Student payment claims auto-rejected

James Smith made this Freedom of Information request to Services Australia

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was refused by Services Australia.

Dear Department of Human Services,

I refer to the article "Centrelink 'auto-rejects' tens of thousands of claims" on the Canberra Times website dated 2 May 2016 at the following URL:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national...

I request the following document(s):

1. Any documents put to senior management on this issue
2. Any responses by senior management issuing directives to address this issue
3. Any documents which support the view that this issue was a result of unforeseen high-demand for Centrelink services.
4. Any documents which detail Centrelink's efforts to forecast future demand in the time leading up to this issue occurring.
5. Any documents detailing issues with the 'Customer First' software which are likely to have caused, or otherwise affected, this issue.
6. Any documents detailing the quality-control processes in approving the claims in question.

Please contact me should you require clarification of this request.

Yours faithfully,

James Smith

FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act.

 

If you have any queries, please email
[1][email address].

 

 

Kind regards

 

Authorised Decision Maker

FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Doris Blackburn Building 18 Canberra Avenue Forrest ACT 2603

[2]cid:image001.png@01CF8C5E.459B3DD0

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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FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request.

 

If you have any queries, please email
[1][email address].

 

Kind regards

 

Authorised Decision Maker

FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Doris Blackburn Building 18 Canberra Avenue Forrest ACT 2603

[2]cid:image001.png@01CF8C5E.459B3DD0

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.LEGAL.TEAM,

Apologies for the delay in responding to you.

I confirm a revision of scope to the following:

I request all emails, and any other records, which were created in the department's efforts to identify the documents I requested on 2 May 2016, in relation to this request. To be clear, this includes any replies you may have received from the different sections within the department.

You may consider this a separate FOI request if you wish.

Yours sincerely,

James Smith

FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your request (LEX 19533)
under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

If you have any queries, please email
[1][email address].

 

Kind regards

 

Authorised Decision Maker

FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Doris Blackburn Building 18 Canberra Avenue Forrest ACT 2603

[2]cid:image001.png@01CF8C5E.459B3DD0

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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The Department of Human Services,

You have received a secure email from the Department of Human Services.

Please select the link below to view the email.
Please note, you may have to register for this service

https://securemail.humanservices.gov.au/...

Please copy and paste the URL into your browser. If you encounter any issues, please close and reopen your browser before navigating to the URL again.

FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please find attached correspondence in relation to your FOI request, LEX
19533.

 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the Freedom of
Information Team at [1][email address]

 

Authorised FOI Deicision Maker
Freedom of Information Team

FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services

[2]cid:image004.png@01D1B4D9.510E2740

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.LEGAL.TEAM,

Thank you for your letter.

I think you may have misinterpreted my revised request; I apologise if I have been unclear.

In my original request, dated 2 May 2016, I requested specific documents.

My revised request is not for the documents I requested on 2 May. Instead of the documents, at this stage I would like to see the emails that have been generated as a result of my original request. This includes emails sent from the FOI area to all business areas seeking the requested information, and replies to those emails. Where applicable, this would also include any emails generated by the relevant staff within each of the different business areas.

I assume the number of any such emails would be reasonably limited in number, and much easier for you to process than the many thousands of pages you refer to in your 24 June letter.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require further clarification.

Yours sincerely,

James Smith

FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act.

 

If you have any queries, please email
[1][email address].

 

Kind regards

 

 

FOI Legal Team

FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [2][email address]

[3]cid:image004.png@01D1B4D9.510E2740

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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2. mailto:[email address]

Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

I think that the estimate of time is wrong. Also, if it is not wrong, then the Department of Human Services is not filing its information correctly. The Information Commissioner has said that when a department estimates the time to process an application it must assume that all information is properly classified and filed as the law requires. A Department cannot make you pay extra charges because they have an inefficient filing system!

You must read and think about paragraph 4.3 on this page at the website of the Australian Information Commissioner: https://oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-informati...

Services Australia

Your account with a new passphrase has been successfully set.

You can access your account by clicking on the following URL:

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Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

Was any information sent?

Dear Department of Human Services,

I do not wish to pay the charges you have specified in your letter.

However, can you please advise why your systems appear to have sent an email on 24 October, advising "Your account with a new passphrase has been successfully set.You can access your account by clicking on the following URL..."

I do not have any accounts with DHS. Please investigate and advise.

Yours faithfully,

James Smith

FOI.LEGAL.TEAM,

Hello Mr Smith,

From an examination of the request at https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/s... it appears an email marked with a classification other than 'Unclassified' was sent to you on 24 June 2016. The email was resent on the same day with the correct classification.

It appears from the above mentioned request log that on 24 October 2016 someone has attempted to access the email that was sent securely on 24 June 2016. This has triggered the email you refer to below.

We can confirm that you have not missed any emails as a result of the email being sent 'securely' on 24 June 2016, as the email was resent on the same day.

Please note that your request was deemed withdrawn on 5 August when you did not respond to the notice of charges within 30 days. If you would like to make a new request you may do so by sending an email to [email address].

Kind regards,

FOI Legal Team
FOI and Litigation Branch | Legal Services Division
Department of Human Services
Email: [email address]

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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Services Australia

Your The Department of Human Services secure email account is about to expire.
In order to keep your account active and prevent your secure messages from being deleted,
you must access your account by clicking on the following URL:

https://securemail.humanservices.gov.au/...

Please copy and paste the URL into your browser. If you encounter any issues, please close and reopen your browser before navigating to the URL again.

Services Australia

Your The Department of Human Services secure email account is about to expire.
In order to keep your account active and prevent your secure messages from being deleted,
you must access your account by clicking on the following URL:

https://securemail.humanservices.gov.au/...

Please copy and paste the URL into your browser. If you encounter any issues, please close and reopen your browser before navigating to the URL again.