Security Law uses the term ‘vulnerable’ to describe the
following:
‘vulnerable claimant’ to describe a number of people in a number of different
‘vulnerable circumstances’, see
here: http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-
security-law/8/1/1/60; and
‘indicators of vulnerability’ to describe that someone is vulnerable when someone
is dealing with financial hardship, financial exploitation, failing to undertake
PAGE 4 OF 7
reasonable self-care or currently homeless, or at risk of homelessness, see here:
http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/11/4/2/20.
Please confirm the meaning of ‘vulnerable’ in the context of your request.
On 11 January 2019, you responded to the department’s email and advised:
I confirm that your understanding of my request as described in your response is my
intended revised request.
I confirm that the term “vulnerable” is used in this context as appears in the Guide to
Social Security Law per the links you provided in your response.
What I took into account
Your request does not provide sufficient information to identify the documents you seek
I appreciate that you have already provided a revised request following an earlier
consultation under section 24AB of the FOI Act. However, as your request is currently
framed, it does not contain information concerning the documents requested which is
reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the department to identify the
documents requested.
Following further consultations with relevant departmental business areas, I consider that
certain terms in your request remains too unclear to process.
The following terms are unclear:
‘vulnerable’; and
‘vulnerability indicators’.
The term ‘vulnerable’ remains too broad, even when specified to be in the context as
appears in the Guide to Social Security Law. The definition and application of ‘vulnerable’
varies between departmental areas and in relation to different payments. For example, the
term ‘vulnerable’ when applied in relation to income management measures will be different
to when the term ‘vulnerable’ is applied to a customer by a departmental social worker.
Similarly, ‘vulnerability indicators’ is ambiguous in the social security context and requires
additional information. This term has specific technical meanings within different business
areas. For example, in relation to Jobseekers, ‘vulnerability indicators’ refer to circumstances
affecting a jobseeker’s capacity to comply with their mutual obligation requirements. A
jobseeker who has a vulnerability indicator recorded in relation to their mutual obligation
requirements will not necessarily, or automatically, have a vulnerability indicator recorded for
other purposes.
As these terms hold specific meanings in different contexts, I am unable to identify and
conduct searches for the documents you are requesting.
Having regard to the above, I am satisfied that you have not provided such information
concerning the documents as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer to
identify the documents you are seeking access to.
Assistance to revise your request
PAGE 5 OF 7
Department of Human Services
You may wish to consider, for a second time, to revise the scope of your request to address
the issues raised above by providing:
additional information to specify the payment or circumstances that you are
seeking these documents for;
additional information to specify what you mean by ‘vulnerable’ and ‘vulnerability
indicators’.
Please note that, even if you provide the department with specific information that allows us
to identify the documents you are seeking, the request may still give rise to a practical refusal
reason if the revised scope remains too broad. You will need to take this into consideration
when revising the scope of your request.
The department does not undertake ‘part processing’ of an FOI request, meaning that, even
if some parts of your request were clear, the department cannot process any aspect of your
request if part of it remains unclear.
Further assistance
Please consider relooking at the resources below that are publicly available. These
resources were provided to you in the consultation letter dated 11 January 2019.
The department’s operational blueprint website and the Department’s Social Security Guide
to Social Policy Law (
Guide) may assist you in identifying the documents that you are
seeking.
Operational Blueprints
Operational Blueprints outline how departmental staff determine and deliver health, social
and welfare payments and services on behalf of the Australian Government. You can search
the publicly available Operational Blueprints here:
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/home.html.
I have listed a number of Operational Blueprints to assist you to identify what type of
vulnerability documents you are seeking in your request:
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/Pages/job-seekers/001-10050000-
01.html
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/Pages/payment-delivery/103-
01080040-05.html
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/Pages/compliance-and-reviews/110-
06090050-01.html
http://operational.humanservices.gov.au/public/Pages/job-seekers/001-02020040-
01.html
The Department of Social Service’s Guide to Social Policy Law
If you have not already considered the Department of Social Security’s Guide to Social Policy
Law (
Guide). This Guide does provide information about different types of vulnerability
PAGE 6 OF 7
Department of Human Services
indicators for welfare recipients. The Guide is available to access here:
http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law.
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a request must provide such information as is
reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer to identify the documents sought
Section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to
an FOI request if the request does not satisfy the requirements of section 15(2)(b) of the FOI
Act.
Section 24AB(6) provides that the applicant must, before the end of the consultation period,
do one of the following, by written notice to the agency or 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 that the request is taken to have been withdrawn at
the end of the consultation period if:
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.
PAGE 7 OF 7
Department of Human Services
