If not delivered return to PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
4 October 2019
Our reference: LEX 48034
RK Crosby
Only by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear RK Crosby
Acknowledgement of your Internal Review Request
I refer to your request for internal review under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (
FOI
Act) of the department’s decision in LEX 46629 as follows:
‘I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Human Services's
handling of my FOI request 'People with migraine on DSP'.
Thank you for the information about people with migraine on DSP, this is useful
information. I appreciate that was the title of the request, but the wording of the
request asked for any Centrelink benefit. We have a significant belief that people with
migraine who would otherwise be entitled to DSP are on Newstart long term or other
benefits, providing repeated medical certificates for years to obtain exemptions from
participation requirements, because of the social stigma that migraine is 'just a
headache'.
If you are unable to gather medical condition information for other benefits, that's fine,
just let me know. (However, we are requesting a parliamentary inquiry into the burden
of migraine, so you may need to deliver this information to the Minister or relevant
Committee in the near future anyway.)’
Timeframe for processing your request
Your request was received by the Department of Human Services (
department) on 1
October 2019 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 31 October 2019.
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.
Charges
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. No charge is payable for providing a
person with their own personal information.
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
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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.
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 staff details
The department is working towards ensuring that all staff 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
Employment Law and FOI | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
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Department of Human Services
