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 Posty

Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia dated 7 June
2022 in relation to your request for access under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982.

Kind regards,

Kristina

[1][email address]

Freedom of Information Team

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[2]Title: Services Australia branding - Description: Services Australia
servicesaustralia.gov.au

Ngunnawal Country, ACT 2610

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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Dear Posty

Please find attached correspondence from Services Australia dated 22 June
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.

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Dear Posty

Thank you for providing additional information relating to the documents
you are seeking.

I understand from your correspondence that with respect to part 2 of your
request, you are seeking the following:

I would like to amend my request to additionally ask for any documents
relating to the abolishment of the Cashless Debit Card, with documents
being any article on which information has been stored or recorded, either
mechanically or electronically, in common, expected systems i.e.
collaboration platforms, written record.

Unfortunately, a practical refusal reason still exists in relation to your
request. The wording of your request remains too broad and may encompass a
wide range of documents relating to a variety of subjects, across multiple
repositories and created by multiple different business areas. The agency
is unable to conduct searches to locate documents relevant to your request
as we are unable to identify the specific documents sought.

As suggested in our correspondence to you dated 22 June 2022, you may wish
to provide the following further information in relation to the documents
you are seeking:

•             the title of the documents that you are seeking access to

•             the format of the documents that you are seeking access to

•             the author of the documents that you are seeking access to

•             the location or relevant business area that may hold the
documents that you are seeking access to

•             any further detail of the content of the documents that you
are seeking access to

•             limiting your request to a specific time period, or

•             excluding particular documents that are not of interest.

We look forward to receiving a response from you by 6 July 2022 advising
whether you would like to withdraw the request, make a revised request, or
tell us that you do not want to revise your request.

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.

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Dear Posty

Thank you for providing further additional information relating to the
documents you are seeking.

I understand from your correspondence that with respect to part 2 of your
request, you are seeking the following:

Any documents relating to the abolishment of the Cashless Debit Card, with
documents being the agency’s email/calendaring system and collaboration
(i.e. outlook, microsoft teams)

Your further correspondence has assisted the agency to determine the
format of the documents you are seeking however we require further
consultation with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act to clearly
identify the subject matter of the documents you require.

From the information you have provided in your correspondence dated 28
June 2022, it appears you may be seeking documents which relate to the Hon
Amanda Rishworth MP’s Tweet dated 3 June 2022, titled “Media Release:
Abolishing the Cashless Debit Card”.

Proposed revised scope

To assist you in lodging a valid FOI request, I suggest that you may wish
to revise your request to be for access to the following:

Any documents held by the agency relating to the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP,
Minister for Social Services’ Tweet titled “Media Release: Abolishing the
Cashless Debit Card” as at 3 June 2022, with documents being the agency’s
email/calendaring system and collaboration (i.e. outlook, Microsoft
teams).

If this is correct and you wish to proceed with an FOI request as framed
above, please respond to this email by close of business 6 July 2022 to
confirm this or otherwise clearly specify what documents you are seeking
to access. If you do not agree to this revised scope, the agency will
continue to formally consult with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act.

The agency will progress your request once we have been able to confirm
the scope of the request with you.  

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.

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Dear Posty

Freedom of Information Request – Acknowledgement and Extension of Time Request

Thank you for your email dated 4 July 2022 confirming you agree to the
proposed revised scope. We note Services Australia has now completed the
formal consultation process with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act and
will continue to process your FOI request.

Pursuant to your correspondence, you have revised your request for access
to:

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

Participation in Cashless Debit Card (CDC) 103-03150010 from your
Operational Blueprint.

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

Any documents held by the agency relating to the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP,
Minister for Social Services’ Tweet titled “Media Release: Abolishing the
Cashless Debit Card” as at 3 June 2022, with documents being the agency’s
email/calendaring system and collaboration (i.e. outlook, Microsoft
teams).

The 30 day statutory period for processing your request re-commended from
the day after you revised the scope of your request. Currently, a decision
is due by 14 July 2022.

The FOI team is actively reviewing the relevant documents within the scope
of your revised FOI request. However, additional business areas have now
been identified under the revised scope of your request and we are still
undertaking consultation with these business areas. Further, at least one
of these business areas is assisting with the Australian Government
disaster payments for the July 2022 NSW Floods and requires additional
time to identify and retrieve documents within the scope of your revised
FOI request.

This means that Services Australia will not be in a position to provide
you with a decision by the current due date of 14 July 2022.

We are therefore respectfully seeking your agreement to extend the
processing time by an additional 28 days under section 15AA of the FOI
Act. This would mean a decision would be due by 11 August 2022. If we are
able to provide you with a decision sooner, we will do so.

If you agree to this additional time, we would appreciate if you could
reply to this email with ‘I agree’ no later than Wednesday 13 July 2022.

If no response is received, we may seek an extension from the Information
Commissioner.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we process your request.

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.

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Dear Posty

Thank you for your email dated 15 July 2022 confirming you agree to an
extension of time to process your request. We greatly appreciate your
patience and understanding.

We note a decision for your request was due on 14 July 2022. As we did not
receive a response from you by this date, Services Australia (the agency)
applied to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
for an extension of time under section 15AB of the FOI Act. This was done
to extend the processing time and prevent a ‘deemed refusal’ of your
request under section 15AC of the FOI Act.

For your awareness, the agency applied to the OAIC for an extension of
time in the same terms as our request to you made on 11 July 2022, being
for an extension of time of 28 days. As noted in our previous
correspondence, this would mean a decision would be due by 11 August 2022.

The agency will provide a copy of your correspondence dated 15 July 2022
confirming you agree to an extension of time to the OAIC for their
consideration in processing our application for an extension of time.

The FOI team will continue to process your request while the OAIC
considers the agency’s application. We will be sure to notify you when we
receive an outcome or other correspondence from the OAIC regarding our
application for an extension of time.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to
contact us.

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.

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Dear FOI Contact Officer,

Please see attached decision regarding Services Australia’s application
for an extension of time to process FOI request LEX 68168.

Kind regards,

[1][IMG]   Eoin McMahon  |  Review Adviser

Investigations and Compliance

Freedom of Information
Regulatory Group

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

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

+61 2 9942 4028 | 
[3][email address]
[7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

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.

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Dear Posty

I refer to our correspondence dated 18 July 2022 where we advised you that
Services Australia (the agency) applied to the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (OAIC) for an extension of time under section
15AB of the FOI Act.

As an update, on 20 July 2022 the OAIC granted the agency an extension of
time to process your FOI request under section 15AB(2) of the FOI Act. We
confirm a decision is now due by 11 August 2022.

We understand the OAIC sent you a copy of their decision on 20 July 2022.
Please let us know if you have not received this correspondence.

As noted in our previous correspondence, the agency will continue to
process your request. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do
not hesitate to contact us.

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.

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Dear Posty,

I am writing to you in regards to your Freedom of Information (FOI)
request to Services Australia (the agency).

We appreciate your previous agreement to an extension of time, which was
provided to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as part
of the section 15AB extension of time application and subsequent approval.
This extension under section 15AB of the FOI Act provided the agency with
an additional 28 days to process your request.

The agency is currently in the process of reviewing the decision on your
request, therefore we are unlikely to be in a position to provide you with
a decision by the current due date of 11 August 2022. On this basis, we
respectfully request an additional 2 days extension of time to process
this request under section 15AA of the FOI Act.  The effect of the
extension would mean the new decision due date would be 13 August
2022, however as this is not a usual business day the due date for
notification will be Monday 15 August 2022.

If you agree with this extension of time, we would appreciate if you could
please respond to this email stating ‘I agree’ by 3pm today, 11 August
2022.

Regards

Kylie, Authorised FOI Decision Maker

[1][email address]

Information Access Branch

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[2]cid:image003.jpg@01D6B8DA.4DF87C40

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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Dear Posty

Please see attached decision letter and document in relation to your FOI
request.

Regards

Kylie, Authorised FOI Decision Maker

[1][email address]

Information Access Branch

LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION

[2]cid:image003.jpg@01D6B8DA.4DF87C40

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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