NDIA and the National Autism Strategy
Dear National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA),
The Australian Government is developing a National Autism Strategy - see https://www.dss.gov.au/disability-and-ca...
Please provide, under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, all information held by the NDIA relating to the National Autism Strategy including, but not limited to:
1. communication with and information provided to the National Autism Strategy Oversight/Committee/Council and/or its working groups,
2. communication with and information provided to staff or officials in the Department of Social Security,
3. information given to politicians or parliamentary officials,
4. information and records held within the NDIA, and
5. relevant information received by the NDIA.
Yours faithfully,
Bob Buckley
Thank you for your email to the National Disability Insurance Agency
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Participant Information
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Please visit our [1]Access to Information webpage to find out more about
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Should you have a query unrelated to FOI, please contact the Agency by
email at [9][email address] or via webchat at [10]ndis.gov.au.
Alternatively, you can also contact us by phoning 1800 800 110.
Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [11][NDIA request email]
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
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11. mailto:[NDIA request email]
Dear Bob Buckley
Freedom of Information Request: Acknowledgement
Thank you for your request of 11 September 2024, made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), for copies of documents held by the
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your Request
You have requested access to:
“...all information held by the NDIA relating to the National Autism
Strategy including, but not limited to:
1. communication with and information provided to the National Autism
Strategy Oversight/Committee/Council and/or its working groups, 2.
communication with and information provided to staff or officials in the
Department of Social Security, 3. information given to politicians or
parliamentary officials, 4. information and records held within the NDIA,
and 5. relevant information received by the NDIA...”
Irrelevant Information
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows an Agency to redact information from
documents if that information would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to a request for access.
Given the nature of your request, it does not seem that NDIA staff
members’ surnames and contact details would be relevant to you. Can you
please send me a reply email confirming that such details are irrelevant
to your request for access?
Processing Timeframes
In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from 12 September 2024. This
30-day period expires on 11 October 2024.
The 30-day period can be extended in a number of ways, including with your
agreement.
Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to
process FOI requests. I am therefore seeking your agreement to a 30-day
extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the new due date for us to decide on your request will be 11
November 2024.
If you do not agree and we are unable to process your request within the
30-day period expiring on 11 October 2024, we will be deemed to have
refused your request and you will not have a right to seek internal review
of that decision. You will, however, retain your right to external review
by the Australian Information Commissioner.
Please let us know if you agree by Wednesday 2 October 2024.
Disclosure Log
Subject to certain exceptions, documents released under the FOI Act will
be published on the NDIA’s disclosure log located on our website.
If you have any concerns about the publication of the documents you have
requested, please contact me.
Next steps
Your request has been allocated to an authorised FOI decision-maker. The
decision-maker may need to contact you to discuss a range of matters,
including refining the scope of your request.
We will contact you using the email address you have provided. Please
advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or need help, please contact us
at [1][NDIA request email].
Regards
Ramya
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
Dear foi,
I am interested in the officials whose responsibilities and actions are delivering the National Autism Strategy. For people at the SES level, I feel it is appropriate that they are identified either by name or by the role/position title they are acting in. If their SES position is clear, I do not need their name. I do not need the names of people at lower levels ... I hope their position is identfied.
Please process my request accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Buckley
Dear Bob Buckley
Thank you for clarifying your views in relation to staff names, in your
email to us today.
Could I please ask that you also confirm if you agree to the proposed
30-day extension of time for processing your request under section 15AA of
the FOI Act. As advised previously, if you agree to this extension, the
new due date for us to decide on your request will be 11 November 2024.
Please contact us at [1][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.
Kind regards
Ramya
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
From: Bob Buckley <[6][FOI #12044 email]>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2024 9:20 AM
To: foi <[7][NDIA request email]>
Subject: Re: FOI 24/25-0332 – Your request for information –
Acknowledgement & Extension of Time - Response required [SEC=OFFICIAL]
[You don't often get email from
[8][FOI #12044 email]. Learn why this is
important at [9]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
Dear foi,
I am interested in the officials whose responsibilities and actions are
delivering the National Autism Strategy. For people at the SES level, I
feel it is appropriate that they are identified either by name or by the
role/position title they are acting in. If their SES position is clear, I
do not need their name. I do not need the names of people at lower levels
... I hope their position is identfied.
Please process my request accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Buckley
From: foi <[NDIA request email]>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2024 4:18 PM
To: 'Bob Buckley' <[FOI #12044 email]>
Cc: foi <[NDIA request email]>
Subject: FOI 24/25-0332 – Your request for information – Acknowledgement &
Extension of Time - Response required [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear Bob Buckley
Freedom of Information Request: Acknowledgement
Thank you for your request of 11 September 2024, made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), for copies of documents held by the
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your Request
You have requested access to:
“...all information held by the NDIA relating to the National Autism
Strategy including, but not limited to:
1. communication with and information provided to the National Autism
Strategy Oversight/Committee/Council and/or its working groups, 2.
communication with and information provided to staff or officials in the
Department of Social Security, 3. information given to politicians or
parliamentary officials, 4. information and records held within the NDIA,
and 5. relevant information received by the NDIA...”
Irrelevant Information
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows an Agency to redact information from
documents if that information would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to a request for access.
Given the nature of your request, it does not seem that NDIA staff
members’ surnames and contact details would be relevant to you. Can you
please send me a reply email confirming that such details are irrelevant
to your request for access?
Processing Timeframes
In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from 12 September 2024. This
30-day period expires on 11 October 2024.
The 30-day period can be extended in a number of ways, including with your
agreement.
Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to
process FOI requests. I am therefore seeking your agreement to a 30-day
extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this
extension, the new due date for us to decide on your request will be 11
November 2024.
If you do not agree and we are unable to process your request within the
30-day period expiring on 11 October 2024, we will be deemed to have
refused your request and you will not have a right to seek internal review
of that decision. You will, however, retain your right to external review
by the Australian Information Commissioner.
Please let us know if you agree by Wednesday 2 October 2024.
Disclosure Log
Subject to certain exceptions, documents released under the FOI Act will
be published on the NDIA’s disclosure log located on our website.
If you have any concerns about the publication of the documents you have
requested, please contact me.
Next steps
Your request has been allocated to an authorised FOI decision-maker. The
decision-maker may need to contact you to discuss a range of matters,
including refining the scope of your request.
We will contact you using the email address you have provided. Please
advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or need help, please contact us
at [10][NDIA request email].
Regards
Ramya
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [11][NDIA request email]
[12]NDIA logo
[13]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[14]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
Dear foi,
As I have indicated before in relation to other FoI requests, I am fully aware that it makes no difference whether or not I agree to your requestfor a time extension.
I do not regard "Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to process FOI requests" as a meaningful justification.
I agree to the extension you have requested so you might have slightly less work to do; maybe resulting in slightly less delay in future.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Buckley
Dear Bob Buckley
Thank you for agreeing to an extension of time for us to process this
request.
We are writing to seek clarification of your request because it appears to
be broad.
Scope of your request
You have requested access to:
“…all information held by the NDIA relating to the National Autism
Strategy including, but not limited to:
1. communication with and information provided to the National Autism
Strategy Oversight/Committee/Council and/or its working groups,
2. communication with and information provided to staff or officials in
the Department of Social Security,
3. information given to politicians or parliamentary officials,
4. information and records held within the NDIA, and
5. relevant information received by the NDIA.”
We have conducted a preliminary analysis of the scope of your request and
in my assessment, this could potentially include a large number of
documents that may be relevant to your request.
I refer to your previous request FOI 23/24-0833 in which you have sought
copies of documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency
(NDIA), within the date range 31 January 2023 to 31 January 2024.
Therefore, could I please ask that you consider revising the scope of this
request for a date range as follows:
· Documents from 1 February 2024 to the date of this request.
As such, your request remains broad in scope as it is currently worded.
We have not yet consulted with relevant NDIA staff, including staff who
are knowledgeable about how to conduct searches of the NDIA’s systems and
who could be expected to conduct preliminary searches using all reasonable
search terms or searches of emails and electronic messaging systems, and
provide us with an estimate of the volume of documents or material
involved. Once we have received responses from relevant line areas on the
approximate volume of documents involved, we will write to you seeking
your help to refine the scope of your request.
Next steps
If you are happy for us to proceed with the date range for your request as
outlined above, please let us know by Monday 14 October 2024.
Please contact us at [1][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.
Kind regards
Ramya
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
Dear foi,
Thank you for writing to seek clarification 9/10/2024.
Your reference to FOI 23/24-0833 (submitted 31/1/2024) has little relevance. In relation to that specific FoI request, I received an email dated 9/4/2024 that stated:
I anticipate both requests will be finalised and the respective decisions sent to you no later than COB
Monday 22 April 2024.
The latest email I received 13/9/2024 relating to FOI 23/24-0833 includes ...
Firstly, I apologise for the significant and ongoing delays. I am continuing to process your matter. I have identified that your request includes documents which contain the business information of third parties. As such, I am conducting a consultation with those third parties to ascertain if they have any objections to the release of the documents.
Maybe I'll get another update before the end of the calendar year.
Clearly, reducing the date range for the request did not deliver a timely outcome. All that happens is your response is delayed which means you and the NDIA avoid the risk of having to do an internal review.
The NDIA's Autism Advisory Group has been going longer than the government's development process for the National Autism Strategy. There is no evidence of any significant number of documents or information held by the NDIA that relate to the National Autism Strategy. Your email does not indicate that you have even attempted a simple search for information that relates to this specific subject. You claim that "your request remains broad in scope"; I dispute that since it is specific to information the NDIS holds relating ONLY to the National Autism Strategy. Please focus on what I requested.
I decline your request that I reduce the scope of my request.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Buckley
Dear Bob Buckley
Unfortunately, it is taking us longer than expected to process your
request.
I am writing to seek your agreement on a proposal to manage your request
in a staged approach to the decision on your request
This will assist us to manage our resources more effectively and allow us
more time to consider and process the request.
If you agree I will process your FOI request in two stages. I propose to
address parts 4 and 5 of the request initially; and the remainder of the
request subsequently within the next 30 days.
a. Stage one: This will encompass the decision for parts 4 and 5
of your request:
“…all information held by the NDIA relating to the National Autism
Strategy including, but not limited to: …
4. information and records held within the NDIA, and
5. relevant information received by the NDIA...”
We are now in possession of the majority of documents falling within scope
of these parts of the request. Following review, we intend to release the
decision of these parts of your request by the current due date 11
November 2024.
(This period may be extended if we need to courtesy consult with a third
party or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.)
b. Stage two: This will include a decision for parts 1, 2 and 3,
of your request:
“…all information held by the NDIA relating to the National Autism
Strategy including, but not limited to:…
1. communication with and information provided to the National Autism
Strategy Oversight/Committee/Council and/or its working groups,
2. communication with and information provided to staff or officials in
the Department of Social Security,
3. information given to politicians or parliamentary officials, …”
At present, we are still waiting on relevant material for these parts of
your request. We are consulting with relevant NDIA staff, who could be
expected to be able to identify emails and documents falling within the
scope of these parts of the request.
We are unsure of the volume of the potential material at this stage.
Please be advised, that if you agree to the proposed approach, I will seek
an additional 30-day extension of time from the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner (OAIC) under section 15AB of the FOI Act. If this
extension of time is granted, the new due date for us to make a decision
on Stage 2 of the release will be 11 December 2024.
Next steps
If you are happy to proceed with this approach to the management of your
request as outlined above, please let me know by COB Thursday 31 October
2024.
Please contact us at [1][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.
Thank you.
Kind regards
Ramya [RMO 260]
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
Dear foi,
I agree to your propose 2 stage approach and the 30-day extension for Stage 1 of that proposal.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Buckley
Dear Bob Buckley
Thank you for your request for information.
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your request. If you
require this in a different format, please let us know.
Please be advised, the attached correspondence relates to the scope as
agreed for Stage 2 only.
Please contact us at [NDIA request email] if you have any questions or require
help.
Thank you.
Kind regards
Ramya
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [1][NDIA request email]
[2]NDIA logo
[3]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[4]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
Dear foi Ramya (RMO 260),
In order to progress this request I propose the following process.
1. Please provide to me a list of all records including fields for the subject lines, sending date, number of attachments (and their titles if that is possible), sender and recipients of emails (and their NDIA branch if that is possible) where the email has either "National Autism Strategy" or the discrete word "NAS" in their subject line. Note that this will include automatically those with ‘National Autism Strategy Oversight Council’ in the subject line. I suggest that the search be over the whole NDIA; it should not be limited to the NDIA’s Children’s Taskforce, Parliamentary and Ministerial, and Cyber Security and Resilience, branches as your letter indicated as a restriction in your earlier searches.
2. I will review the list you provide hopefully to let me more specifically target information being requested.
I note that your letter indicates the list would contain at least 582 items.
I expect that the information would be provided in one of the following formats:
a. MS Excel file/worksheet(s)
b. CSV file
c. ASCII representation of a database table.
d. JSON data
If you would prefer to provide this information in some other format, I am happy to consider that.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Buckley
Our reference: RQ24/04915
Agency reference: FOI 24/25-0332
National Disability Insurance Agency
By email
Bob Buckley
By email
Extension of time under s 15AB
Dear Parties,
Please find attached an extension of time decision relating to Bob
Buckley’s FOI request with the National Disability Insurance Agency
Kind regards,
[1][IMG] Claire Lynch (she/her)
Assistant Review Adviser
Freedom of Information Branch
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
P 1300 363 992 E [2][email address]
Please note: The OAIC revised its IC review procedures as of 1 July
2024. For more information about these revised procedures, including new
resources to assist applicants and respondents, see our webpage: [3]OAIC
Information Commissioner Reviews | Procedure Directions
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia
and their continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We pay
our respect to First Nations people, cultures and Elders past and
present.
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