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Mar 12, 2024

Assignment Task

Overview

You will be asked to assume you work for a fictional social justice community group.

The group has been approached by an individual seeking your assistance to get access to materials concerning a decision by the Commonwealth Government.

You will be asked to prepare a memorandum of no more than 1,750 words that provides advice on seeking more information and avenues for challenging the decision.

Instructions

In order to draft your memorandum, you will be required to examine a piece of legislation and to draw on your understanding of the various avenues available to the public to gain access to and challenge the merits of Commonwealth administrative decisions. These topics will be addressed in the unit in Week 3.

Background (why am I doing this?)

The assessment is designed for you to practise and demonstrate your developing skills and understanding in a practical setting. It also provides an opportunity for you to engage with some of the issues and barriers and that members of the public might confront when attempting to understand or challenge how public policy has been implemented.

Instructions (what do I have to do?)

In crafting your memorandum, consider the following scenario:

You work for ‘Transparency Fighters’, a social justice community groups who believe in for open and transparent governments. Your role is to assist members of the community who seek to obtain information from various government agencies and Departments.

Ronald is a new community member who is seeking your assistance to submit a request for information. Last year Ronald was one of thousands of Australians who were subjected to a mismatch between income averaging as part of receiving welfare benefits under Services Australia and the data received as part of the Australia Tax Office. As a consequence, Ronald was being hounded by debt collectors for a debt he was adamant he did not owe. It turns out the process was found to be unlawful.

Due to other statutory processes, Services Australia have been forced to make public thousands of documents, including legal advice, emails, and some internal documents relating to the policy of income averaging.

Ronald is outraged that this has happened to him and is not satisfied with the information included in the documents that have been released. He is seeking to submit a request for additional information from Services Australia to find out what decisions were made and by who.

Ronald is seeking information from Services Australia (which was not released) including:

  • Documents related to the drafting and development of the Cabinet Submission proposing income averaging, which was ultimately agreed to, sent to cabinet for deliberation and approval and implemented by Services Australia;
  • Costing documents relating to the Cabinet Submission; and
  • Drafts of the above documents or any related documents.

Services Australia promptly responded to Ronald’s request, rejecting his application on the following basis:

  • The documents were exempt under s34 of the  Freedom of Information Act 1982  (Cth);
  • That the documents are conditionally exempt under s47E(d) of the  Freedom of Information Act 1982  (Cth);
  • That the documents are conditionally exempt under s47F of the  Freedom of Information Act 1982  (Cth);
  • The documents were also, in the alternative, exempt under S47C of the  Freedom of Information Act 1982  (Cth).

Ronald is infuriated at this response. He is seeking assistance understanding this rejection and asks you the following:

1. What do the exemptions that Services Australia claimed mean?

2. Is there any merit in any of the exemptions that Service Australia has claimed?

Ronald is adamant that he will find a way to obtain the documents and wants to ensure he understands all avenues and so he additionally asks:

3. How can Ronald seek a review or appeal Services Australia’s decision? You need to include a fulsome answer that considers all options, regardless of whether Ronald or Services Australia is at any point successful.

Writing your response (how do I do this?)

Levels of understanding among members of the public differ significantly. You are asked to assume that Ronald has no understanding of how administrative systems or merits review work. Therefore, you will be expected to interpret the law and explain it to Ronald (and other community members).

The memorandum can be in any format. The format for the memorandum is not assessable. If you are uncertain about a format for the memorandum, here is a pro forma memorandum header that you are welcome to use. Please be aware that your choice to use or not use this pro forma will not affect your mark in any way.

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