External review of NDIA FOI 24/25-1403, FOI 24/25-1404, FOI 24/25-1405 and FOI 24/25-1406
Dear Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I hereby request an external review from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) of the NDIA's response to my FOI requests 24/25-1403, FOI 24/25-1404, FOI 24/25-1405 and FOI 24/25-1406.
These four separate requests were reviewed collectively by the NDIA and responded to in a single Internal Review Notice of Decision - available here https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/i...
I dispute the reasons given in the Notice, on the following grounds:
1) At page 3 of the Notice, it is stated 'the NDIA is not in possession of a document/s that would contain information matching the scope of your request.' This is directly contradicted by the subsequent statements in the Notice, that this information is contained in invoices held by the agency (page 4), as well as 'documents, invoices, emails and file notes' (page 5). It is also contradicted by earlier responses to me by the NDIA FOI team, which I cited in my request for internal review and can be viewed via the link above.
2) Page 5 of the Notice states that the process of extracting the information would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the Agency. Key to this is the NDIA's claim that 'while we acknowledge your request for consultation with the potential to narrow the scopes by a particular date range ... Staff would still need to manually search all documents, invoices, emails, and file notes within LEX for internal engagement.' However, page 4 of the Notice also clearly states that LEX is searchable 'by small sections and small date ranges'. Logically, reducing the scope of my request by a particular date range would result in a reduction in the resources needed to conduct the search, because the LEX database would only need to be searched by that date range, and would therefore produce fewer documents to review.
If there is a date range threshold under which a search would not be considered a substantial and unreasonable diversion of resources, I would be happy to limit the scope of my request to that date range. However, the Agency has refused to discuss this with me, and has instead provided a blanket refusal.
I therefore leave it to the OAIC to make this determination.
Yours faithfully,
David Wright
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Kind regards
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
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Our reference numbers: MR25/00879 (relates to FOI 24/25-1403), MR25/00882 (relates to FOI 24/25-1404), MR25/00883 (relates to FOI 24/25-1405), MR25/00884 (relates to FOI 24/25-1406)
By email: [FOI #13142 email]
Receipt of your IC review applications
Thank you for your application for Information Commissioner Review (IC review).
Noting that the Agency's internal review decision relates to decisions on four different FOI requests the OAIC has registered four IC review applications, one for each of your original FOI requests.
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Yours sincerely,
Alex
Intake and Eligibility Branch
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
P: 1300 363 992
W: Enquiry form
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people, cultures and Elders past and present.
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Our reference: MR25/00882, MR25/00883, MR25/00884, MR25/00879
Agency reference: FOI 24/25-1404, FOI 24/25-1405, FOI 24/25-1406, FOI
24/25-1403
David Wright
National Disability Insurance Agency
By email: [1][FOI #13142 email]
Copied to [2][email address]
Recommendation not to undertake an Information Commissioner review under s
54W(a)(i) of the FOI Act
Dear David,
Please find attached correspondence in relation to this Information
Commissioner review.
If you disagree with this proposed recommendation, please write to us by
7 July 2025 and advise us of your reasons.
If you require assistance regarding this email, please contact us at
[3][email address].
Please quote the reference MR25/00882, MR25/00883, MR25/00884, MR25/00879
in all correspondence.
Please note, the Agency is copied into this correspondence for their
record and reference. The Information Commissioner does not require the
Agency to resolve or narrow the issues in dispute in the IC review at this
time.
Kind regards,
[4][IMG] Alex Millar (she/her)
Assistant Review Advisor
FOI Case Management Branch
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney
P 1300 363 992 E [5][email address]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[6]Subscribe to Information Matters
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Dear Mr Miller
I refer to your Intention to recommend that an Information Commissioner review not be undertaken under s 54W(a)(i) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Your letter simply repeats the reasons given by the agency in its Internal Review Notice of Decision, which were that:
1) all reasonable steps have been taken to locate documents matching the scope of your requests and that a discrete document containing the information you are seeking does not exist.
2) it would take more than 100 hours to process all 4 of the requests.
3) narrowing the scope of the request by date would not eliminate the need to manually search all documents, invoices, emails, and file notes within LEX for internal engagements which gives rise to the substantial and unreasonable diversion of the resources of the Agency in accordance with section 17(2).
The letter does not address any of the points made in my submission of 9 May 2025, made in response to the agency’s Notice, which were:
1) At page 3 of the agency’s Notice, it is stated 'the NDIA is not in possession of a document/s that would contain information matching the scope of your request.' This is directly contradicted by the subsequent statements in the Notice, that this information is contained in invoices held by the agency (page 4), as well as 'documents, invoices, emails and file notes' (page 5). It is also contradicted by earlier responses to me by the NDIA FOI team, which I cited in my request for internal review and can be viewed via the link above.
2) Page 5 of the Notice states that the process of extracting the information would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the Agency. Key to this is the NDIA's claim that 'while we acknowledge your request for consultation with the potential to narrow the scopes by a particular date range ... Staff would still need to manually search all documents, invoices, emails, and file notes within LEX for internal engagement.' However, page 4 of the Notice also clearly states that LEX is searchable 'by small sections and small date ranges'.
Logically, reducing the scope of my request by a particular date range would result in a reduction in the resources needed to conduct the search, because the LEX database would only need to be searched by that date range, and would therefore produce fewer documents to review.
I also advised in my submission that if there is a date range threshold under which a search would not be considered a substantial and unreasonable diversion of resources, I would be happy to limit the scope of my request to that date range.
Given point 2 made in my submission above, I simply do not accept the conclusion that narrowing the scope of my request is not a viable option. To put it in very simple terms, if hypothetically I limited my request to a one month timeframe, it is simply not credible for the agency to claim that searching LEX within this timeframe, and then reviewing documents based on this search, would represent a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the resources. The key question therefore is what timeframe is appropriate.
Please review your decision, taking into account the points I have made above.
Kind regards,
David
Our reference: MR25/00882, MR25/00883, MR25/00884, MR25/00879
Agency reference: FOI 24/25-1404, FOI 24/25-1405, FOI 24/25-1406, FOI
24/25-1403
David Wright
By email: [1][FOI #13142 email]
FOI Contact Officer
National Disability Insurance Agency
By email: [2][email address]
Finalisation of Information Commissioner review application under s
54W(a)(i) of the FOI Act
Dear Parties,
Please find attached a decision finalising this Information Commissioner
review under s 54W(a)(i) of the FOI Act.
I confirm our files are now closed.
Kind regards,
[3][IMG] Alex Millar (she/her)
Assistant Review Advisor
FOI Case Management Branch
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney
P 1300 363 992 E [4][email address]
The OAIC acknowledges Traditional Custodians of Country across
Australia and their continuing connection to land, waters and
communities. We pay our respect to First Nations people,
cultures and Elders past and present.
[5]Subscribe to Information Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
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2. mailto:[email address]
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4. mailto:[email address]
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