Our reference: FOI 24/25-2252 (LEXD 875)
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
ndis.gov.au
25 July 2025
Hannah
Right to Know
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Hannah
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 14 June 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
“Specifical y, I seek access to:
1. Al correspondence between the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
and the NDIA from 1 January 2022 to the date of this request. This includes letters,
emails, submissions, meeting minutes, and policy consultation responses.
2. Any internal NDIA documents, summaries, or briefing notes referencing AASW
advocacy, feedback, or recommendations regarding the role, recognition, or
classification of social workers under the NDIS.
This includes input or discussion relating to:
> Use of line item 15_621_0128_1_3 under therapy supports
> Social workers as allied health providers or professionals
> AASW involvement in shaping the NDIS Supported Decision Making Policy,
Safeguarding Policy, or Practice Standards
> Consultation about scope of social work practice, registration groups, or exclusion /
inclusion from therapy funding categories
This request is made in the public interest to understand how professional advice
from the AASW is being incorporated into NDIA policies that affect participant access
to social work supports.”
Practical refusal
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
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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 size and 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 and the scope is voluminous. We are also unable to search for ‘AASW Advocacy’ or
any of the subsections under part 2 of your request.
At a conservative estimate, this would take an FOI officer more than 30 hours to simply
search and review the documents.
The documents that are assessed as being within scope of the request wil then need to be
reviewed for any sensitivities and possible exemption under the FOI Act and scheduled, we
wil need to consider any consultations and carry these out if required, a decision wil need to
be made on each document, and a decision letter prepared. This wil significantly increase
the hours that it wil 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 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:
• Changing the timeframe of the request to 1 January 2025 to the date of the request.
• Request correspondence from NDIA to AASW and provide an email address that
correspondence to AASW would be sent to.
• Clarify the topic which would be covered in these emails.
• Exclude meeting minutes and policy consultation responses.
• Remove reference to internal documents.
• Remove sub sections under point 2.
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.
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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.
Please note that the time taken to consult with you regarding the scope of your request is not
taken into account for the purposes of the timeframe for processing your request.
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
If you do not contact me within this period, that is by 8 August 2025, your FOI request wil be
taken to have been withdrawn under subsection 24AB(7) and wil not be dealt with any
further.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Heather (UFG97)
Senior Freedom of Information Officer
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
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