Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team in Services
Australia. 

This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides some general
information in relation to FOI.

Timeframe For processing your request

Under the FOI Act you have a right, with limited exceptions, to access
documents the agency holds. A FOI request normally takes 30 days to
process.

Please note this period may be further extended if we need to consult
third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.

Charges

Services Australia 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 you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. We will send all notices and correspondence to the address you
have used to email us. Please advise us as soon as possible if you wish
correspondence to be sent to another address or if your address changes.

Administrative release of documents   

The agency has administrative access arrangements in place for the release
of certain documents without the need for a formal FOI request. These
arrangements do not extend to information or material of third parties.

Exclusion of junior staff details

Services Australia 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 FOI requests. Where such details are
included in documents they will be redacted. If you request staff details
as part of your FOI application, this may add to processing time and
applicable charges as it will be necessary to consider whether these
details are exempt under the Act.

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Dear OpenWelfare

Thank you for your request to Services Australia (the agency) dated 19
June 2022, made in the following terms:

I request, under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, copies of the
following documents:

Accessing an Indigenous interpreter 125-17060200 Identifying barriers to
participation for Indigenous customers 001-09020110 Initial contact and
identification of services for Indigenous Australians 125-01000000
Services to Indigenous job seekers 125-02010040

from your Operational Blueprints.

I request that it be posted to your operational blueprint site for all to
see if unredacted, or if unable to be done a PDF to this right to know
request.

Should these requests number greater than the minimum allowed free time
for Freedom of information requests under the act, please continue to
reduce the scope of this request from 4x requests to one, in order as
appearing above.

Ideally I would like ALL of the operational documents that have the word
'indigenous' in the operational blueprint title be unblocked, but if that
would incur a fee, please disregard this part of the scope.

Your request is invalid

In its current form, your request does not meet the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and has not been registered as a
valid request.

The FOI Act provides a right of access to documents which are in the
possession of the agency. The second part of your request, being “Ideally
I would like ALL of the operational documents that have the word
'indigenous' in the operational blueprint title be unblocked, but if that
would incur a fee, please disregard this part of the scope”, is currently
framed as a request for the agency to update their processes relating to
the publication of certain Operational Blueprints rather than for specific
documents. As the agency cannot ‘part process’ your request, we consider
the whole request to be invalid.

Assistance with making a valid FOI request

In order to prevent delays in the processing of your request, you may wish
to withdraw the second part of your request at this time. This will enable
the agency to process the first part of your request, being for a copy of
Operational Blueprints 125-17060200, 001-09020110, 125-01000000 and
125-02010040, in the most timely manner.

Alternatively, you can revise the scope of your current request to be a
valid FOI request.

If you would like to make a valid FOI request, section 15 of the FOI Act
provides the criteria for making a valid request. Specifically, the
request must:

·         be in writing and state that it is for the purposes of the FOI
Act

·         have a return address, and

·         relevantly, be a request for specific documents with enough
information to enable the agency to identify them.

Other considerations

I refer to the second part of your request, being the following:

Ideally I would like ALL of the operational documents that have the word
'indigenous' in the operational blueprint title be unblocked, but if that
would incur a fee, please disregard this part of the scope.

Please note, if you proceed to make a valid FOI request and confirm you
are seeking “ALL of the operational documents that have the word
'indigenous' in the operational blueprint” (and insofar as the agency may
be able to identify the documents you are seeking), this component of your
request could potentially capture a significant volume of documents. On
this basis, processing this part of your request is likely to
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency and a
practical refusal reason under section 24AA of the FOI Act may exist.
Further, as this component of your request may capture a significant
volume of documents containing non-personal information, it is likely that
in accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act, you will be liable to pay a
charge for the processing of your request.

For your action

Please respond to this email by close of business Friday 1 July 2022
advising if you would like to withdraw the second part of your request, or
otherwise revise your request so it may be registered as a valid request.
If we do not hear from you within that time, we will assume you no longer
wish to proceed with a FOI request.

If you have any questions please email
[1][email address].

Kind regards

Phillipa

Freedom of Information Team

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D795D4.87D68FB0

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past, present and
emerging of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear OpenWelfare

Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia dated 8 July
2022 in relation to your request for access under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Kind regards,

Phillipa

[1][email address]

Freedom of Information Team

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D795D4.87D68FB0

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past, present and
emerging of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear OpenWelfare

Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia dated 28 July
2022 in relation to your request for access under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Kind regards,

Phillipa

[1][email address]

Freedom of Information Team

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D795D4.87D68FB0

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past, present and
emerging of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear OpenWelfare,

I refer to the correspondence below from Services Australia (the agency)
dated 28 July 2022 in relation to your request for access under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Relevantly, the agency noted they were in the process of publishing two
documents, being ‘Accessing an Indigenous interpreter 125-17060200’ and
‘Initial contact and identification of services for Indigenous Australians
125-01000000’, on Services Australia’s Operational Blueprint website and
would provide you a link to these documents as soon as they had been
published. In the interim, the agency provided you a PDF copy of these
documents.

Please be advised the documents have now been published on Services
Australia’s Operational Blueprint website and are available at the
following links:

-         
[1]https://operational.servicesaustralia.go...

-         
[2]https://operational.servicesaustralia.go...

If you have any questions please email
[3][email address].

Kind regards,

Phillipa

[4][email address]

Freedom of Information Team

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[5]cid:image001.jpg@01D795D4.87D68FB0

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past, present and
emerging of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

From: FOI.LEGAL.TEAM <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, 28 July 2022 6:04 PM
To: 'OpenWelfare' <[FOI #9037 email]>
Cc: FOI.LEGAL.TEAM <[email address]>
Subject: LEX 68365 - Your FOI Request - Decision [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Dear OpenWelfare

Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia dated 28 July
2022 in relation to your request for access under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Kind regards,

Phillipa

[6][email address]

Freedom of Information Team

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[7]cid:image001.jpg@01D795D4.87D68FB0

Services Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land now
called Australia. We pay our respect to all Elders, past, present and
emerging of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations.

This email and any attachments may contain information subject to legal
professional privilege or information that is otherwise sensitive or
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are
prohibited from using or disseminating this communication. If you have
received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately
and permanently delete this email.

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. https://operational.servicesaustralia.go...
2. https://operational.servicesaustralia.go...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
6. mailto:[email address]