Thank you for your email to the National Disability Insurance Agency
(NDIA) Freedom of Information (FOI) team. 
 
Please note: due to a high volume of requests, our ability to respond to
you in a timely manner may be affected. We will action your request as
soon as possible and will endeavour to process your matter within the
legislative deadlines. We may need to seek your agreement to an extension
of time. We appreciate your understanding if this is required. 
 
Participant Information 
Did you know the NDIA has other ways to access the documents and
information that we hold? 
 
 
Participants, Guardians and Nominees can obtain copies of some participant
information through our National Contact Centre (NCC). For more
information about what’s available through the NCC, please contact 1800
800 110. 
 
 
Please visit our [1]Access to Information webpage to find out more about
accessing information through: 

* The [2]Participant Information Access (PIA) scheme 
 
* The [3]Information Publication Scheme (IPS) 
 
* The [4]myplace portal for participants    
 
* The [5]myplace portal for providers 

Access to Data 
 
You can also request data and statistics. Please visit our [6]Data and
insights webpage page for further information. 
 
 
If you are able to obtain your information from a source listed above, you
can withdraw your FOI request by emailing [7][NDIA request email] 
 
Further Information 
 
Information about how to make an FOI request can be found on our website:
[8]Freedom of Information 
 
 
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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References

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1. https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/policie...
2. https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/policie...
3. https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/policie...
4. https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/usi...
5. https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/workin...
6. https://data.ndis.gov.au/
7. mailto:[NDIA request email]
8. https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/policie...
9. mailto:[email address]
10. https://www.ndis.gov.au/
11. mailto:[NDIA request email]

Hi Bob

Thanks for your email. On 12 March 2025, you requested the following
documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act):

“… information (briefs, summaries, reports, etc.) showing the performance
of the NDIA's Freedom of Information function. In particular, please
provide a breakdown each year (or shorter periods if the information is
available) since 2019 showing the number of FoI requests received, how
many requests had receipt notices issues in 14 days, how many requests
were met within 30 days, how many requests had their time extended, how
many requests were completed within the extension period, how many
requests were refused, how many of the requests were for personal
information. I would prefer to receive a .xlsx or .csv file rather than a
PDF version.”

I have made a decision on your request.

FOI performance data for all Commonwealth agencies is published every year
by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on
data.gov.au. You can access this data via the following link: [1]Freedom
of information statistics. I note that this data is broken down by
financial year, not calendar year as you requested. I also note that the
NDIA’s data is combined with data about all other Commonwealth agencies
across multiple sheets in each document. If this format doesn’t suit your
needs, please contact the OAIC directly. It’s their data and they may be
able to release it in a different format. You can also lodge a FOI request
[2]directly with the OAIC itself if you need to.

However, you will note that the published data doesn’t cover every single
point you requested. As such, in accordance with section 24A of the FOI
Act, I am also going to refuse some parts of your request on the grounds
that a document matching your description does not exist. I am the NDIA’s
subject matter expert on FOI statistics and I have done a thorough search
of the FOI team’s records and document storage systems to try to locate
data that meets your description, and I am satisfied that a document
containing this information in a structured format doesn’t exist.

Here are the parts of your request that I am refusing:

o “how many requests had receipt notices issues in 14 days” – the NDIA
doesn’t track how many FOI requests have acknowledgement letters sent
within the legislated 14-day period. This is because the the OAIC
doesn’t ask us to report on that statistic in either our quarterly or
annual mandatory reporting.
o “how many requests were met within 30 days” – the NDIA doesn’t track
how many FOIs requests are completed within 30 days. We instead track
how many FOI requests are completed within the statutory timeframe.
The statutory timeframe can be extended to well beyond 30 days because
of extensions of time. We only track matters in relation to the
statutory timeframe because the the OAIC doesn’t ask us to report on
requests processed within a “30-day timeframe” in either our quarterly
or annual mandatory reporting.
o “how many requests had their time extended” – the NDIA doesn’t track
how many FOIs have their statutory timeframe extended. This is because
the the OAIC doesn’t ask us to report on that statistic in either our
quarterly or annual mandatory reporting. We lodge many extensions of
time (via section 15AA, 15AB and 15AC) with the OAIC, so they may hold
some data about this. However, I note that their data will not include
extensions of time resulting from third party consultations, as these
are not lodged with the OAIC.
o “how many requests were completed within the extension period” - the
NDIA doesn’t track how many FOIs are completed within an extended
statutory timeframe. This is because the the OAIC doesn’t ask us to
report on that statistic in either our quarterly or annual mandatory
reporting.

If you’re curious to know why the OAIC asks agencies to track some
statistics but not others, I’d suggest you email the OAIC and ask them. If
you’re curious to know why the OAIC asks us to lodge some kinds of
extensions with them, but not others, I’d suggest you ask them this too.
I’m sure they’d be happy to explain it to you. We are entirely guided by
them – if they want us to report on something, we’ll start tracking it.

You could also read the OAIC’s annual reports for further background
information around the FOI statistics. The OAIC always elaborates on the
key trends they observe in FOI performance statistics each financial year,
and they have made occasional comments about the performance of the NDIA’s
FOI team.

If you have any questions about either this FOI matter or about FOI
performance reporting at the NDIA, please send me an email via
[3][NDIA request email].

Your rights to lodge a complaint or seek a review are attached.

Kind regards

Laura LDP633

Assistant Director

Complaints Management & FOI Branch

General Counsel Division

National Disability Insurance Agency

E [4][NDIA request email]  

[5]NDIA logo

[6]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.

[7]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic

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Hi Bob

We have classified this as a partial release. We provided you with some of
the information you requested in full via a link, but we refused the parts
of your request where structured data does not exist according to the
parameters that you specified.

The NDIA’s FOI team saves records of all actions taken to progress
individual FOI matters. The team uses these records to monitor performance
for individual cases. For example, we save a timestamped copy of each FOI
request and a timestamped copy of each acknowledgement letter. By looking
at these 2 records, it is possible to manually calculate whether the
acknowledgement letter was sent within 14 days for each individual matter.
However, this information is not stored in the form of structured data.
The same is true for the other pieces of information you wanted to access.
I hope this clarifies things for you.

The OAIC tells agencies what aspects of the FOI legislation must be
reported on in a structured data format. They have created this guide that
explains their reporting requirements: [1]FOIstats guide (external). If
you have any questions about OAIC’s reporting guide, I suggest that you
contact them directly.

Kind regards

Laura

Assistant Director

Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch

Reviews and Information Release 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

show quoted sections