Our reference: FOI 24/25-0073
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
ndis.gov.au
12 September 2024
Bob Buckley
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Bob Buckley
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 21 July 2024, in which you requested access under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability
Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your request
You have requested access to the following documents:
“Document 7 in FOI 23.24-0026 describes itself as:
National Disability Injsurance Agency 2023. Behaviourally based intervention for children
on the autism spectrum: Asystematic review and dose-response meta-analysis'.
Prepared by E Ghezzi, A Lampit.
Please provide, under the provision of the Freedom on Information Act, all documents
relating to the contents, development, and disposition of this document.”
Practical refusal
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
I am writing to advise that the work involved in processing your request in its current form
would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the NDIA from its other
operations due to its size and broad scope. This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’ under
section 24AA of the FOI Act.
On this basis, I intend to refuse your request. However, before I make a final decision, I am
writing to provide you with an opportunity to revise your request. This is called a ‘request
consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You have 14 days to
respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Why I intend to refuse your request
I have conducted a preliminary search for documents which are likely to be relevant to your
request. This search has revealed that the NDIA is in possession of more than 117 individual
documents matching the scope of your request, not including any attachments which may be
contained within those documents.
On my reasonable estimate, I consider that there is more than 3000 pages worth of material
that falls within the scope of your request as currently worded, not including emails and
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attachments. At a conservative estimate of 1 minute per page, this would take an FOI officer
more than 50 hours to simply review and collate the documents.
The documents that are assessed as being within scope of the request will then need to be
reviewed for any sensitivities and possible exemption under the FOI Act and scheduled, we
will need to consider any consultations and carry these out if required, a decision will need to
be made on each document, and a decision letter prepared. This will significantly increase
the hours that it will take an FOI officer to process your request.
As a result, I am of the view that the work involved in the processing of this request would
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the NDIA from its other operations.
Request consultation process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more
manageable or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by
providing more specific information about exactly what documents you are interested in, the
NDIA will be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive
resources to process documents you are not interested in.
To reduce the scope of your request, you might like to consider:
• A date range of 6 months before publication of the requested document (November 2022
to May 2023).
You have 14 days from the date you receive this letter to contact me and do one of the
following:
a. withdraw your request
b. make a revised request
c. indicate that you do not wish to revise the request.
During this period, you are welcome to seek assistance to revise your request. If you revise
your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal reason outlined above,
we will recommence processing it.
Please note that the time taken to consult with you regarding the scope of your request is not
taken into account for the purposes of the timeframe for processing your request.
You can contact me by email a
t xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx. Alternatively, you can reply in writing to the following address:
Freedom of Information Section
Parliamentary, Ministerial & FOI Branch
Government Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700
CANBERRA ACT 2601
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If you do not contact me within this period, that is by 27 September 2024, your FOI request
will be taken to have been withdrawn under subsection 24AB(7). As this matter is deemed, a
practical refusal will be issued rather than a withdrawal.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Cooper (CHH674)
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Parliamentary, Ministerial & FOI Branch
Government Division
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