Our reference: FOI 24/25-1088
24 March 2025
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
Elias
ndis.gov.au
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Elias
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 12 January 2025 (your correspondence), seeking
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:
“…All current internal policies, knowledge articles, standard operating procedures,
checklists, and templates pertaining to:
1. Plan reassessment
2. Plan variation
3. ‘Check-in’ meetings/conversations
Please include all identified documents in full, I consider all parts of a document to be
relevant. This also includes the 'version control' information for every 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. 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 scope. 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
The NDIA’s Service Design Division has 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 approximately 163 documents matching the scope of your request.
On my reasonable estimate, I consider that there is more than 1600 pages worth of material
that falls within the scope of your request as currently worded. At a conservative estimate,
processing of your request would take the Service Design Division 13-25 hours to compile
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the information you have requested and at an estimate of 1 minute per page, would take an
FOI Officer more than 26 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 further information on the documents you wish to access
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.
Should I not receive a response within the 14 days, I wil proceed to progress your request
based on the current scope and provide you with a decision refusing access under s 24(1)(b)
of the FOI Act.
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
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700
CANBERRA ACT 2601
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Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Patrick (PHO293)
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
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