Our reference: FOI 24/25-1472
16 April 2025
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
Me
ndis.gov.au
Right to Know
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Me
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 6 March 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 fol owing documents:
“…I request a copy of all documents that:
1. Contain current advice or guidance or similar on the definition of ‘permanent’ (as
used in the Act), and
2. Are not publicly available, and
3. Are not advice et al to a specific individual (for example, an email in response to a
question is not included; a reference document in Teams is, even if the reference
document is not a formal SOP).
Where a document is in scope the request is for the whole document, not just the
portion relating to impairment
I agree to the exclusion of non-SES details and applicant/participant personal
information…”
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 reviewed the scope of your request, and believe it is too broad to process in its
current form. I have consulted with the Service Design Division, Scheme Eligibility Branch
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and Frontline Capability Branch regarding the scope. Service Design have provided a
document they believe fall within the scope of your request, and Frontline Capability have
stated that they potential y hold documents.
Scheme Eligibility stated that they would hold documents, but the current scope is too broad,
stating that the terms guidance and advice are broad and the current scope would take
substantial time and resources to locate all documents.
As a result, I am of the view that the work involved in the processing of this request would
substantial y and unreasonably divert the resources of the NDIA from its other operations.
It is noted that what you are searching for may be answered in the NDIS (Becoming a
Participant) Rules here
Federal Register of Legislation - National Disability Insurance
Scheme (Becoming a Participant) Rules 2016. The rules at 5.4 to 5.7 describe
‘When is an
impairment permanent or likely to be permanent for the disability requirements’. Al guidance
material held by the Agency would likely be in reference to these rules.
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 wil be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive
resources to process documents you are not interested in.
To reduce the scope of your request, you might like to consider:
• Limiting the request to documents created during a specific timeframe
• Limit the request to only a specific area within the agency, for example Scheme Eligibility
• Provide more specifics on the types of documents you are requesting, noting that advice
and guidance are broad terms
o It was advised by Scheme Eligibility that you may wish to limit your scope to
work instructions or SOPs or specify that it’s documents that instruct staff on
how to use the definition of ‘permanent’ in the Act rather than the current
wording.
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 wil recommence processing it.
You can contact me by email
at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
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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
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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