This turned up a few days ago.
Adverse findings from the Australian Information Commissioner
Verity Pane made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Digital Health Agency
Currently waiting for a response from Australian Digital Health Agency, they should respond promptly and normally no later than (details).
Dear Australian Digital Health Agency,
The Australian Information Commissioner recently made adverse findings against the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) finding that:
(i) ADHA's refusal to process my FOI request because it was made through Right to Know (and not directly to ADHA's preferred email address) was invalid, and that the 30 day processing period commenced on the original receipt of the Right to Know FOI request; and
(ii) that the ADHA had in bad faith ("to buy us some more time... [have her] waiting until after... [the] Senate inquiry hearing") delayed the processing of that FOI on grounds other than the ADHA claimed, in order to prevent release of the My Health Record opt-out statistics sought for political reasons not relevant to the operation of the FOI Act
The Information Commissioner has directed the ADHA to undertake 4 steps, including formal review of all procedures and practices, making a senior executive responsible for promoting compliance with the FOI Act, and that the agency head is to issue a statement to all staff highlighting ADHA's obligations under the FOI Act and its pro-disclosure emphasis.
Unusually the ADHA declined the opportunity to make response to the Australian Information Commissioner on her investigation conclusions.
The above is provided to provide such information as is reasonably necessary to enable the ADHA to identity documents falling within scope of this FOI request
I seek copy of any document held by the ADHA about:
* why ADHA did not respond to the Australian Information Commissioner's investigation findings, given the significance of a finding by the Australian Information Commissioner that the ADHA had knowingly misrepresented the reasons for why it intentionally delayed access unlawfully
* any past adverse findings (other those above) made by the Australian Information Commissioner about the ADHA's conduct and practices.
Yours faithfully,
Verity Pane
Here is the link:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/adverse_findings_from_the_austra
It rather looks like this is the way the ADHA rolls with FOI requests – obfuscation and denial.
One to keep an eye on as they should do better!
David.
Best wishes for 2022 David and readers.
ReplyDeleteSeems the trend continues, it raises another important questions - does the ADHA actually manage government records appropriately? Are the able to locate the required information or is it lost in a sea of uncontrolled ungoverned silos of storage. Local drives, one notes, one drives , SharePoint sites, confluence pages, Kira tickets and heaven knows what other service offerings.
It is what happens with the internal information office carry no credibility, and where managers and Executives ignore requests. It looks a lot like an organisation void of authoritative leadership.
ReplyDeleteGood job they are not responsible for the stewardship of Australians most private health information (regardless of whether they consented or not)