Julie Keys
via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Julie
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST: No. 2024/25-002
ACCESS DECISION
I refer to your request made under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on 6 October 2024, which you clarified
on 8, 19 and 27 October 2024. You also revised the scope of your request on 20 November 2024
and then reduced the scope on 28 November 2024 (in response to NHMRC’s request
consultation letter). Your final request is seeking:
Correspondence between the NHMRC and Prof Andrew Lloyd and Prof. Paul Glasziou
after 30 April 2019 relating to ME/CFS.
Correspondence between the NHRMC and the NDIA after March 2024 relating to
ME/CFS.
I am an officer authorised under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to
FOI requests.
I have decided to grant part access to 6 documents, with information redacted under section 22
of the FOI Act. Further information about my decision is provided below.
Timeframe for processing your request
The FOI request was received by NHMRC via email on 6 October 2024. The statutory timeframe
for processing a request is 30 days, starting from the day after the day on which your request
was received. NHMRC sought an extension of 30 days under section 15AA of the FOI Act, to
which you agreed on 27 October 2024. In addition, the period for processing your request
stopped when NHMRC’s request consultation letter was sent to you (on 27 November 2024) and
restarted when you responded to the letter (on 28 November 2024), which added one day to
the timeframe.
During the processing of your request, NHMRC also consulted with 2 third parties affected by
the potential release of the documents. As noted in the FOI Unit’s email of 5 December 2024, as
a result of the consultation, the timeframe for processing your request was extended by 30 days
in accordance with subsection 15(6) of the FOI Act. Accordingly, the due date for a decision on
your request is 6 January 2025 (as the first business day following the 30-day period).
Decision
In making my decision, I have had regard to the following:
• the terms of your request
• the content of the documents to which you have sought access
• advice from NHMRC officers with responsibility for the matters relating to the documents
to which you sought access
• the views of third parties consulted by NHMRC, where relevant, under section 27 and 27A
of the FOI Act
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act (accessed via:
www.legislation.gov.au)
16 MARCUS CLARKE STREET, CANBERRA ACT 2601
GPO BOX 1421, CANBERRA ACT 2601
xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
NHMRC.GOV.AU
link to page 2 link to page 2
• the
FOI Guidelines—Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under
s 93A of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Guidelines) (accessed via:
www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-
government-agencies/foi-guidelines).
I have interpreted the scope of your request to include an end date of 28 November 2024. This
is because it is the date in which your final reduced request was provided to NHMRC (in
response to the request consultation process), and an end date was not specified in your
request.
For the part of your request about
correspondence between the NHRMC and the NDIA after
March 2024 relating to ME/CFS, I have interpreted this to include the National Disability
Insurance Agency (NDIA), as well as the National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and
Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission). Although the NDIS Commission is an independent
Australian Government regulator and separate from the NDIA, it came up in our search for
documents. I note that the NDIA and the NDIS Commission both relate to the NDIS and sit within
the Social Services portfolio. I am mindful to not take a narrow or pedantic approach to
interpreting the scope of your request, in line paragraph 3.110 of the FOI Guidelines.
NHMRC conducted a search of its electronic files and relevant email mailboxes in line with the
scope of your request (and the above interpretations). The key search terms used were:
• Part 1 (Prof Andrew Lloyd and Prof. Paul Glasziou):
[‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’, ‘ME/CFS’, ‘ME-CFS’, ‘MECFS’,
‘long COVID’, ‘lloyd’ ‘glasziou’], with a date range of [1 May 2019–28 November 2024]
• Part 2 (NDIA):
[‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’, ‘ME/CFS’, ‘ME-CFS’, ‘MECFS’,
long COVID’, ‘ndis.gov.au’, ‘ndiscommission.gov.au’, ‘ndia.gov.au’], with a date range of
[1 April 2024–28 November 2024].
NHMRC identified 6 documents as falling within the scope of your request and the Schedule of
Documents at Attachment A provides a description of these documents. NHMRC also identified
a number of duplicate documents in the search, however, these were removed. Please note that
NHMRC found no correspondence between NHMRC and Professor Paul Glasziou from 1 May
2019 to 28 November 2024 relating to ME/CFS.
For the documents identified in Attachment A, I have decided to grant part access to all 6
documents, with information redacted under section 22 of the FOI Act on the grounds that is
irrelevant to your request. The detailed reasons for my decision are set out below.
Documents containing irrelevant material (s22)
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows NHMRC to prepare an edited copy of a document, modified by
deletions or redactions, so that the edited copy would not disclose any information that is
reasonably regarded as irrelevant to the request.
I consider the following material to be irrelevant to the scope of your request and have therefore
decided to redact it from the documents identified in Attachment A:
• any correspondence that is not relating to ME/CFS
• contact details of members from the NHMRC
ME/CFS Advisory Committee1, except for
Professor Andrew Lloyd as he is specifically mentioned in your request (I note that
Professor Lloyd’s email address is already publicly available
2 and that Professor Paul
Glasziou was not a member of the Committee)
• the specific names and contact details of staff from NHMRC (below the level of CEO),
NDIA and the NDIS Commission.
1 URL:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/mecfs-advisory-committee-report-nhmrc-chief-
executive-officer
2 URL:
https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/andrew-lloyd
Page 2 of 4
link to page 3 link to page 3 link to page 3 link to page 3
I have decided not to redact the details of the agency, area and/or position of staff in the
documents identified at Attachment A, as I consider this material to be relevant to the scope of
your request. Also, I have decided not to redact the name of NHMRC’s previous CEO (Professor
Anne Kelso) because her involvement with the ME/CFS Advisory Committee in 2019 is already
publicly availabl
e on NHMRC’s website3, including her signature within correspondence.
Charges
I have decided not to impose charges for processing this FOI request.
Your review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information
Commissioner review of the decision.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to NHMRC for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days of the date of this
letter. Where possible, please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is
necessary. The internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days. Please email
a request for internal review to NHMRC’s FOI Unit at
xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review my decision. Such an application must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of
this letter, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
• online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
• email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx • post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW, 2001.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available on t
he Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner4 website.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way your FOI request has been handled, you can make a complaint
in writing to NHMRC at: complaint
x@xxxxx.xxx.xx. Information on how NHMRC manages
complaints can be found on t
he NHMRC5 website.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint in writing to the Australian
Information Commissioner in one of the following ways:
• online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
• email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
• post: GPO Box 5288 Sydney 2001
More information about FOI complaints is available on t
he Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner6 website.
3 URL:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/mecfs-advisory-committee-report-nhmrc-chief-
executive-officer
4 URL:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review 5 URL:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/resources/nhmrc-complaints-policy
6 URL:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-complaints
Page 3 of 4
Questions
If you have any queries or wish to discuss my decision, please contact the NHMRC FOI Unit at
xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
signed electronically
Alan Singh
Executive Director
Research Quality and Advice
19 December 2024
Attachment
A. Schedule of Documents, including 6 documents
Page 4 of 4
