PO Box 7820 Canberra BC ACT 2610
18 June 2021
Our reference: LEX 62938
Ms Melissa Jones
Only by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Ms Jones
Your Freedom of Information Request
Acknowledgement and Notification of Formal Consultation
I refer to your request to Services Australia (the agency) dated 11 June 2021, for access
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) to the following documents:
Please provide a dollar figure for the last 5 financial years general ledger for the
department.
We are not asking for the details being the GL just the expenditure by line item for the
department for the 5 years
Currently your request does not sufficiently identify the documents you require. As such, the
agency is now formally consulting with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act.
This letter is giving you an opportunity to provide us with specific information about the
documents you need. Providing this additional information wil assist the agency in
processing your request.
If you decide not to provide further information or revise your request, I wil have to refuse
your freedom of information (FOI) request as a 'practical refusal reason' exists. For a more
detailed explanation of what this means, please see Attachment A.
Publicly available information which may assist
After conducting preliminary enquiries with relevant business areas within the agency, I have
been advised detailed financial information which may be relevant to your request is included
in the agency’s Annual Reports. The information is contained in the financial statements
section of the Annual Reports.
The agency’s website provides the Annual Reports from the inception of the agency and its
predecessor, the Department of Human Services. You can find the annual reports
here.
If the information provided in the annual reports is what you are seeking, we would
appreciate it if you withdrew your FOI request.
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
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• tell us that you do not want to revise your request.
If you do not contact us during the consultation period, your matter wil be taken as
withdrawn. Your response wil be expected by
2 July 2021. See At achment A for relevant
sections of the FOI Act.
If you decide to make a revised request you should be specific about what documents you
actually want. This could help the agency find the documents.
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 t
o xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Note: When you contact us please quote the reference number FOI LEX 62938.
Timeframe for processing your request
Your request was received by the agency on 11 June 2021 and the 30 day statutory period
for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. However, please note
the consultation period referred to above is not included in this 30 day time period. The
period of 30 days may also be extended if we need to consult third parties or for other
reasons.
Charges
The agency wil 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
wil send all notices and correspondence to this address. Please advise us as soon as
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
wil continue to be sent to the address specified above.
Administrative release of documents
The agency has administrative access arrangements (arrangements) for the release of
certain documents without the need for a formal FOI request. Unless you advise us
otherwise, in processing your request we may provide you with documents under these
arrangements where appropriate. The arrangements do not extend to information or
materials of third parties. You wil be notified when documents are released to you under the
arrangements.
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Disclosure log
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published in a disclosure log
on the agency'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 agency is working towards ensuring 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 wil
assume these details are out of scope of your request and they wil be redacted under
section 22 of the FOI Act.
Further assistance
If you have any questions please email
xxx.xxxxx.xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Lachlan
Authorised FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information Team
Employment Law and FOI Branch | Legal Services Division
Services Australia
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Attachment A
What I took into account
You requested access under the
FOI Act to the following documents:
Please provide a dollar figure for the last 5 financial years general ledger for the
department.
We are not asking for the details being the GL just the expenditure by line item for the
department for the 5 years
Your request is unclear
As your request currently stands, I am unable to identify some of the documents falling within
the scope of your request, and am therefore unable to process your request.
In the first part of your request, you have referred to seeking a ‘dollar figure for the last 5
financial years [sic] general ledger for the department.’ It is unclear whether this is seeking a
dollar figure which captures each of the last 5 years separately, or a combined figure.
In the second part of your request, you have referred to seeking ‘just the expenditure by line
item for the department for the 5 years.’ It is unclear what you mean when you refer to “line
item”.
We also require clarification around your use of the term “expenditure”. Documents relating
to expenditure could include a variety of documents which may or may not have been
intended to be captured by your request, such as receipts for purchases, payslips of agency
officers and payments to customers of the agency. Without clarification this part of your
request is too unclear to process.
In summary, we require the below aspects of your request to clarified:
• what document/s you require in relation to the first part of your request
• what you mean when referring to ‘expenditure’, and
• what you mean when referring to ‘line item’.
If you do not revise, I intend to refuse your FOI request as a 'practical refusal reason' exists
under sections 24AA(1)(b) and 24 of the FOI Act. Under the FOI Act, the practical refusal
reason is that your request does not satisfy the requirements in section 15(2)(b)
(identification of documents).
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to
a request for a document if the request does not satisfy the requirement in section 15(2)(b) of
the FOI Act.
Section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act provides that a request must provide such information as is
reasonably necessary to enable the agency to identify the documents that are being
requested.
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Section 24AB(6) says 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.
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