Our reference: FOI 24/25-1233
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
ndis.gov.au
19 June 2025
David Wright
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear David Wright
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 24 January 2025 in which you requested 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 following documents:
“all documents relating to the updating of any NDIA policies and guidelines relating to
early intervention services for children on the autism spectrum, arising from this
consultation process. Including draft/final copies of the policies and guidelines
themselves, and any internal agency correspondence about this updating process”
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 broad scope. 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 request. 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
I have 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 more than 130 individual
documents matching the scope of your request, not including any attachments which may be
contained within those documents.
On my reasonable estimate, I consider that there is more than 2 200 pages worth of material
that falls within the scope of your request as currently worded, not including emails and
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attachments. At a conservative estimate of 1 minute per page, this would take an FOI officer
more than 36 hours to simply review and collate the documents.
The documents that are assessed as being within scope of the request will then need to be
reviewed for any sensitivities and possible exemption under the FOI Act and scheduled, we
will need to consider any consultations and carry these out if required, a decision will need to
be made on each document, and a decision letter prepared. This will significantly increase
the hours that it will 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
substantially 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 will be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive
resources to process documents you are not interested in.
To help with reducing the scope of your request, please see below details provided by the
business area regarding documents located:
Operational Guideline Drafts (approx. 50 at 30 pages each)
Knowledge Article Drafts (approx. 30 at 5 pages each)
Practice Guidance (approx. 30 at 20 pages each)
Papers/Approval docs (approx. 20 pages)
Emails (unknown how many)
Zip Files (The business area has been unable to provide any information on what is
contained in these folders)
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 will recommence processing it.
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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If you do not contact me within this period, that is by
3 July 2025 I will provide you with a
decision based on the current scope.
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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