FOI Costs/ Transparency in Government Agencies

How very amuzing is the price of transparency in Government Agencies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An FOI to Dave Maher of the Insolvency Trustee Service Australia ( ITSA)on the information of complaints made regarding trustees will cost $370. These statistics would be held by Bankruptcy Regulation and should be freely available to any member of Australian Public.

An FOI sent to the Australian Public Service Commission requesting information on complaints by Whistleblowers under S16 which Commissioner Sedgwick and Karin Fisher had fucked every complaint over cost $6,500 …...............

…........so now find I am not alone.......................

Among the "transparency" news in Fairfax Media today is this NSW Government Information (Public Access) Act gem:

The Greens MLC John Kaye asked about casual staff at Coffs Harbour Base Hospital and how many had been employed for longer than 12 weeks. The right to information manager at the Mid North Coast Local Health District, Chris Chick, replied it would cost $13,262 to retrieve the information. That included an estimated 51.5 hours at $36 an hour to check the database.

Ian Lazar 4828/Caveat

ICAC/ Corrupt NSW Government Ministers

• NSW never fails to shock or disappoint
• Hawke review almost slips under Estimates radar
• Australian OGP decision getting closer as senators probe delay

NSW never fails to shock or disappoint Posted: 17 Feb 2013 05:26 PM PST Those of us in NSW are bearing but not grinning at revelations before the Independent Commission Against Corruption of get rich schemes involving former ministers. My one sentence about matters not mentioned to date made the Letters in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday: "I guess anything that happened while Eddie Obeid himself was making decisions as minister for fisheries and minister for mineral resources from 1999 to 2003 is just ancient history, and we best move on?" State Political Editor Sean Nicholls highlighted shortcomings and calls for change from Labor (new to such things) and The Greens about the pecuniary interest register and lobbying disclosures. The Premier is waiting for the ICAC report he says. Both issues have been the subject of recommendations going back years that weren't acted upon. Among the "transparency" news in Fairfax Media today is this NSW Government Information (Public Access) Act gem: The Greens MLC John Kaye asked about casual staff at Coffs Harbour Base Hospital and how many had been employed for longer than 12 weeks. The right to information manager at the Mid North Coast Local Health District, Chris Chick, replied it would cost $13,262 to retrieve the information. That included an estimated 51.5 hours at $36 an hour to check the database.

requirements ITSA's disclosure log/FOI Statistics

Following is ITSA's disclosure log. It is a requirement that all FOI  be published.

Following this information is ITSA's FOI  from the Annual report 2011-2012.

Clearly  the FOI officer Dave Maher is not  complying with the requirements of the FOI Act S11(C).

ITSA claims that this requirement is a discretion to the  Government agency or department

Clearly Dave Maher needs a cock up his arse!!!!

Freedom of information

Subsection 11C(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 requires agencies to publish on their websites details of information released pursuant to FOI requests received by them (other than documents referred to in subsection 11C(1), which includes personal information about a person or information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of a person, if it would be unreasonable to publish the information).

In accordance with those requirements, set out below are descriptions of such information/documents released by ITSA.

Information attached to, or referred to in, ITSA’s disclosure log will generally be removed after 12 months, unless the information has enduring public value.

Date access granted	FOI request sought access to	Documents released
5 April 2012	Web browser and social media use guidelines or policies	Acceptable Use of ICT Resources Policy[PDF 401KB] Online personal media use by ITSA staff policy [PDF 745 KB]

 
ITSA is committed to upholding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Work is underway across the Australian Government to achieve compliance in line with the Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy.

There are documents in the disclosure log that are currently not available in HTML format. If you would like hard copies of any documents shown above or assistance accessing them, please contact ITSA’s FOI coordinator at foi@itsa.gov.au or

FOI Coordinator
Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia
GPO Box 821
CANBERRA ACT 2601

FOI procedures and initial contact point

FOI contact officers will help applicants identify the particular documents they seek. All national managers of ITSA's business lines, together with authorised officers at ITSA's national office in Canberra, are authorised to grant or deny access to documents. Enquiries about access to documents or other matters relating to freedom of information may be directed to foi@itsa.gov.au or the following address:
FOI Coordinator Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia GPO Box 821 Canberra ACT 2601

Freedom of information statistics 2011-12

Table 31: FOI requests

FOI requests carried over from previous year	4
Requests received	44
Granted in full	27
Granted in part	12
Refused	6
Transferred	0
Lapsed	0
Requests outstanding at end of year	3

Freedom of Information Act/Public Interest

ITSA clearly attempts to restrict FOI  requests  that  are in the public interest exposing the systemic corrupt conduct by senior management by requesting ridiculous fees.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman is protecting this conduct. Unfortunately  most people are not aware the Commonwealth Ombudsman has no investigation policy or no investigation standards  contrary to  popular belief.

Senior Management at ITSA and the Commonwealth Ombudsman all need a hard fucking up their arse.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 11A

Access to documents on request

Scope

             (1)  This section applies if:

                     (a)  a request is made by a person, in accordance with subsection 15(2), to an agency or Minister for access to:

                              (i)  a document of the agency; or

                             (ii)  an official document of the Minister; and

                     (b)  any charge that, under the regulations, is required to be paid before access is given has been paid.

             (2)  This section applies subject to this Act.

Note:          Other provisions of this Act are relevant to decisions about access to documents, for example the following:

(a)    section 12 (documents otherwise available);

(b)    section 13 (documents in national institutions);

(c)    section 15A (personnel records);

(d)    section 22 (access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted).

Mandatory access--general rule

             (3)  The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document in accordance with this Act, subject to this section.

Exemptions and conditional exemptions

             (4)  The agency or Minister is not required by this Act to give the person access to the document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is an exempt document.

Note:          Access may be given to an exempt document apart from under this Act, whether or not in response to a request (see section 3A
(objects--information or documents otherwise accessible)).

             (5)  The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.

Note 1:       Division 3 of Part IV provides for when a document is conditionally exempt.

Note 2:       A conditionally exempt document is an exempt document if access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest (see section 31B (exempt documents for the purposes of Part IV)).

Note 3:       Section 11B deals with when it is contrary to the public interest to give a person access to the document.

             (6)  Despite subsection (5), the agency or Minister is not required to give access to the document at a particular time if, at that time, the document is both:

                     (a)  a conditionally exempt document; and

                     (b)  an exempt document:

                              (i)  under Division 2 of Part IV (exemptions); or

                             (ii)  within the meaning of paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of exempt document in subsection 4(1).

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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 11B

Public interest exemptions--factors

Scope

             (1)  This section applies for the purposes of working out whether access to a conditionally exempt document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest under subsection 11A(5).

             (2)  This section does not limit subsection 11A(5).

Factors favouring access

             (3)  Factors favouring access to the document in the public interest include whether access to the document would do any of the following:

                     (a)  promote the objects of this Act (including all the matters set out in sections 3 and 3A);

                     (b)  inform debate on a matter of public importance;

                     (c)  promote effective oversight of public expenditure;

                     (d)  allow a person to access his or her own personal information.

Irrelevant factors

             (4)  The following factors must not be taken into account in deciding whether access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest:

                     (a)  access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Commonwealth Government, or cause a loss of confidence in the Commonwealth Government;

                    (aa)  access to the document could result in embarrassment to the Government of Norfolk Island or cause a loss of confidence in the Government of Norfolk Island;

                     (b)  access to the document could result in any person misinterpreting or misunderstanding the document;

                     (c)  the author of the document was (or is) of high seniority in the agency to which the request for access to the document was made;

                     (d)  access to the document could result in confusion or unnecessary debate.

Guidelines

             (5)  In working out whether access to the document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest, an agency or Minister must have regard to any guidelines issued by the InformationCommissioner for the purposes of this subsection under section 93A.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 31A

Access to exempt and conditionally exempt documents

                   The following table summarises how this Act applies to exempt documents and documents that are conditionally exempt:

How this Act applies to exempt and conditionally exempt documents
Item	If ...	then ...	because of ...
1	a document is anexempt documentunder Division 2 (exemptions) or under paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition ofexempt document in subsection 4(1)	access to the documentis not required to be given	subsection 11A(4).
2	a document is aconditionally exemptdocument under Division 3 (public interest conditional exemptions)	access to the documentis required to be given, unless it would be contrary to the public interest	subsection 11A(5) (see also section 11B (public interest factors)).
3	a document is anexempt document as mentioned in item 1, and also a conditionally exempt documentunder Division 3	access to the documentis not required to be given	subsections 11A(4) and (6), and section 32 (interpretation) .
4	access to a documentis refused because it contains exemptmatter, and the exempt matter can be deleted	(a) an edited copydeleting the exempt matter must be prepared (if practicable); and (b) access to the edited copy must be given;	section 22.
5	a document is anexempt documentbecause of any provision of this Act	access to the documentmay be given apart from under this Act	section 3A (objects--information ordocuments otherwise accessible).

Breaches of the Bankruptcy Act/Enforcement/Regulation

Following is a question asked by Senator Williams to ITSA in May 2012.

8. It is intriguing that ASIC would move against a liquidator in Melbourne following

concerns about his capacity to adequately and properly carry out his duties, yet ITSA

cannot seem to take action against the same person as a bankruptcy trustee. It hardly

gives people confidence in the system. Would you like to see uniform laws in this regard?

Answer:

ITSA has recently made an announcement concerning Mr Pattison's registration as a trustee.

As to uniform law, we note that an important stated objective of the Options Paper issued

by the Government in June 2011 is to seek input from interested parties to determine

whether it is appropriate that an aligned set of provisions be adopted for both the corporate

and personal insolvency regimes to inform the development of future reforms that will

ensure the maintenance of public confidence in the insolvency regime.

Veronique Ingram needs a big cock up her arse.

Considering the number of complaints that ITSA received about corrupt Paul Pattison ITSA clearly failed to comply with their obligations under the Bankruptcy Act.

ITSA also clearly has no adequate investigation policy to date. The National  Enforcement manager Adam Toma is on the take and using his position outside  ITSA  to intimidate people to  his advantage.

 BREACHES OF THE BANKRUPTCY ACT

If ITSA identifies a breach ( or if they  can be bothered ) they have a meeting with Enforcement. This would be in the respective state in Australia. In NSW you would have a meeting with the skanky bitch Julie Padgett. This bitch from ITSA needs a cock up her arse. This is usually the end of the matter and it goes no further.

Enforcement is advised by Matthew Osborne to make a large  note of this  and ITSA's responsibility under the Bankruptcy Act is fully complied  with. This is a breach of the Inspector Generals  practice statement 14.

If you make a complaint to Bankruptcy Regulation( you are unable to make a complaint to Enforcement) the matter  is usually fucked over because Adam Toma has failed to have Regulation comply with any investigation standards.

Functions of ITSA

Following is the functions of ITSA

If you are considering making a complaint to ITSA be aware that  the Bankruptcy Regulation branch has no investigation policy and has no investigation standards. If you are considering making a complaint  realize you are probably going to get fucked over .

Mathew Osborne(Legal Branch) is advising trustees that they have the discretion to fuck everyone over.

Both Adam Toma and Veronique Ingram need a good fuck up their arses for allowing this

Agency overview

Up one level

Jump to:  Annual report 2011-2012 ITSA annual report Overviews Chief Executive's review Significant achievements in 2011-12 Priorities for 2012-13 Agency overview Outcome and program structure Performance Program 1.1: Personal Insolvency and Trustee Services Component 1.1.1: An efficient information and registry ... Component 1.1.2: An effective regulatory framework for ... Component 1.1.3: Administration of insolvent estates ... Component 1.1.4: Investigation of Bankruptcy Act ... Component 1.1.5: Administration of proceeds of crime ... Program 1.2: Operation of a National Register of ... Component 1.2.1: A Personal Property Securities (PPS) ... Management and accountability Corporate governance Client service Social inclusion External scrutiny Financial management Management of ITSA's people Other mandatory information Freedom of information Work health and safety Consultancy services Advertising and market research Ecologically sustainable development and environmental ... List of requirements Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2012 Glossaries and Index Operation of the Bankruptcy Act Information on the Operation of the Bankruptcy Act Objectives of the bankruptcy act 1966 General administration of the bankruptcy system Bankruptcies under Part IV and Part XI Debt agreements under Part IX Personal insolvency agreements under Part X Enforcement Inspector-General reviews Regulation of insolvency practitioners Amendments to the Bankruptcy Act and the Bankruptcy ... Courts and Tribunal decisions Operation of the Personal Property Securities Act Information on the Operation of the Personal Property ... Registrar's introduction General administration of the Personal Property ... Data on the use of the Personal Property Securities ... Amendments to the Personal Property Securities Act ... Court and tribunal decisions 

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Functions

The Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (ITSA) is an executive agency in the Attorney-General's portfolio. ITSA's purpose is to provide improved and equitable financial outcomes for consumers, business and the community through application of bankruptcy and personal property securities laws, regulation of personal insolvency practitioners, and trustee services.
The services provided by ITSA include:

• ensuring that debtors, bankrupts and their associates, practitioners and others comply with the requirements of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and associated legislation by:
• operating the bankruptcy registry where debtor's petitions are lodged, debt agreement proposals are processed and public records on insolvency are maintained
• exercising Official Receiver powers to assist trustees to obtain information and recover property
• investigating possible offences under the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and preparing briefs of evidence for prosecution
• regulating the activity of trustees and debt agreement administrators
• administering, as the Official Trustee, personal bankruptcies, debt agreements and personal insolvency agreements when private bankruptcy trustees or other administrators are not appointed
• acting as a special trustee for Australian Government agencies pursuant to court orders, particularly by locating, controlling and selling property under the proceeds of crime legislation
• administering and enforcing the Personal Property Securities Act 2009, including through the provision of the national Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR).

Legislation

ITSA is responsible for administering the following Acts and associated Regulations, which provide a legislative framework for its functions and services:

• the Bankruptcy Act 1966
• the Bankruptcy (Estate Charges) Act 1997
• the Personal Property Securities Act 2009.

ITSA also administers property in accordance with orders made under:

• the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987
• the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Role

ITSA fulfils each of the following roles created by the Bankruptcy Act:

• Inspector-General in Bankruptcy - ITSA's Chief Executive is also appointed as the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy. The Inspector-General is responsible for the general administration of the Bankruptcy Act and has powers to regulate bankruptcy trustees and debt agreement administrators, review decisions of trustees and investigate allegations of offences under the Act.
• Official Receiver - On behalf of the Official Receiver, ITSA operates a public bankruptcy registry service with compliance and coercive powers to assist bankruptcy trustees to discharge their responsibilities.
• Official Trustee in Bankruptcy - The Official Trustee in Bankruptcy, a body corporate, administers bankruptcies and other personal insolvency arrangements when a private trustee or other administrator is not appointed. ITSA provides personnel and resources to ensure the Official Trustee can fulfil its responsibilities. The Official Trustee also has responsibility under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Customs Act 1901 to control and deal with property under court orders made under these statutes.

The Personal Property Securities Act creates the role of:

• Registrar of Personal Property Securities - The Registrar administers the PPSR in compliance with the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 and Regulations. This includes responsibility for ensuring the register is accessible and accurate.

Organisational structure

ITSA's senior management team is led by the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is directly assisted by:

• the National Manager Business Services (who is also appointed as the Official Receiver)
• the National Manager Regulation and Enforcement
• the National Manager Corporate Strategy and Support
• ITSA General Counsel and Registrar of Personal Property Securities