Reply OAIC RE Freedom of information

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From: FOI@apsc.gov.au
To: fionabrown01@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2012 10:36:00 +1000
Subject: FW: FOI [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Ms Brown,

The purpose of this message is:

1.       to acknowledge receipt of your FOI request of 24 June 2012;

2.       to acknowledge receipt of your FOI request of 23 August 2012; and

3.       to provide you with information about further communication with this office.

1. Your FOI Request of 24 June 2012

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner recently provided this office with a copy of your FOI request of 24 June 2012.  Although this office does not have a copy of your original request, I am writing to acknowledge receipt of that request.  The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has granted an extension of time until 2 October 2012 to respond to this request.  I will write to you again in the near future with further information about the Commission’s response to this request.

2. Your FOI Request of 23 August 2012

I acknowledge receipt of your FOI request dated 23 August 2012 (below) for documents disclosing “the name of the individual or the name of the Company that the Australian Public Service  Commission uses when complaints are received from Whistleblowers under S16 of the Australian Public Service Act and also S41(f) of the Australian Public Service Act”.  I understand your reference to S41(f) to be a reference to paragraph 41(1)(f) of the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act).

This FOI request is receiving attention and I will write to you again in the near future about this request.

3. Further communication with this office

For reasons explained further below, please observe the following protocols in relation to future communication with this office about FOI:

1.       Please address any FOI email correspondence to foi@apsc.gov.au.  If you do not observe this instruction your correspondence may not be received.

2.       Please do not address email correspondence to foi@apsc.gov.au if the correspondence is not in respect of an FOI request.

In March 2012, the Public Service Commissioner wrote to you and made the following request:

·         “Finally, many of your emails to the Commission include offensive language and abusive personal remarks about individuals.  Please stop sending abusive emails.  Any further abusive correspondence may be filed without reading.”

Similarly, in April 2012, Karin Fisher wrote to you and stated the following:

·         “The email is defamatory and highly offensive.  I am advising you to stop sending similar emails to me and copy recipients, and to remove this material from websites that you have established.”

As you did not comply with these requests, measures were put in place on the Commission’s email servers to divert email messages from you.  Although it was intended that any FOI requests would be directed to the appropriate recipient, this did not occur.

Additional measures have now been put in place to ensure that messages you address to foi@apsc.gov.au will reach the intended recipient.  Please note that if you send offensive, abusive or defamatory material to foi@apsc.gov.au or if you send a substantial volume of correspondence to this address, the Commission may take further steps to block or divert email messages from you.

You are, of course, free to address correspondence to:

FOI Coordinator

Australian Public Service Commission

16 Furzer Street

WODEN  ACT  2606

Please note that a copy of this message will be forwarded to the OAIC so that the OAIC will be aware of the instructions provided to you above.

Regards,

____________________________________________________Chris Luton
FOI Officer
Australian Public Service Commission

p : 02 6202 3571 | f : 02 6250 4437
e : chris.luton@apsc.gov.au | w : www.apsc.gov.au

From: fiona brown [mailto:fionabrown01@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 23 August 2012 7:57 PM
To: FOI; LUTON,Chris
Subject: FOI

Dear Chris
Thank  you for supplying me with a copy of the Australian Public Service Fraud control plan and your accompanying letter explaining that the Australian Public Service finds it unnecessary to have an investigation policy pursuant to the AGIS. You also informed me that Commissioner Steve Sedgwick or Karin Fisher or in fact nobody in the Australian Public Service Commission has any qualifications to do investigations as required by the AGIS.

I understand that the Australian Public Service Commission would contract a suitably qualified investigator to undertake enquiries in accordance with the guidelines.

Under Freedom of Information please supply me with the name of the individual or the name of the Company that the Australian Public Service  Commission uses when complaints are received from Whistleblowers under S16 of the Australian Public Service Act and also S41(f) of the Australian Public Service Act.

I would assume that the Australian Public Service would attempt to avoid a conflict of interest and appear to be transparent when dealing with these matters. It would be an abuse of Office and power should it be found that the Australian Public Service Commissioner deliberately protected Agency Heads and failed to comply with the AGIS by failing to use qualified investigators.

You may be aware that Fairwork Australia was criticized this week by KPMG for lack of qualified officials who had no standards to follow and failed to investigate key areas.

The correspondence in the form of emails I received under Freedom of Information sent to Veronique Ingram Head of ITSA and Alison Larkins Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman was sent by Karin Fisher and not a qualified investigator as required under the AGIS. From this it can only be assumed that the Australian Public Service Commission considers that extensive evidence of systemic corrupt conduct by senior management at the Insolvency Trustee Service Australia to be extremely minor or Commissioner Sedgewick has made a decision that this must be covered up at all costs.

         Earlier I also requested a copy of the emails or letters that were sent to the respective Agency  Heads when a complaint had been received under S16 or S41(f) of the Australian Public Service Act. This would have been the  first or initial contact that would have been made. I  understand for privacy reasons all names would be blacked out . I requested under FOI a copy of all these initial contacts in the financial year 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. I believe I received confirmation that none of these emails or letters exist. I therefore find this particularly confronting that  of all the complaints made to the Australian Public Service Commission in the particular time span the complaint made by me was the only complaint that the  Karin Fisher actually contacted the Agency Heads asking them to explain their behavior. If this is correct it would show a complete lack compliance with the AGIS.

This is taken from the 2010-2011 APS Annual report:

Whistleblowing reports and other allegations

APS employees are able to report alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct to their agency head or a person authorised by the agency head.

Whistleblowing inquiry functions are handled by delegated senior staff in the Ethics Group, with the Commissioner reserving for his personal consideration matters that raise serious public interest issues.

During 2010–11, the Commissioner received 14 whistleblowing reports from APS employees and three complaints from former public servants. Table 4 shows the number of cases received and finalised. Four complaints were carried over from 2009–10. All whistleblowing reports were acknowledged and many substantially responded to within six weeks.

The complaints from public servants concerned poor administration, the handling of internal investigations, and allegations of misconduct by senior managers including allegations of bullying and harassment.

Eleven matters were finalised in 2010–11, including two of the four matters carried over from the previous year. Table 4 also shows the action taken by the Commissioner in response to these cases. The one investigation undertaken found that there was insufficient evidence to warrant recommending an investigation into an alleged breach of the Code of Conduct. In most cases, however, the employee was advised to refer the matter to the relevant agency head for investigation.

While the number of whistleblowing reports lodged is low, they often concern complex interpersonal matters and the issues can take a long time to assess, including whether any or all of the matters have been investigated by the agency in the first instance.

The Commissioner also handled 16 allegations against agency heads made by APS employees and members of the public under section 41(1)(f) of the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act). The complaints commonly featured allegations that agency decision-makers had failed to comply with their legislative obligations or not exercised their decision-making powers properly. Only one of the ten cases finalised warranted an inquiry.

.You will be aware that Commissioner Steve Sedgwick has abused Office in this circumstance.

I will now be specific what I require under Freedom of Information.

*********Please supply me with the name of the investigator or the Company  which the APS uses for  investigating all complaints made under S16 and S41(f) of the Australian Public Service Act.

*********As I cannot believe that no emails or letters were sent to Agency Heads when a complaint was made asking for an initial explanation except  for the complaint that was made about ITSA or the Commonwealth Ombudsman by myself could you again verify this for me. If this proves to indeed be correct I would unfortunately be very concerned that the correspondence I received under FOI from Karin Fisher was a forgery.

I would appreciate confirmation of this email.

Thanking you

Fiona Brown

FOI Complaints made about the Commonweath Ombudman

A copy of the 589 complaints made about the Commonwealth Ombudsman has now been requested under Freedom of Information. If obtained this will show the atrocious conduct of the Commonwealth Ombudsman to fail to comply  with its responsibility and legislation.
This is like asking the Catholic Church to investigate the Catholic Church.
 As I have already told the Australian Pubic Service Commissioner Steve Sedgwick if he does not like what I write he can take me to Court  The prospect of me holding him in court for months and exposing how he has fucked so many people over is a definite deterrent to him 

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From: fionabrown01@hotmail.com
To: luke.phelps@ombudsman.gov.au
Subject: FOI Commonweath Ombudsman complaints
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:48:51 +1000

Dear Luke ,
Under freedom of Information I wish to obtain copies of the 579 complaints that was made  regarding  the Commonwealth Ombudsman to the Commonwealth Ombudsman in the financial year 2010-2011.
Please could you forward these as soon as possible.
Thanking you
Fiona Brown

Commonwealth Ombudsmans statistics Disclosure Log

Commonwealth Ombudsman statistics ..Disclosure Log

Come kiss my arse Colin Neave.  There would definitely have been more than 5 FOI requests from the Commonwealth Ombudsman this year.

In the financial year 2010-2011 there were 579 complaints made about the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The Commonwealth Ombudsman made the decision to throw out 324   complaints and 223 were simply fucked over.
The Commonwealth Ombudsmans investigation policy is now being sought under FOI.
As there is no accountability by the ombudsman Australian can only expect to be fucked over the same way by Colin Neave when he was Banking industry Ombudsman.

 This disclosure log would be incomplete but the Commonwealth Ombudsman has no accountability

Commonwealth Ombudsman

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Disclosure log

FOI Reference number	Date of access	FOI request	Information published	Other information
2012-105575	03/04/2012	A request for access to the: Ombudsman office's guidelines on the use of information technology and internet services current as at August 2005 and/or March 2010; Ombudsman office's email management policy 'no. 8/2008' current as at March 2010; and Ombudsman office's 'Staff ICT Guidelines', endorsed on 25 August 2009.	2012-105575 FOI document 1 2012-105575 FOI document 2-1 2012-105575 FOI document 2-2 2012-105575 FOI document 3	Full access was granted in relation to two documents; partial access was granted in relation to the other document on the basis of conditional exemptions under s 47E(d) of the FOI Act. The exempt matter was deleted under s 22 of the FOI Act.
2012-111221	17/07/2012	A request for various documents relating to the 2008 and 2009 Commonwealth Ombudsman Office Christmas parties.	2012-111221 FOI document 9	Only one of the nine documents to which access was granted has been published on the disclosure log.

Posted 1 minute ago by bankruptcy coverup by ombudsman

APSC FOI Not everything published as required under the Act

This log is a requirement under the Financial Management and Accountability Act and is meant  to make available all FOI released by the Australian Public Service. As I have made a number of requests under FOI  and received the relevant documents there appears that that the Australian Public Service Commission is selective what is published on this log.
The Commissioner Steve Sedgwick obviously does not want the Public to be aware that under FOI documents have been received  to show how the Australian Public Service fucks over  complaints  made from Whistleblowers under S16 or Agency Heads under S41(F) and although most of these pages were blacked out it would be reasonable to see a systemic pattern of corrupt conduct by Skanky Karin Fisher and Steve Sedgwick.
On the 20th August 2012 I also received information under FOI that The Australian Public Service Commission has no investigation policy and Karin Fisher or Commissioner Steve Sedgwick who is required to investigate breaches of the APS Code of Conduct by Agency Heads and  complaints from Whistleblowers has no  investigation qualifications.
So they can both come and kiss my fucking Arse because if they do not like what I write they can  take me to fucking court and make my day.
Steve Sedgwick and Karin Fisher are so corrupt in their conduct the matter would be in court for months.
If the APS has no investigation policy or qualifications it would also be reasonable to assume Mark Findlay and Bankruptcy Regulations also have no investigation policy or qualifications or if they do they are deliberately fucking everyone over to protect Veronique Ingram.

Disclosure log

Freedom of information disclosure log

Publicly available information released following an FOI access request
The Public Service Commissioner and the Merit Protection Commissioner are required by the Freedom of Information Act 1982 s 11C to publish a disclosure log on the Australian Public Service Commission’s website. The disclosure log lists information which has been released in response to an FOI access request. this requirement has applied since 1 May 2011.
The disclosure log requirement does not apply to:

• personal information about any person if publication of that information would be ‘unreasonable’
• information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person if publication of that information would be ‘unreasonable’
• other information covered by a determination made by the Australian Information Commissioner if publication of that information would be ‘unreasonable’
• any information if it is not reasonably practicable to publish the information because of the extent of modifications that would need to be made to delete the information listed in the above dot points.

The information described in this register has been released by the Public Service Commissioner or Merit Protection Commissioner (as indicated) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and is available for public access.
A link is provided if the information can be downloaded from this website or another website. Information that is not available on a website may be obtained by contacting the FOI Contact Officer:

By post:  FOI Contact Officer
Australian Public Service Commission
16 Furzer Street, WODEN ACT 2606
By email:  foi@apsc.gov.au

By telephone:  02 6202 3571 A charge may be imposed to reimburse the Australian Public Service Commission for the cost incurred in copying or reproducing the information or sending it to you. There will be no charge for the time spent processing the FOI request that led to this information being made available. You will be notified if any charge is payable and required to pay the charge before the information is provided.
There may be documents in the disclosure log that are currently not available in html format. If you are unable to read the format provided please contact the FOI Contact Officer. We will try to meet all reasonable requests for an alternate format of the document in a timely manner and at the lowest reasonable cost to you.

Disclosure log

Disclosure log

Title	Supporting information
FOI ref number	C12/3707
Date of access	16 August 2012
FOI request	The applicant requested documents relating to the policy intent of, and ministerial authorisation for, the policy set out in paragraph 5 of section 2.2 of the Australian Public Service Commission's publication The Senior Executive Service: Selection, Mobility and Separation (March 2010). Specifically, the applicant requested documents relating to the discounting of incentive amounts paid to employees under section 37 of the Public Service Act 1999. The applicant also requested documents relating to guidance as to process for Commission staff assisting the Public Service Commissioner in the assessment of individual cases.
Information released	Several documents relating to the policy intent of discounting incentive amounts were released to the applicant. The applicant was advised there were no documents relating to ministerial authorisation or guidance as to process.
Other information
FOI ref number	C12/2282
Date of access	30 May 2012
FOI request	The applicant requested information relating to the receipt, allocation and finalisation of requests for review of action received by the Merit Protection Commissioner in the period l January 2011 to 31 December 2011 inclusive. Specifically, for each request the applicant requested the file number, date received, date allocated to a review officer and date finalised.
Information released	The applicant was provided with a document disclosing the requested information.
Other information
FOI ref number	12/135
Date of access	24 February 2012
FOI request	The applicant requested data detailing the number of proven Code of Conduct breaches, and cases, across each Commonwealth agency in 2009- 2010, 2010-2011 and, if possible, 2011-2012 to date.
Information released	The applicant was provided with a copy of the requested data. The data requested is collected each year by the Australian Public Service Commission through the agency survey which is distributed to all agencies in the course of preparation of the annual State of the Service Report (SOSR). The SOSR is a report prepared by the Public Service Commissioner under section 44 of the Public Service Act 1999.
Other information	Data for the financial year 2011-12 has not yet been collected and was therefore not provided.
FOI ref number	12/27
Date of access	6 February 2012
FOI request	The applicant requested copies of correspondence between the Public Service Commissioner, or delegate, and Dr Ken Henry, regarding his departure from the role of Secretary to the Treasury and his appointment as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister. The applicant also requested copies of correspondence between the Public Service Commissioner, or delegate, and the Prime Minister in relation to the same matters.
Information released	The applicant was provided with copies of email correspondence between the Public Service Commissioner and Dr Henry. Parts of these documents are considered exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and were therefore redacted. No further documents within the scope of the applicant’s request were identified.
Other information
FOI ref number	11/2026
Date of access	5 December 2011
FOI request	The applicant requested copies of documents relating to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities’ (DSEWPAC) proposed enterprise agreement.
Information released	The applicant was provided with copies of documents including correspondence between the Australian Public Service Commission and DSEWPAC concerning the proposed agreement and records relating to the decision by the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity to not approve a proposed enterprise agreement.
Other information
FOI ref number	11/1782
Date of access	14 November 2011
FOI request	The applicant requested documents relating to the release of the Review of the Senior Executive Service – Report to the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity, and the timing of doing so.
Information released	The applicant was provided with copies of the documents requested.
Other information	Parts of some documents released were considered exempt from release.
FOI ref number	11/1732
Date of access	30 September 2011
FOI request	The applicant requested documents relating to a ‘decision’ not to include retrospective remuneration provisions in the Department of Human Services’ proposed Enterprise Agreement.
Information released	The applicant was provided with a copy of email correspondence between the Commission and the Department of Human Services (DHS) in which DHS sought advice on whether the “exceptional circumstances” required by the APS Bargaining Framework existed in the circumstances.
Other information	The APS Bargaining Framework states that remuneration increases are to apply prospectively, other than in exceptional circumstances. The Supporting Guidance to the Bargaining Framework advises that where approval for an exceptional circumstances matter is required, agencies should brief their minister to write to the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity seeking approval of the relevant matter. The APS Commission has no decision making role in relation to the retrospectivity of remuneration increases.
FOI ref number	11/1634
Date of access	16 September 2011
FOI request	The applicant requested a copy of the Review of the Senior Executive Service – Report to the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity.
Information released	A copy of the Review of the Senior Executive Service – Report to the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity was released to the applicant.
Other information	The Review of the Senior Executive Service – Report to the Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity is available on the Commission’s web site at the following URL: www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/review-of-the-senior-executive-service (link updated June 2012)
FOI ref number	11/1455
Date of access	18 August 2011
FOI request	Documents concerning: expenditure by the Australian Public Service Commission on advertising in the Australian newspaper; the involvement of a specified employee in decisions to advertise in the Australian newspaper. Documents created during the previous 36 months were requested.
Information released	Information summarising the Commission’s expenditure was provided in response to the FOI request. Information summarising the specified employee’s involvement in decisions to advertise was supplied
Other information	General information about the Department of Finance and Deregulation’s Guidelines on Non-Campaign Recruitment Advertising and about the Central Advertising System was provided.
FOI ref number	11/1448
Date of access	8 August 2011
FOI request	Documents disclosing the number of employees of the Department of Defence terminated under paragraph 29(3)(g) of the Public Service Act 1999 for the period 2000-2010.
Information released	The Australian Public Service Commission maintains an electronic database which records details of: notices published in the Public Service Gazette from 16 January 2003 to 2 August 2007; and notices published in the APS Employment Gazette after 2 August 2007. Pursuant to section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982, a document was generated which summarises all records contained in the electronic database corresponding with terminations from the Department of Defence under paragraph 29(3)(g). No personal information was included in this document. this document was provided in response to the FOI request.
Other information	Copies of the Public Service Gazette are publicly available from the National Library of Australia and from various State and Territory public libraries. Further information about accessing copies of the Public Service Gazette is available from the National Library of Australia’s web site at the following URL: www.nla.gov.au/apps/govpubs?action=ResourceDisplay&resourceId=59 In 2007, the Commission ceased paper publication of the Public Service Gazette. From August 2007, APS notices were published electronically in the APS Employment Gazette. A small number of these publications are available for download from the Commission’s web site, while the National Library of Australia maintains an electronic archive of these publications. The APS Employment Gazette is available for download from the following URLs: www.apsjobs.gov.au/NoBot/gazettedownloads.aspx?ifm=true pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/75984
FOI ref number	11/1270
Date of access	18 July 2011
FOI request	Documents indicating guidance or policies relating to unattachment and its relevance to persons on leave without pay under the Public Service Act 1922.in the period 1994-1996.
Information released	The following documents were provided in response to the FOI request: Division 3 of Determination No. 10 of 1983, made under Public Service Act 1922, as at 1 February 1994; Extract relating to unattachment from 1987 guidance issued by the Public Service Board titled ‘Streamlining No.4 Temporary Performance and Unattachment’
Other information	The following documents were also provided to the applicant outside FOI: Relevant paragraphs of the Guide to APS Pay and Conditions of Employment as amended July 1998; and The contents page of the APS General Employment Conditions Award at 14 December 1995.