Our reference: IR 23/24-019
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
4 December 2023
ndis.gov.au
Emily Lacey
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Emily Lacey
Freedom of Information request — Notification of Decision
Thank you for your correspondence of 3 November 2023, in which you requested an internal
review of the Original Decision made by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA)
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) in relation to the request set out in
Attachment A (FOI 23/24-0416).
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for internal review.
Your FOI request
On 10 October 2023, you requested access to documents set out in
Attachment A. In this
request you asked for four documents. The NDIA’s decision, made on 3 November 2023,
provided you with links to websites where the information you requested is publicly available
and a copy of the
Practice Guide – Understanding Therapy Supports. These were identified
as relevant to your request. This decision was informed by consultation with NDIA’s Service
Guidance and Practice branch.
Grounds for review
On 3 November 2023, you requested an internal review as per your email set out in
Attachment B.
Reasons for review
In your application for internal review, you state that the original decision-maker has not
provided the requested or most recent versions of the documents requested.
On that basis, I have treated your request for internal review to relate to the adequacy and
currency of the documents provided.
Decision on internal review
I am authorised to make decisions under the FOI Act, including internal review decisions under
section 54C of that Act. As an internal review officer, I am not bound in any way by the original
decision and am required to make a fresh decision.
I will address each of the points in your Internal Review request separately.
1. You have advised that the link provided for the
Practice Guide – Determine
Reasonable and Necessary Supports was not the most recent version of the
document. I confirm that while the link provided in the original request did provide
information on reasonable and necessary support, it did not take you direct to the
document you requested. I therefore
vary the original decision to provide a more
directly link to the document requested - Reasonable and necessary supports | NDIS.
This document is dated 6 October 2023.
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2. You have advised that the document
Practice Guide – Disability-Related Health
Supports was not provided. I confirm that while the link provided in the original decision
did provide information on Disability-Related Health Supports, it did not take you
directly to the document you requested. I therefore
vary the original decision to provide
a more direct link to the document requested - Disability-related health supports |
NDIS.
2b. You have also requested the additional documents as part of your review, these being:
• Practice Guide - Continence Supports
• Practice Guide - Diabetic Management Supports
• Practice Guide - Dysphagia Supports
• Practice Guide - Epilepsy Supports
• Practice Guide - Nutrition Supports
• Practice Guide - Podiatry and Foot Care Supports
• Practice Guide - Respiratory Supports
• Practice Guide - Wound and Pressure Care Supports
I confirm that links to each of these documents, except
Practice Guide – Respiratory
Supports, was provided in the original decision.
I have consulted with the NDIA’s Service Guidance and Practice branch regarding the
document titled
Practice Guide – Respiratory Supports. This document is now out of
date and not listed in the current version of the document title
Practice Guide -
Disability-Related Health Supports. It is thus not within the scope of your original
request.
I therefore
affirm the original decision on this point.
3. You advise that you were not provided with the Standard Operating Procedure
documents related to both
Disability-Related Health Supports and
Therapy Supports.
I confirm that links were provided in the original decision from the current
Disability-
Related Health Supports document dated 29 September 2023. I therefore
affirm the
original decision on this point.
4. You have advised that you believe the response to your request for the document
Practice Guide-Understanding Therapy Supports is inadequate as it was previously
released in a separate Freedom of Information released as listed on the NDIA
disclosure log. I confirm that regardless of the fact that this document had been
provided in a different FOI request, it is the requested document. I therefore
affirm the
original decision on this point.
Rights of review
Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at
Attachment C.
Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me
by email at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Emma Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Parliamentary, Ministerial & FOI Branch
Government Division
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Attachment A
Original request sent on 10 October 2023
“I am requesting access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), to the
following documents as referred to in “Practice Guide - Determine Reasonable and
Necessary Supports” —
1. “Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports” 2. “Practice Guide - Understanding Therapy Supports”
And additionally —
3. The “Standard Operating Procedure” documents related to “Disability-Related Health
Supports” and “Therapy Supports”
4. If "V25.0 (updated 2021-01-13)" of "Practice Guide - Determine Reasonable and
Necessary Supports" is not the most recent version of this document currently in use, I also
request access to the most current version of
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Attachment B
Internal Review request received 3 November 2023
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, Practice Guide
Understanding Therapy Supports, and related Standard Operating Procedure documents'.
I can only assume that your response to my request is a desperate attempt to meet the
legally mandated deadlines for freedom of information requests without actual y releasing
any new documents, because you certainly have not provided the documents I have very
clearly requested.
Response 1). You have not provided the most recent version of the document titled "Practice
Guide - Determine Reasonable and Necessary Supports" as requested (Point 4 of my FOI),
and have instead provided a link to the publicly available "Understanding the NDIS -
Supports funded by the NDIS - Reasonable and necessary supports" webpage. I don't know
how I could have been more clear in my request. I provided you with the documents title
AND the version number of the copy I already have in order to confirm whether it was the
most recent. Since making my request, I have discovered version 26.0 of this document,
which was uploaded as a part of the disability royal commission and can be found at this
link:
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisability.royalcommis
sion.gov.au%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fexhibit%2FCTD.8000.0010.1004.pdf&data=05%7C01%
7Cfoi%40ndis.gov.au%7C806e2f64055f4c08d7d208dbdc27612f%7Ccd778b65752d454a87c
fb9990fe58993%7C1%7C0%7C638345834089033958%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8e
yJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%
7C%7C%7C&sdata=uGSAyu1VEG5G9PGB9RfOBCpExD41id4JMx%2BSNL%2BcgFY%3D
&reserved=0 . This clearly demonstrates that V25.0 is NOT the most recent, and you should
have provided V26.0 (or higher) in your decision. Instead you appear to be pretending the
document doesn't even exist. Please provide the correct and most recent document titled
"Practice Guide - Determine Reasonable and Necessary Supports".
Response 2). You have not provided the document titled "Practice Guide - Disability-Related
Health Supports" as requested (Point 1 of my FOI), and have instead provided a link to the
publicly available "Understanding the NDIS - Supports funded by the NDIS - Disability-
related health supports" webpage. This is not what was requested. The document I
requested titled "Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports" is linked on page 24
under section "16.2 Disability-Related Health Supports" of the Practice Guide "V26.0 2021-
01-25 Determine Reasonable and Necessary Supports" (see previous link). Please provide
a copy of that document, titled "Practice Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports", which
is linked on page 24.
Response 2b). Considering the deliberate lack of transparency in providing the "Practice
Guide - Disability-Related Health Supports" as requested, I would now additionally like to
request the other documents that have been listed and linked under "16.2 Disability-Related
Health Supports" in order to be sure that no relevant documents have been excluded from
my request. Quote from "V26.0 2021-01-25 Determine Reasonable and Necessary
Supports", page 24-25:
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"For further information about specific disability related health supports refer to the relevant
practice
guidance:
• Practice Guide - Continence Supports
• Practice Guide - Diabetic Management Supports
• Practice Guide - Dysphagia Supports
• Practice Guide - Epilepsy Supports
• Practice Guide - Nutrition Supports
• Practice Guide - Podiatry and Foot Care Supports
• Practice Guide - Respiratory Supports
• Practice Guide - Wound and Pressure Care Supports"
Response 3). I also requested the Standard Operating Procedure documents related to both
“Disability-Related Health Supports” and “Therapy Supports” (Point 1 of my FOI), and you
provided links to a number of topics under the publicly available "Our Guidelines - Supports
you can access" webpage. I did not request any Our Guidelines documents, I requested the
Standard Operating Procedures. You should be able to easily identify these documents in
your internal system, as they wil contain "Standard Operating Procedure" or "SOP" in the
name/title of the document. One such example may be the "Standard Operating Procedure -
Determine Reasonable and Necessary Supports" document which is linked on page 28 of
"V26.0 2021-01-25 Determine Reasonable and Necessary Supports" (see previous link).
Please provide all Standard Operating Procedures which mention or relate to the provision
of “Disability-Related Health Supports” and “Therapy Supports”.
Response 4).The only document you have provided correctly from my request is "Practice
Guide - Understanding Therapy Supports", which I now realise based on the red text
marking the documents pages, was already released (FOI 22/23-0633) and listed on your
disclosure log on the 12/05/2023. Frankly, this only adds to the obvious conclusion that your
inadequate response to my request was an attempt to not release any NEW documents, but
only provide access to publicly available information and documents which have ALREADY
been processed and determined acceptable for public release via FOI. I think this is quite
disgraceful and shows a disregard for your responsibility as a public authority under the FOI
Act.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this
address:
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.righttoknow.org.
au%2Frequest%2Fpractice guide disability relate&data=05%7C01%7Cfoi%40ndis.gov.au
%7C806e2f64055f4c08d7d208dbdc27612f%7Ccd778b65752d454a87cfb9990fe58993%7C
1%7C0%7C638345834089033958%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwM
DAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata
=ZyPxAErzO2129GXvWyE%2FBZo3xFdsTRB0YRM1NbYhfh4%3D&reserved=0
Please provide the documents I have requested, correctly and in full.
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Kind regards,
Emily Lacey
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Attachment C
Your rights of review
External Review by the Australian Information Commissioner
Section 54L of the FOI Act gives you the right to apply directly to the Australian Information
Commissioner (AIC) to seek a review of this decision.
If you wish to have the decision reviewed by the OAIC you must apply for the review, in
writing or by using the online merits review form available on the AIC’s website at
www.oaic.gov.au, within 60 days of receipt of this letter.
To assist the OAIC your application should include a copy of this decision and your contact
details. You should also clearly set out why you are objecting to the decision.
You can also complain to the OAIC about how an agency handled an FOI request, or other
actions the agency took under the FOI Act.
Applications for review or complaints can be lodged with the OAIC in the following ways:
Online: www.oaic.gov.au
Post:
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax:
+61 2 9284 9666
Email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
The OAIC can also be contacted on
1300 363 992.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman
You can complain to the Commonwealth Ombudsman concerning action taken by an agency
in the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act.
A complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman may be made orally or in writing. The
Ombudsman may be contacted for the cost of a local call from anywhere in Australia on
telephone
1300 362 072.
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