Your Ref
Our Ref
LEX 302
Justin Warren
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Justin
Your Freedom of Information request - charge
I refer to your request, received by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment
(department) on 28 May 2022, for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) to the fol owing documents:
- The business case document(s) (or equivalent) for the Points Based Activation System
(https://www.dese.gov.au/new-employment-services-model/resources/points-based-
activation-system), including any attachments. I request only the final version of the
document(s) that were submitted for approval of the proposal.
- Documents constituting a risk register or equivalent documentation describing the risks
from the proposal, risk ratings, proposed treatments and mitigations, etc. Where multiple
versions of such documents exist (such as drafts) I only request two versions (if they are
different):
1. the version current when the proposal was submitted for approval, and 2. the version
current on 27 May 2022 at 9am Australia/Melbourne time.
- Documents, including emails, containing the submission of the proposal for consideration
and approval.
- Meeting minutes or equivalent that document approval of the proposal.
On 10 June 2022, the department acknowledged receipt of your request. In this
acknowledgement, we stated that we understood your request to be for:
“The business case document(s) (or equivalent) for the Points Based Activation System
(https://www.dese.gov.au/new-employment-services-model/resources/points-based-
activation-system), including any attachments. I request only the final version of the
GPO Box 9880, Canberra ACT 2601 | Phone 1300 488 064 | www.dese.gov.au | ABN 12 862 898 150
document(s) that were submitted for approval of the proposal”. We have interpreted this as
referring to the final version of the document(s), including any attachments, that the
department submitted for the final approval of the Points Based Activation System as part of
the New Employment Services Model.
“Documents constituting a risk register or equivalent documentation describing the risks from
the proposal, risk ratings, proposed treatments and mitigations, etc. Where multiple versions
of such documents exist (such as drafts) I only request two versions (if they are different): the
version current when the proposal was submitted for approval, and 2. the version current on
27 May 2022 at 9am Australia/Melbourne time”.
“Documents, including emails, containing the submission of the proposal for consideration
and approval”. We have interpreted this as referring to documents, including emails,
containing the submission of the final proposal for approval of the Points Based Activation
System as part of the New Employment Services Model.
“Meeting minutes or equivalent that document approval of the proposal”. We have
interpreted this as referring to meeting minutes (or equivalent documents) that document
the approval of the department’s final proposal to proceed with the Points Based Activation
System as part of the New Employment Services Model.
On 13 June 2022, in your email response to the department, you stated that “the scope you
have identified appears to be accurate based on the information that is publicly available
about what the PBAS program is called”.
I have drafted the preliminary estimate of charge based on the above interpretation of your
request.
Preliminary assessment of the charge
Under the FOI Act, I have decided that you are liable to pay a charge for the processing of
your request. My preliminary assessment of the charge is $370.00 calculated as follows:
Search and retrieval time: 8 hours, at $15.00 per hour
$120.00
Decision-making time, including consultation with relevant third parties, after
$250.00
deduction of 5 hours*: 12.5 hours, at $20.00 per hour
TOTAL
$370.00
*The FOI Act provides that the first five hours of decision-making time are free of charge and this is reflected in
the calculation.
I am advised that the department has in its possession approximately 10 documents with
approximately 170 pages relevant to your request.
Required action
If you would like the department to continue processing your request, you must notify the
department in writing within 30 days of receiving this notice that you:
• agree to pay the charge
• wish to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed, should be reduced or
not imposed or both or
• withdraw your request.
If you do not respond within 30 days, your request wil be taken to have been withdrawn by
the operation of the FOI Act.
Option - pay the charge
As the charge exceeds $25, you are required to pay a deposit of $92.50 within 30 days of
receiving this notice. You may elect to pay the charge in full at this point.
Payment can be made by credit card by completing the attached credit card authorisation
and sending a scanned copy to
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
If you are unable to pay by credit card, please contact us on the above email.
Please note that the charge is a fee for processing your request, not a payment for access to
documents. Payment of the charge does not guarantee you access to any or al of the
documents you have requested. Access to documents wil be considered by the decision
maker in accordance with the FOI Act.
Option - seek reduction or non-imposition of the charge
If you want to ask the department to reduce or not to impose the charge, you should tel us
why and give us evidence to support your reasons. You may wish to tell us:
• whether paying the charge would cause you financial hardship and/or
• whether access to the documents is in the general public interest or in the interest
of a substantial section of the public.
We must take these matters into account in deciding whether or not to reduce or not
impose the charge.
Time limits for processing your request
Under the FOI Act, the time limit for processing your request is suspended from today until
the day fol owing payment of the charge (in full or the required deposit) or, if applicable, the
day following a decision not to impose the charge.
To assist you, I have set out the relevant sections of the FOI Act at
Attachment A.
Further assistance
As an alternative, you may wish to consider revising the scope of your request. If you would
like to discuss this, please email xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Damon
Damon
Authorised decision maker
Department of Education, Skills and Employment
16 June 2022
Attachment A
Relevant sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Charge
Section 29(1) of the FOI Act provides that, where the department decides that an applicant is
liable to pay a charge in respect of a request for access to a document, or the provision of
access to a document, the department must give the applicant written notice. The notice
must state, among other things, that the applicant must within 30 days after the notice was
given tell the department in writing that the applicant:
• agrees to pay the charge
• wishes to contend that the charge has been wrongly assessed or should be reduced
or not imposed or both or
• wishes to withdraw the request.
Under section 29(2) of the FOI Act, if the applicant does not do one of these things within 30
days, the request wil be taken to have been withdrawn.
Attachment B
Credit Card Authorisation
Use this form to pay a Freedom of Information charge by credit card
Applicant's details
Name
Phone number
Credit card details
Credit card type
Card holder's name
Credit card number
Expiry date
CCV number
Amount
Signature
Date
Privacy statement
Your personal information is col ected by the Department of Education, Skil s and Employment for the
purposes of processing the payment of a charge imposed under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 and related purposes. If you do not provide some or all of the information requested, the department
may be unable to process your credit card payment. Your personal information may be disclosed to
other parties where you have agreed, or where it is otherwise permitted by law. The department's
Privacy Policy, including information about how to make a complaint and access to and correction of
your personal information, can be found at
https://www.dese.gov.au/privacy.
Document Outline
