Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I am requesting access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), to the following documents:

1. ‘Practice Guide – Disability-Related Health Supports’
(internal link: https://intranet.ndiastaff.ndia.gov.au/s... )

2. ‘Standard Operating Procedure – Include Disability-Related Health Supports in a Plan’
(internal link: https://intranet.ndiastaff.ndia.gov.au/s... )

3. If the documents I have named are no longer in use, please provide the last version of the document that was in use AND the new different document which supersedes it.

FURTHER INFORMATION TO CLARIFY AND AID YOUR SEARCH:

These document titles and links were obtained from the document titled ‘Standard Operating Procedure - Guided Planning Questions’ (V4.0 2020-07-30) which was uploaded to the Disability Royal Commission’s document library at this link: https://disability.royalcommission.gov.a...

I assume these links were mistakenly left active when the document was provided to the royal commission and submitted into evidence. I am obviously unable to view the documents found at these internal links myself as I do not have a staff login. If for whatever reason the links I have copied and supplied to you in this FOI are now non-functional, please refer back to your own copy of the SOP mentioned for the current direct link to the documents I am requesting.

I am also explicitly asking that you please, do not waste my time AND your own by providing me with a link to another publicly available NDIS webpage or the Our Guidelines as the decision documents for this request. I know how to use google, if that was what I was asking for I would already have found it. It is driving me a little mad that this has been your response to my previous requests more than once now (if you would like an example, see FOI 23/24-0416 and IR 23/24-019). I have provided you with the EXACT TITLES AND LINKS to two INTERNAL DOCUMENTS and that is what I expect to receive in your decision, you should have no difficulty locating what I am asking for.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Kind regards, 

Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I haven't received a response to my request that was sent on the 8th of December 2023 (38 days ago). My request is straight forward and very clear, so I think it's reasonable for me to have expected a response from you within the legislated 30 days. If you could let me know what's up, it would be greatly appreciated.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Looking forward to your reply with the documents I have requested!

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I haven't received a response to my request that was sent on the 8th of December 2023 (48 days ago). My request is straight forward and very clear, so I think it's reasonable for me to have expected a response from you within the legislated 30 days. If you require an extension to complete your duty, please formally request one.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Please respond.

Kind regards, 

Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I haven't received a response to my request that was sent on the 8th of December 2023 (59 days ago). My request is straight forward and very clear, so I think it's reasonable for me to have expected a response from you within the legislated 30 days. If you require an extension to complete your duty, please formally request one.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Please respond.

Kind regards, 

Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I haven't received a response to my request that was sent on the 8th of December 2023 (66 days ago). If you require an extension to complete your duty, please formally request one.

I understand you have a high volume of requests, but it’s still your legal responsibility to meet the requirements set out by the FOI Act. Additionally, I really don’t think my request could be any more clearcut and straight forward than what I have provided you with to locate the documents I have requested. If you can tell me an expected date of completion, I can leave you to get on with your work and stop bothering you with regular follow up emails. Truly a win for everyone.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Please respond.

Kind regards, 

Emily Lacey

Dear Nick,

Thanks for your response, I really appreciate the update. I’ll check back in again during the last week of Feb if I haven’t heard anything by then.

I hope you have a good week :)

Cheers,
Emily Lacey

Hi Nick,

As discussed, just checking in to see if you have a progress update on my request, now that it’s past the 23rd of Feb?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Many thanks,
Emily Lacey

Dear Nick,

Thank you for your response.

It appears that you haven’t included all three points of my FOI request in the scope of the request, only the first two points. The following point was missing from your decision notice:

“3. If the documents I have named are no longer in use, please provide the last version of the document that was in use AND the new different document which supersedes it”

Due to it’s omission, you have not provided me with the document “Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports”, and instead only included the document which has replaced it as decision document 2, “Our Guideline disability-related health supports”.

I ask that you please correct this mistake by including point 3 in the scope of the request, as per my original email, and subsequently provide the final version of “Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports”, before the new “Our Guideline” document replaced it.

Please acknowledge that you have received this email and are considering this amendment.

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear Nick,

Can you please provide the section of the FOI Act which says you are unable to complete an internal review for any FOI decision made later than 30 days?

From my own reading and past experience, I understand that I am able to apply for an internal review to any decision made by the agency. It does not matter that you made that decision outside of the original legislated 30 day timeframe. The only time an internal review is not possible is when the agency provides no response at all, within or after the legislated 30 day timeframe, and it becomes a deemed refusal, in which case one couldn’t request of an internal review of decision because there is no decision to review. You made a decision, which means there is something to review, and all I have to do is request it within 30 days of receiving your decision, as per the FOI Act.

I also have not yet formally requested an internal review.

I have previously made an FOI request to the NDIA and received decision documents and a decision notice with an incorrectly defined scope, and then successfully had the original decision maker revise their scope without commencing a formal internal review. As such, I once again ask that you correct your mistake in defining the scope and provide the last “Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports” document.

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear Nick,

I am awaiting your reply please.

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear Nick,

I understand that an internal review cannot be conducted for deemed refusals. But one must directly consult the appropriate legislation in determining what that applies to. The OAIC ‘Internal Review Process’ page you are relying on and have quoted in your email refers to s 54E(b). This section reads:

“ FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 54E
Internal review--decisions to which this Part does not apply
** This Part does not apply in relation to:
**** (a) a decision on internal review; or
**** (b) a decision in relation to the provision of access to a document upon a request that is taken to have been made under section 15AC or 51DA.”

… and if you then follow that to s 15AC which defines the conditions under which a deemed refusal is applied…

“ FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 15AC
Decision not made on request within time--deemed refusal
** Scope
**** (1) This section applies if:
******** (a) a request has been made to an agency or Minister; and
******** (b) the period (the initial decision period ) covered by subsection (2) has ended since the day the request was received by, or on behalf of, the agency or Minister; and
******** (c) notice of a decision on the request has not been received by the applicant.”

It is very clear that it must satisfy criteria (a), (b), AND (c) to be a deemed refusal. There is no qualifier given to 15AC(c) regarding when the decision notice is received by the applicant. Thus, my FOI 23/24-0691 is not considered to be a deemed refusal because I have received a decision notice from the agency.

Thank you for your offer to urgently process a new request on this matter. I see that submitting a new request may be the fastest or easiest way to receive the document you omitted, but as a matter of principle I cannot do that at this stage.

I will be submitting a formal request for an internal review of your decision.

Yours sincerely,
Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of National Disability Insurance Agency's handling of my FOI request '‘Practice Guide – Disability-Related Health Supports’ and ‘Standard Operating Procedure – Include Disability-Related Health Supports in a Plan’'.

***** SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

* I submitted an FOI request on the 8th of December 2023.

* I received a Decision Notice and 2 Decision Documents on the 28th of February 2024 (82 days after request).

* Upon reading the Decision Notice I became aware that point 3 of my request had been omitted from the scope of the request, which only included point 1 and 2. Due to point 3’s omission, I was not provided with all of the documents requested.

* On the 29th of February I responded requesting that the scope be corrected and for me to be issued a copy the missing document. I was hoping this could be achieved without formal review as it was such a clear mistake.

* FOI Officer Nickolas did not correct his omission, and additionally, he informed me that he had misinformed me about my review rights and that due to the decision being made outside of the initial 30 day processing period it was ineligible for internal review.

* I sent two emails, on the 1st and 6th of March requesting clarification on the legislation surrounding his interpretation and decision to deny my ability for internal review, as I did not understand him to be correct.

* I received a response on the 7th of March from FOI Officer Nickolas reaffirming that my request was ineligible for internal review and quoted OAIC’s Internal Review Process page. He did not provide the relevant FOI legislation as I had requested and offered no further explanation.

* FOI Officer Nickolas kindly suggested that I submit a new request for information and that he would personally process it as a matter of urgency.

* I replied on the 9th of March again explaining why I do not agree with his categorisation with this as a “deemed refusal” and additionally provided the relevant FOI legislation I believe is relevant to the issue.

* I informed FOI Officer Nickolas that I do not feel comfortable resubmitting my request as a matter of principle, and that I would be submitting a formal request for internal review of the decision.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

***** REQUEST FOR INTERNAL REVIEW OF DECISION FOI 23/24-0691:

My original request read:
“ 1. ‘Practice Guide – Disability-Related Health Supports’
(internal link: https://intranet.ndiastaff.ndia.gov.au/s...)
2. ‘Standard Operating Procedure – Include Disability-Related Health Supports in a Plan’
(internal link: https://intranet.ndiastaff.ndia.gov.au/s...)
3. If the documents I have named are no longer in use, please provide the last version of the document that was in use AND the new different document which supersedes it.”

Point 3 of my request was omitted from the defined ‘scope of request’. As such I did not receive the “Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports”. And I instead only received the document which has replaced it as decision DOCUMENT 2 (titled “Our Guideline disability-related health supports”).

I ask that you please correct this mistake by including point 3 in the scope of the request, and subsequently provide the final version of “Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports” before the new “Our Guideline” document replaced it, as per my initial request email.

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I have not received a reply or acknowledgement to my request for internal review of FOI 23/24-0691 that I sent on March 9th. Please respond.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I have not received a reply or acknowledgement to my request for internal review of FOI 23/24-0691 that I sent on March 9th. Is anyone going to let me know what happening with this request?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Kind regards,
Emily Lacey

Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

I would appreciate receiving a response to my request for internal review. If the decision has been made that my request is not eligible for internal review, I would really like to hear that from a more senior officer please. Then we can put this to rest properly. I’m finding the lack of communication to be very disappointing.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Many thanks,
Emily Lacey

Dear Misty L,

Thank you for your reply.

I would like to take you up on the offer to consider my email as a fresh request for information under the FOI Act, to receive the last internal document under the title "Practice Guide – Disability-Related Health Supports"
before being superseded by the Our Guidelines document which was provided as a part of FOI 23/24-0691.

I would also just like to formally express disappointment that my right to an internal review was denied as a result of the agency's mismanagement of my request. I know my request is not the only one that has been left to time out, and with communication from the FOI department routinely stating that you are behind on the volume of requests coming in, it appears that totally ignoring requests until they will no longer be eligible for an internal is a convenient way for you to reduce the overall workload. I sincerely hope that ensuring extensions are requested by the agency within the legisalted timeframes has been made a priority going forward.

I also can't help but find it hilariously hypocritical that I was allowed only 3 days to confirm I wanted this to be continued under a new FOI, when the agency took 66 days to even first acknowledge my request, 82 days to make a decision, and then 46 days to respond to my request for internal review.

I look forward to receiving the document I first requested 140 days ago.

A full history of my FOI request (FOI 23/24-0691) and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/p...

Yours sincerely,
Emily Lacey