KPI reduction to 5 minutes
Dear FOI team
I am making a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.
I am seeking a soft copy of any documents that explain the assumptions behind the estimate that to reduce the KPI to an average speed of answer of 5 minutes, the agency would need an additional 1000 staff at a cost of over $100 million each and every year provided by the then Department of Human Services in response to the Australian National Audit Office 2015 report Management of Smart Centres’ Centrelink Telephone Services.
Yours faithfully
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team of Services
Australia (the Agency).
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides general FOI
information .
We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of requests,
which has resulted in some delays in our review and response process. We
are seeking your agreement to extend the processing time by an additional
30 days. If you agree to this additional time, we would appreciate it if
you could reply to this email with “I agree to a 30 day extension of time”
at your earliest opportunity.
Administrative release of documents
The Agency uses administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') to
release certain types of documents outside the FOI Act. We will advise you
if the documents you seek are suitable for release to you under the
arrangements. If you consent to receiving documents under the
arrangements, please reply to this email with “I agree to receive
documents via the arrangements where appropriate”.
Personal information of Agency staff
As part of the FOI process, we seek your consent to remove any information
that may identify junior staff. Please reply to this email with “I agree
to exclude staff details”.
Once you consent to remove this information, it will be irrelevant under
Section 22 of the FOI Act.
How we will send documents to you
We will use this email address to send you documents. We will advise you
if we are unable to send documents to you via email due to their size.
How long do I have to wait?
Unless your request has been extended, we are required to notify you
within 30 days.
Requesting a formal external review of a FOI deemed refusal decision
After the due date has past and you did not receive a decision, the
request becomes a ‘deemed refusal decision’. You may request the
Information Commissioner to review the ‘deemed refusal decision’. For
further information, see [1]Apply for an Information Commissioner review |
OAIC (or visit [2]www.oaic.gov.au).
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Dear Right to Know (anonymous)
I am writing regarding your Freedom of Information request to Services
Australia (the Agency) as follows:
I am seeking a soft copy of any documents that explain the assumptions
behind the estimate that to reduce the KPI to an average speed of answer
of 5 minutes, the agency would need an additional 1000 staff at a cost of
over $100 million each and every year provided by the then Department of
Human Services in response to the Australian National Audit Office 2015
report Management of Smart Centres’ Centrelink Telephone Services.
I am currently in the process of consulting with relevant areas of the
Agency that may hold documents relating to your request and require
additional time to finalise the decision and progress the matter through
the quality assurance process.
If a decision is not notified to you within time, your request will be
deemed to be refused by operation of the FOI Act. The Agency will continue
to process your request as a Statement of Reasons, however you will
unfortunately lose your internal review rights. Our objective for this
extension of time request is to ensure the decision and documents relevant
to your request are released on time under the FOI Act, thus maintaining
your internal review rights.
On this basis, I respectfully request an extension of time of 30 days to
process your request. The effect of the extension would mean the new
decision due date would be 22 December 2025.
If we are able to process your request and provide you with a decision
before this date, we will do so.
If you agree to this extension of time, it would be greatly appreciated if
you could please respond to this email stating ‘I agree’ by close of
business 6 November 2025.
Please note as stated above, if we do not receive a reply from you by the
above date we will continue to process your request as a Statement of
Reasons.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Kind regards
Jan, FOI Officer
FOI and Reviews Branch, Legal Services Division
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References
Visible links
Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information (FOI) team of Services
Australia (the Agency).
This email acknowledges your correspondence and provides general FOI
information .
We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume of requests,
which has resulted in some delays in our review and response process. We
are seeking your agreement to extend the processing time by an additional
30 days. If you agree to this additional time, we would appreciate it if
you could reply to this email with “I agree to a 30 day extension of time”
at your earliest opportunity.
Administrative release of documents
The Agency uses administrative access arrangements ('the arrangements') to
release certain types of documents outside the FOI Act. We will advise you
if the documents you seek are suitable for release to you under the
arrangements. If you consent to receiving documents under the
arrangements, please reply to this email with “I agree to receive
documents via the arrangements where appropriate”.
Personal information of Agency staff
As part of the FOI process, we seek your consent to remove any information
that may identify junior staff. Please reply to this email with “I agree
to exclude staff details”.
Once you consent to remove this information, it will be irrelevant under
Section 22 of the FOI Act.
How we will send documents to you
We will use this email address to send you documents. We will advise you
if we are unable to send documents to you via email due to their size.
How long do I have to wait?
Unless your request has been extended, we are required to notify you
within 30 days.
Requesting a formal external review of a FOI deemed refusal decision
After the due date has past and you did not receive a decision, the
request becomes a ‘deemed refusal decision’. You may request the
Information Commissioner to review the ‘deemed refusal decision’. For
further information, see [1]Apply for an Information Commissioner review |
OAIC (or visit [2]www.oaic.gov.au).
References
Visible links
1. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
2. http://www.oaic.gov.au/