FOI 24.25 1232 MR25.00938 s55G Revised Decision Notice of Decision.pdf

Our reference: FOI 24/25-1232
OAIC reference: MR25/00938
GPO Box 700
Canberra   ACT   2601
1800 800 110
23 June 2025
ndis.gov.au

David Wright

By email:  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx

Dear David Wright
Your Freedom of Information request — revised decision under section 55G of the
Freedom of Information Act
On 24 January 2025 you requested access to documents held by the National Disability
Insurance Agency (NDIA), under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
Specifically, you requested access to the following:
“…the following information for all AAT/ART matters to which the NDIA was a
Respondent, for the six months from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024:
1. For all AAT/ART matters that went to hearing, the overall average number of days
that a matter was at hearing, and the overall average daily cost per matter incurred
by the NDIA in participating in those hearings (being the cost of hearing days only).
2. For all AAT/ART matters, including those matters that did not go to hearing, the
average total monthly cost per matter incurred by the agency in being a Respondent
in these AAT/ART matters.
When providing the costs, please include all of the following costs:
1) All legal costs (both internal agency legal costs, and the costs of engaging external
law services).
2) All costs of engaging expert witnesses (including both those engaged directly by
the agency, and those engaged by external law firms that the agency has engaged).
3) Transcription services.
4) Any other costs incurred by the agency (either directly, or indirectly through
external law services) in responding to these matters.”

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On 17 April 2025 you were notified of our decision (original decision) in relation to your
request. That decision granted you access to 1 document in full. I note this document was
created pursuant to section 17(1)(c)(i) of the FOI Act.
On 3 June 2025 the NDIA received notice from the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) that you had sought review from the Information Commissioner (IC) of
our original decision. We understand you sought this review on the basis that you believe the
information provided did not answer your original request. Specifically, you noted:
“The agency only provided some of the requested information to me. The decision
document provides a breakdown of the average external spend per matter only for
the second part of my request, but it has not provided the corresponding information
breakdown that I requested in relation to the first part of my request.”
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a revised decision on your request.
Revised Decision
I am authorised to make decisions under the FOI Act, including varied decisions under
section 55G of that Act.
As a result of your above submission to the IC, I conducted additional search consults with
our Legal Operations branch for the information you are seeking. As a result of those
searches, and in accordance with section 55G(1)(a) of the FOI Act, I have decided to vary
the original decision as I have identified additional information relevant to the scope of your
request.
As noted in our original decision, section 17(1)(c)(i) of the FOI Act provides that, in
circumstances where an agency does not hold a document containing the information
sought in a discrete form, an agency can produce a written document containing the
requested information. We have again been able to produce a document containing the
information you requested.
I have decided to grant access to this document in full.
In reaching my decision, I took the following into account:
•  the original request
•  the nature and content of the documents falling within the scope of the request
•  the original decision
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•  the notice of IC review
•  the FOI Act
•  the FOI Guidelines published under section 93A of the FOI Act
•  consultation with relevant NDIA staff.
Please note, in relation to Part 2 of your request, the document released to you in our
original decision contained data received from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. The
document we are releasing to you in this revised decision contains the data from the period
you originally requested, 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024.

Release of documents
The document for release, as referred to in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A, is
enclosed. Please note I have only included the document considered within this varied
decision. That is, the document previously released to you in our original decision has not
been included.
In accordance with section 55G(2) of the FOI Act, I will be providing the IC with a copy of this
varied decision.
If you determine that you are satisfied with this varied decision and do not require this
decision to be reviewed further by the IC, please let the Agency and the OAIC know.
Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me
by email at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,

Elizabeth (EFH599)
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
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Attachment A

Schedule of Documents for FOI 24/25-1232 | MR25/00938

Documen
Page
Description
Access Decision
t number
number
Document created under section 17 of the FOI Act
FULL ACCESS
1
1

Date range: 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024
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