Government Funding of The King's School
Dear FOI Officer,
I am requesting the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982:
1. Correspondence with The King's School since 1 June 2022 (including any attachments) regarding compliance with federal/state legislative funding requirements.
2. Correspondence with the NSW Government since 1 June 2022 (including any attachments) regarding The King's School's compliance with federal/state legislative funding requirements.
Yours sincerely,
NLXQ
You have contacted the Freedom of Information Team at the Commonwealth
Department of Education (the department). If your email relates to a
Freedom of Information (FOI) application made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act), the department will respond as soon
as possible.
This email address is only for applications for access to documents under
the FOI Act. The department is unable to respond to non-FOI related
enquiries sent to this email address, and accordingly, emails sent to this
email address that are not FOI related will not be responded to or
forwarded.
CRICOS Codes
If you are seeking information relating to the Commonwealth Register of
Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS), information about
Australian education providers offering courses to people studying in
Australia on student visas and the courses offered, including CRICOS
codes, is available at [1]http://cricos.education.gov.au//. Monthly CRICOS
data exports are available at [2]https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cricos.
The department is unable to respond to non-FOI related CRICOS enquiries
sent to this email address.
Non-FOI Enquiries
If you have a non-FOI related enquiry for the department, you can contact
the department by using the online enquiry form at
[3]https://www.education.gov.au/about-us/co....
Regards,
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
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 566 046 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. http://cricos.education.gov.au/
2. https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cricos
3. https://www.education.gov.au/about-us/co...
Dear NLXQ
I refer to your request, received by the Department of Education (department) on Friday 23 February 2024, for access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to the following:
“1. Correspondence with The King's School since 1 June 2022 (including any attachments) regarding compliance with federal/state legislative funding requirements.
2. Correspondence with the NSW Government since 1 June 2022 (including any attachments) regarding The King's School's compliance with federal/state legislative funding requirements.”
Your request was received by the department on Friday 23 February 2024 and the 30 day statutory period for processing your request commenced from the day after that date. The period of 30 days may 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.
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 electronic address is [FOI #11160 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.
Exclusion of employee details
To the extent the department has documents in its possession that fall within the scope of your request, we will treat the names, signatures, position titles, staff identification numbers and direct contact details of Commonwealth employees as irrelevant in accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, unless you tell us otherwise by Monday 11 March 2024.
Further assistance
If you have any questions about your request, please email [email address].
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
Dear NLXQ
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your freedom of information request.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Australian Government Department of Education
Dear FOI Team,
I am seeking non-imposition of the charge as giving access to the documents in question is in the general public interest or in the interest of a substantial section of the public, as demonstrated by:
1. The issues canvased by this FOI request have attracted significant media attention from June 2022 to present, for example:
a) https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/king...
b) https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/ange...
c) https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/king...
d) https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/king...
e) https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/edu...
f) https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new-so...
g) https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-...
h) https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
i) https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new-so...
j) https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/king...
k) https://www.afr.com/rear-window/king-s-s...
2. Senate Questions without Notice on 27 October 2022: "Senator ALLMAN-PAYNE (Queensland) (14:26): Is the minister aware that the King's School, a private school in New South Wales, plan to use funds to build their head teacher a private plunge pool? Is the minister also aware that there has been around a 45 per cent increase in demountables in New South Wales public schools from 2014 to 2020? Does the minister believe that it is fair that Labor is giving even more money to private schools while the public system crumbles?"
3. Questions at Senate Estimates (Education and Employment Legislation Committee) on 10 November 2022 and 16 February 2023 in relation to compliance and assurance activities applied to the King's School.
4. On 19 October 2023, the NSW Government announced a review of laws governing non-government schools and their use of public funds:
https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest....
The factors above demonstrate the subject matter of these documents is a topic of public debate and is a policy issue under consideration by government. The public will benefit from the release of these documents as they will enable the public to assess the effectiveness of compliance and assurance activities applied to non-government schools and suspected instances of non-compliance.
To assist in efficiently processing this request, I am happy to revise the scope of my request to exclude:
- standard correspondence of a routine nature (for example, correspondence of a similar form sent to all non-government schools).
- documents that are duplicates.
- draft copies of documents.
- for email correspondence, any earlier emails in the trail, provided that the latest email in the trail is included.
- personal information of non-SES officers and individuals external to the department, provided that the job title/position remains included.
Yours sincerely,
NLXQ
You have contacted the Freedom of Information Team at the Commonwealth
Department of Education (the department). If your email relates to a
Freedom of Information (FOI) application made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act), the department will respond as soon
as possible.
This email address is only for applications for access to documents under
the FOI Act. The department is unable to respond to non-FOI related
enquiries sent to this email address, and accordingly, emails sent to this
email address that are not FOI related will not be responded to or
forwarded.
CRICOS Codes
If you are seeking information relating to the Commonwealth Register of
Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS), information about
Australian education providers offering courses to people studying in
Australia on student visas and the courses offered, including CRICOS
codes, is available at [1]http://cricos.education.gov.au//. Monthly CRICOS
data exports are available at [2]https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cricos.
The department is unable to respond to non-FOI related CRICOS enquiries
sent to this email address.
Non-FOI Enquiries
If you have a non-FOI related enquiry for the department, you can contact
the department by using the online enquiry form at
[3]https://www.education.gov.au/about-us/co....
Regards,
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
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 566 046 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. http://cricos.education.gov.au/
2. https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cricos
3. https://www.education.gov.au/about-us/co...
Dear NLXQ
Please see the attached correspondence in relation to my decision on the
charge for your FOI request.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Education
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 566 046 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.