Our reference: FOI 24/25-0587
10 December 2024
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
David Wright
ndis.gov.au
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear David Wright
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 13 October 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 fol owing documents:
“FOI 23/24-1400, Document 4, pages 40-41 makes reference to 'Yammer groups for
NDIS staff relating to ASD', which it describes as follows:
"There are two Yammer groups for NDIS staff discussion that some TAT advisors
use:
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Understanding the Autism Spectrum by Dr Bennett, PHD"
I seek a copy of all information contained in these Yammer groups.
Contact details and surnames of NDIA staff are irrelevant to my request.”
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. 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 yammer groups mentioned in your request have
approximately 309 posts, 462 attachments, and a various number of comments under these
posts.
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On my reasonable estimate, I consider that there is more than 4229 pages, 5 audio files and
59 videos worth of material that falls within the scope of your request as currently worded. At
a conservative estimate of 1 minute per page and averaging 20 mins per audio and video
files, this would take an FOI officer more than 91 hours to simply review and collate the
documents.
The documents that are assessed as being within scope of the request wil then need to be
reviewed for any sensitivities and possible exemption under the FOI Act and scheduled, we
wil need to consider any consultations and carry these out if required, a decision wil need to
be made on each document, and a decision letter prepared. This wil significantly increase
the hours that it wil 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
substantial y 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 wil 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:
• Providing a timeframe
• Providing a topic
• Advising if any types of information are not within scope of your application, these can
broadly be broken down to:
o Posts
o Comments
o Attachments
Audio
Video
Transcripts
Research Papers
Images
I note that in the group
Understanding the Autism Spectrum by Dr Bennett, PHD the most
recent post is from August 2022 with the majority of activity being from 2019 – 2020. In the
group
Autism Spectrum Disorders the most recent post is from September 2024 with activity
being spread from 2016 – 2024.
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 wil recommence processing it.
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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
at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Alternatively, you can reply in writing to the following address:
Freedom of Information Section
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700
CANBERRA ACT 2601
If you do not contact me within this period, that is by 25 December 2024, your FOI request
wil be taken to have been withdrawn under subsection 24AB(7) and wil not be dealt with
any further.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Patrick (PHO293)
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
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