Dear Commonwealth Ombudsman,

Under the FOI Act, please provide the correspondence, from Ms Penny McKay, the Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman, notifying the Australian Public Service Commissioner, Mr Peter Woolcott, that the Ombudsman would be commencing an investigation under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth) into the way that Ms Kate McMullan handled a public interest disclosure investigation that had been allocated to the Australian Public Service Commission on 11 May 2020.

The relevant document commences accordingly:

“2021-104592

18 March 2022

Mr Peter Woolcott AO
Australian Public Service Commissioner
GPO BOX 3176
CANBERRA ACT 2601

By email: legal [at symbol] apsc.gov.au

Dear [Mr Woolcott] Peter

Commencement of Investigation

I am writing to advise the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (the Office) has decided to commence an investigation under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (the Ombudsman Act) into the handling of a Public Interest Disclosure (PID) investigation by your PID Investigator Delegate, Ms Kate McMullan …”

Yours faithfully,

Saraswati

Dear Commonwealth Ombudsman,

I intend to apply for IC review of the deemed refusal decision made by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on 1 August 2022.

If Mr Anderson would like to provide any comments or would like to provide me with reasons, I would like to receive them by 5 pm Canberra time on 3 August 2022. In any case, I will apply for IC review of the decision after 5 pm Canberra time on 3 August 2022.

Yours faithfully,

Saraswati

Dear Commonwealth Ombudsman,

An application for IC review has been submitted. The IC review reference is MR22/01301.

Yours faithfully,

Saraswati

Dear Ms Porteous,

I couldn't help but notice that you personally responded to two FOI requests that were made after the FOI requests that I had made: see

i) https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/n...
ii) https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/n...

All I have asked for with this FOI request is access to a single document. Is there a reason why you decided to respond to two FOI requests that were made after my FOI request before you responded to my FOI request?

I really don't think that your excuses pass muster. When will a decision be made in relation to the single document that I requested access to?

Yours sincerely,

Saraswati

Ms Porteous,

It has been more than 90 days since I made my FOI request for a 2 page document.

On 6 September 2022 you promised to provide me with a response as soon as possible. When will you provide me with a decision letter and access to the requested document?

I would be mortified if my name was associated with such shameless disregard for the law. What kind of Director of a Legal Team in an integrity agency permits such a thing?

Yours sincerely,

Saraswati

Polly Porteous - Director of the Legal Team in the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman,

It has been more than 90 days since I made my FOI request for a 2 page document.

On 6 September 2022 you promised to provide me with a response as soon as possible. When will you provide me with a decision letter and access to the requested document?

I would be mortified if my name was associated with such shameless disregard for the law. What kind of Director of a Legal Team in an integrity agency permits such a thing?

Yours sincerely,

Saraswati