Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,

I request the following data for 2021/2022, namely:

: The number of claims lodged,
: The number of claims accepted, and
: The total value of the amount paid out.

Yours faithfully,

Alan ASHMORE

INFORMATION.ACCESS, Department of Veterans' Affairs

6 Attachments

Dear Mr Ashmore

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (the department) has received your
request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act). I note you have requested access to the following:

             ‘I request the following data for Act of Grace Payments for
2021/2022, namely:

: The number of claims lodged,

: The number of claims accepted, and

: The total value of the amount paid out.'

 

Your request was received by the department on 11 December 2023 and the
ordinary 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced
from the day after that date.

 

Extension of Time

Due to an increase in the number of information access applications
currently being received by the department, we are asking your agreement
to an extension of time for a further 30 days to process this request
under section 15AA of the FOI Act. This would mean that your request is
due on 9 February 2023.

 

If we are in a position to make a decision on your request earlier than
this date, we will endeavour to do so.

 

The statutory period may also be extended if we need to consult third
parties or for other reasons permitted under the FOI Act. We will advise
you if this happens.

 

Please reply by email if you agree to this extension of time. If you do
agree we will notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(OAIC) of your agreement under section 15AA of the FOI Act.

 

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 that we can send
notices to. You have advised your email address is
[1][FOI #9688 email]. Unless you tell us
otherwise, we will send all notices and correspondence to this address.

 

Disclosure log

 

Information released under the FOI Act may be published on a disclosure
log on our website, subject to certain exceptions. These exceptions
include where publication of personal, business, professional or
commercial information would be unreasonable.

 

Request to treat certain material as out of scope or irrelevant to the
request

 

To the extent the department has documents in its possession that fall
within the scope of your request, we intend to treat the following
information as out of scope or irrelevant to your request, pursuant to
section 22(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act:

1.      The surnames, signatures and direct contact details of non-SES
Commonwealth employees and contractors, including clinical staff working
for Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling;

2.      The surnames, signatures and direct contact details of serving
members of the Australian Defence Force; and

3.      The signatures of third party individuals.

If you agree to the department treating these details as irrelevant and
our request for an extension of time, please advise by 21 December 2022.

 

Further assistance

 

If you have any questions about your request, please email
[2][DVA request email].

 

Regards

 

Fiona  Position Number – 62211034

Information Access Registrations Officer

Information Access Unit / Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch

Client Engagement and Support Services Division

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)

[3][DVA request email]

[4]www.dva.gov.au 

 

[5]cid:image002.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590[6]cid:image003.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590[7]cid:image004.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590[8]cid:image005.png@01D7B6E3.69D49590

[9]cid:image008.jpg@01D8EA24.8F7FA8A0

[10]cid:image009.jpg@01D8EA24.8F7FA8A0

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #9688 email]
2. mailto:[DVA request email]
3. mailto:[DVA request email]
4. http://www.dva.gov.au/
5. https://www.facebook.com/DVAAus
6. https://twitter.com/DVAAus
7. https://au.linkedin.com/company/australi...
8. https://www.youtube.com/DVATVAus

Dear INFORMATION.ACCESS,

I note your response of 14 December 2022 where you stated, “due to an increase in the number of information access applications being received by the department, we are asking your agreement to an extension of time for a further 30 days to process this request …………”

I note the Information Commissioner’s guideline 3.13 that states, “Agencies should ensure a sufficient number of officers are authorised at appropriatetly senior levels to make both original and internal review decisions.”

Accordingly, I do not agree to this extension for what should be information readily available as part of a management report.

Yours sincerely,

Alan ASHMORE

INFORMATION.ACCESS, Department of Veterans' Affairs

***Important message***

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Where your email is a request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act (1982) or administrative access, this email is
notification that your request has been received by the department and
will be processed.

 

For all other matters we will respond to your email shortly.

 

Sincerely,

 

Information Access Unit

Client and Rehabilitation Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

 

 

Dear Department of Veterans' Affairs,

You previously requested an extension of time, “due to an increase in the number of information access applications being received by the department, we are asking your agreement to an extension of time for a further 30 days to process this request …………”

In my response on 18 December 2022 I noted the Information Commissioner’s guideline 3.13 that states, “Agencies should ensure a sufficient number of officers are authorised at appropriatetly senior levels to make both original and internal review decisions.”

I now additionally note DVA received an additional $28.9M to cover additional staffing costs associated with the Royal Commission, some of this would have been appropriated to the FOI Section and should therefore be NO reason for requesting an extension due to the increase volume of FOI requests.

As noted previously this information was previously available in DVA's Annual Report but for unknown reasons it has remains unavailable to the public and why I have sought this information under FOI.

I now request the immediate release of this now overdue FOI by no later than the close of business this Friday 13 January 2023.

Yours faithfully,

Alan ASHMORE

INFORMATION.ACCESS, Department of Veterans' Affairs

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Ashmore

Thank you for your information access request - LEX 55117.

Please find attached my decision letter and documents relating to your request.

We apologise for the delays of sending this request to you.

Kind regards,
Frankie| Information Access Officer
Position 62210799
Information Access Unit  I Client Access and Rehabilitation Branch
Client Engagement and Support Services Division
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Tel 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372)
[DVA request email]
www.dva.gov.au

OAIC - FOI DR,

6 Attachments

Our reference: RQ23/00282

Agency reference: 55117

 

Mr Alan Ashmore

 

Sent by email: [FOI #9688 email]

 

CC: [1][email address]

 

Extension of time under s 15AC

 

Dear Mr Ashmore,

 

Please find attached an FOI Extension of time decision relating to your
FOI request with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.  A copy of this
decision has been provided to the Department today.

 

Kind regards,

 

Thomas Hanaee

 

[2][IMG] Assistant Review Adviser

Freedom of Information Regulatory Group

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[3]oaic.gov.au

1300 363 992 | [4][email address]
[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] | [8]Subscribe to OAICnet newsletter

 

 

 

 

 

Notice:

The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/media-and-speech...