FOI
Decision and Statement of Reasons made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982
Decision and reason for decision of Lachlan, Position Number 62230915, Information Law
Section, Legal Services and Audit Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Applicant:
Mr Alan Ashmore
Decision date:
29 July 2019
FOI reference number:
FOI 29699
Sent by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Ashmore,
Freedom of Information Request: FOI 29699
Decision
1.
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (
Department) has undertaken a reasonable search of its records
and has identified one (1) document relevant to your request.
2.
I have made a decision to:
a. create and grant access to one document falling within the scope of your request in part
insofar as it captures data from the Compensation QA Quarterly Report for Q1, Q2 and Q3;
and
b. refuse access under section 24A of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI Act) to data
in relation to the Compensation QA Quarterly Report for Q4 as it is not yet available. For
this reason, only data for the first three quarters has been produced in response to your
request.
3.
The document that I have chosen to release in part is set out in
Schedule 1.
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Authority to make decision
4.
I, Lachlan (Position Number 62230915), Information Access Officer, Information Law Section, am an
officer authorised by the Secretary of the Department to make decisions about access to documents
in the possession of the Department in accordance with section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Summary
5.
On 7 July 2019, you made a request for access to documents in the possession of the Department.
Your request sought access to:
…The percentage of high impact errors in 2018/19 for the following:
MRCA Initial Liability Claims,
DRCA Initial Liability Claims,
MRCA Permanent Impairment,
DRCA Permanent Impairment, and
The average number of work elements per case for each of the above…
6.
As no extensions of time have been applied to process your request, a decision on your request is
due by 7 August 2019.
7.
I have decided not to impose a charge in relation to this request, in accordance with Regulation 8 of
the
Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 2019.
Material taken into account
8.
In accordance with section 26(1)(a) of the FOI Act, my findings on any material question of fact, the
material on which those findings were based and the reasons for my decision to grant full access to
the document is as follows.
9.
I have taken the following material into account in making my decision:
the terms of your request;
the types of information and documents that are in the Department’s possession;
the content of the document that falls within the scope of your request;
Sections 3, 11 and 11A of the FOI Act which give the Australian community a legally
enforceable right to obtain access to information held by the Government of the
Commonwealth. I also considered the following provisions of the FOI Act relevant to my
2
decision:
- Section 17
Requests involving use of computers etc (e.g. request for the Department to
create a document);
- Section 24 Requests may be refused if documents do not exist; and
the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under section 93A of the
FOI Act (FOI Guidelines).
10.
A full extract of all FOI Act provisions used to make my decision are provided in
Schedule 2.
Reasons for decision
Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not exist or have not been received
(section 24A)
11.
Section 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides that 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 o
r Minister is satisfied that the
document:
(i) is in th
e agency's o
r Minister's possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
12.
I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find information relevant to your request,
having regard to:
the terms of your request;
the subject matter of the documents;
the current and past file management systems and the practice of orderly destruction
or removal of documents;
the Department’s record management systems and practices; and
the individuals and areas within the Department who may be able to assist with the
location of the information you seek access to.
13.
Despite the reasonable searches undertaken, the Department has determined that part of the
information relevant to your request does not currently exist. The Business Area has advised that the
Compensation QA Quarterly Report for Q4 is not yet available as it will be produced until next
3
month. As such, we are only able to provide data for 3 of the 4 quarters during the 18/19 Financial
Year.
14.
When the data becomes available, it will be published as part of the end of year reporting process
and will be made publicly available.
15.
For these reasons, I am refusing the your request insofar as it relates to data for the fourth quarter as
noted above in accordance with section 24A(1)(ii) of the FOI Act.
Access to documents
16.
The document released to you in accordance with the FOI Act is enclosed.
Information Publication Scheme
17.
The Information Publication Scheme requires the Department to publish information released in
response to individual requests made under the FOI Act, except in specified circumstances. I am of
the view that details of your request should be made available on the Department’s disclosure log.
As such details of your request will be published by the Department on its disclosure log, which can
be accessed a
t http://www.dva.gov.au/about-dva/freedom-information/foi-disclosure-log . Please
note that the Department does not publish details of FOI applicants, it only details the FOI request
and the documents released in response to the request.
Your rights of review
18.
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or request the Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (
OAIC) review my decision. We encourage you to seek internal
review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Internal review
19.
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to the Department for an Internal Review
of my decision. The Internal Review application must be made within 30 days of the date of this
letter. Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is necessary. The
internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days.
20.
You can make your application for Internal Review in one of the following ways:
Post:
Legal Services and Audit Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
Facsimile:
(02) 6289 6337
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
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OAIC review
21.
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the OAIC to review my decision. An application
for review by OAIC must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of this letter, and be lodged in
one of the following ways:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Facsimile:
(02) 9284 9666
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
In person:
Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
22.
More information about your review rights under the FOI Act is available in Fact Sheet 12 published
by the OAIC:
http://oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/foi-resources/freedom-of-information-fact-
sheets/foi-factsheet-12-your-review-rights
Contact us
23.
If you wish to discuss this decision, please do not hesitate to contact the Information Law Section
using the following details:
Post:
Legal Services and Audit Branch, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601
Facsimile:
(02) 6289 6337
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Lachlan (Position Number 62230915)
Information Access Officer
Information Law Section | Legal Services and Audit Branch
Integrity, Assurance and Communications Division
29 July 2019
5
FOI
Schedule 1
Schedule of documents
Applicant:
Mr Alan Ashmore
Decision date:
29 July 2019
FOI reference number:
FOI 29699
Doc
Date of
Document description
Pages Decision Exemption
No.
document
provision
1 26 July 2019 The percentage of high impact errors in 2018/19 in
1
Part Access s 24(1)(b)(ii)
relation to MRCA Liability Claims, DRCA Liability
Claims, MRCA Permanent Impairment, DRCA
Permanent Impairment and the average number of
work elements per case for each category listed.
6
FOI
Schedule 2
Schedule of relevant provisions in the FOI Act
3
Objects—general
(1) The objects of this Act are to give the Australian community access to information held by the
Government of the Commonwealth or the Government of Norfolk Island, by:
(a) requiring agencies to publish the information; and
(b) providing for a right of access to documents.
(2) The Parliament intends, by these objects, to promote Australia’s representative democracy by
contributing towards the following:
(a) increasing public participation in Government processes, with a view to promoting
better-informed decision-making;
(b) increasing scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of the Government’s activities.
(3) The Parliament also intends, by these objects, to increase recognition that information held by the
Government is to be managed for public purposes, and is a national resource.
(4) The Parliament also intends that functions and powers given by this Act are to be performed and
exercised, as far as possible, to facilitate and promote public access to information, promptly and at
the lowest reasonable cost.
11 Right of access
(1) Subject to this Act, every person has a legally enforceable right to obtain access in accordance with
this Act to:
(a) a document of an agency, other than an exempt document; or
(b) an official document of a Minister, other than an exempt document.
(2) Subject to this Act, a person’s right of access is not affected by:
(a) any reasons the person gives for seeking access; or
(b) the agency’s or Minister’s belief as to what are his or her reasons for seeking access.
11A Access to documents on request
Scope
(1) This section applies if:
(a) a request is made by a person, in accordance with subsection 15(2), to an agency or Minister for
access to:
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a document of the agency; or
an official document of the Minister; and
(b) any charge that, under the regulations, is required to be paid before access is given has been
paid.
(2) This section applies subject to this Act.
Note:
Other provisions of this Act are relevant to decisions about access to documents, for example the
following:
(a) section 12 (documents otherwise available);
(b) section 13 (documents in national institutions);
(c) section 15A (personnel records);
(d) section 22 (access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted).
Mandatory access—general rule
(3) The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document in accordance with this Act,
subject to this section.
Exemptions and conditional exemptions
(4) The agency or Minister is not required by this Act to give the person access to the document at a
particular time if, at that time, the document is an exempt document.
Note:
Access may be given to an exempt document apart from under this Act, whether or not in response to a
request (see section 3A (objects—information or documents otherwise accessible)).
(5) The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally exempt at a
particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that time would, on balance,
be contrary to the public interest.
Note 1:
Division 3 of Part IV provides for when a document is conditionally exempt.
Note 2:
A conditionally exempt document is an exempt document if access to the document would, on balance,
be contrary to the public interest (see section 31B (exempt documents for the purposes of Part IV)).
Note 3:
Section 11B deals with when it is contrary to the public interest to give a person access to the document.
(6) Despite subsection (5), the agency or Minister is not required to give access to the document at a
particular time if, at that time, the document is both:
(a) a conditionally exempt document; and
(b) an exempt document:
(i) under Division 2 of Part IV (exemptions); or
(ii) within the meaning of paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of exempt document in
subsection 4(1).
17
Requests involving use of computers etc
(1)
Where:
(a)
a request (including
a request in relation to which
a practical refusal reason exists)
is made in accordance with the requirements o
f subsection 15(2) to
an agency;
(b)
It appears from the
request that the desire of th
e applicant is for information that
is not available in discrete form in writt
en documents of the
agency; and
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(ba)
it does not appear from th
e request that th
e applicant wishes to be provided with
a computer tape or computer disk on which the information is recorded; and
(c)
the agency could produce a writt
en 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 th
e request as if it were
a request 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.
(2)
An agency is not required to comply
with subsection (1) if compliance would substantially and
unreasonably divert the resources of th
e agency from its other operations.
23 Decisions to be made by authorised persons
(1) Subject to subsection (2), a decision in respect of a request made to an agency may be made, on
behalf of the agency, by the responsible Minister or the principal officer of the agency or, subject to
the regulations, by an officer of the agency acting within the scope of authority exercisable by him or
her in accordance with arrangements approved by the responsible Minister or the principal officer of
the agency.
(2) A decision in respect of a request made to a court, or made to a tribunal, authority or body that is
specified in Schedule 1, may be made on behalf of that court, tribunal, authority or body by the
principal officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body or, subject to the regulations, by an officer
of that court, tribunal, authority or body acting within the scope of authority exercisable by him or
her in accordance with arrangements approved by the principal officer of that court, tribunal,
authority or body.
(see section 11A).
24A Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not exist or have not been
received
Document lost or non-existent
(1)
An agency or
Minister may refuse
a request for access to
a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find t
he document; and
(b) t
he agency or
Minister is satisfied that t
he document:
(i) is in t
he agency's
or Minister's possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
Document not received as required by contract
(2)
An agency may refuse
a request for access to
a document if:
(a) in order to comply wit
h section 6C, th
e agency has taken contractual measures to ensure that it
receives t
he document; and
(b) t
he agency has not received t
he document; and
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(c) t
he agency has taken all reasonable steps to receive t
he document in accordance with those
contractual measures.
26 Reasons and other particulars of decisions to be given
(1) Where, in relation to a request, a decision is made relating to a refusal to grant access to a document
in accordance with the request or deferring provision of access to a document, the decision-maker
shall cause the applicant to be given notice in writing of the decision, and the notice shall:
(a) state the findings on any material questions of fact, referring to the material on which those
findings were based, and state the reasons for the decision; and
(aa) in the case of a decision to refuse to give access to a conditionally exempt document—include
in those reasons the public interest factors taken into account in making the decision; and
Note: Access must generally be given to a conditionally exempt document unless it would be contrary to the public
interest (see section 11A).
(b) where the decision relates to a document of an agency, state the name and designation of the
person giving the decision; and
(c) give to the applicant appropriate information concerning:
(i)
his or her rights with respect to review of the decision;
(ii)
his or her rights to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner in
relation to the decision; and
(iii)
the procedure for the exercise of the rights referred to in subparagraphs (i) and
(ii); including (where applicable) particulars of the manner in which an
application for internal review (Part VI) and IC review (Part VII) may be made.
(1A) Section 13 of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 does not apply to a decision
referred to in subsection (1).
(2) A notice under this section is not required to contain any matter that is of such a nature that its
inclusion in a document of an agency would cause that document to be an exempt document.
(see section 11A).
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