Our reference:
[LEXD 1341] FOI 25/26-0063
[LEXD 1345] FOI 25/26-0064
[LEXD 1352] FOI 25/26-0065
[LEXD 1362] FOI 25/26-0066
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
ndis.gov.au
4 December 2025
David Wright
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Dear David Wright
Freedom of Information request — Notice of Decision
Thank you for your correspondence of 8 July 2025
(your correspondence), seeking access
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National
Disability Insurance Agency
(NDIA).
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request.
Scope of your request
On 6 August 2025 you were issued with a request for consultation notice pursuant to section
24AB of the FOI Act, in this notice you were advised that four of your requests had been
grouped together, as they all related to the same subject matter.
The scopes of your four requests were:
[LEXD 1341] FOI 25/26-0063
‘…In several proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
(AAT)/Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), the NDIA has engaged Michael
Sandbank to act as an Independent Medical Expert (IME)/Independent Expert
Clinician (ICE). Usually this is to prepare an Independent Medical Examination/report
for the proceeding, and also sometimes to appear as an expert witness at a hearing.
I request all entries contained in the NDIA’s LEX database which reference
‘Sandbank’.
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Please provide me with a complete record of all such LEX database entries,
containing all entered fields, in Microsoft Excel format.
[LEXD 1345] FOI 25/26-0064
‘…In several proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
(AAT)/Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), the NDIA has engaged David Pincus to
act as an Independent Medical Expert (IME)/Independent Expert Clinician (ICE).
Usually this is to prepare an Independent Medical Examination/report for the
proceeding, and also sometimes to appear as an expert witness at a hearing.
I request all entries contained in the NDIA’s LEX database which reference ‘Pincus’.
Please provide me with a complete record of all such LEX database entries,
containing all entered fields, in Microsoft Excel format.
[LEXD 1352] FOI 25/26-0065
‘…In several proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
(AAT)/Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), the NDIA has engaged Kenneth
Maclean to act as an Independent Medical Expert (IME)/Independent Expert Clinician
(ICE). Usually this is to prepare an Independent Medical Examination/report for the
proceeding, and also sometimes to appear as an expert witness at a hearing.
I request all entries contained in the NDIA’s LEX database which reference
‘Maclean’.
Please provide me with a complete record of all such LEX database entries,
containing all entered fields, in Microsoft Excel format.
[LEXD 1362] FOI 25/26-0066
“…In several proceedings before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
(AAT)/Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), the NDIA has engaged Michael
McDowell to act as an Independent Medical Expert (IME)/Independent Expert
Clinician (ICE). Usually this is to prepare an Independent Medical Examination/report
for the proceeding, and also sometimes to appear as an expert witness at a hearing.
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I request all entries contained in the NDIA's LEX database which reference
'McDowell'.
Please provide me with a complete record of all such LEX database entries,
containing all entered fields, in Microsoft Excel format.”
Processing Timeframes
The FOI Act provides 30 calendar days for the processing of an FOI request after it is
received. As your valid FOI requests were received on 8 July 2025, the original due date for
your requests was 13 August 2025.
As we were unable to provide you with a decision on your request by the legislated due date,
your application is regarded as a deemed refusal under section 15AC of the FOI Act.
Despite this, I have continued to process your application. I apologise for the delay and
confirm that you retain your right to seek external review of this decision. Details are set out
in
Attachment A to this letter.
Request for Consultation – 24AB | Searches Conducted
On 6 August 2025 you were issued with a request for consultation notice pursuant to section
24AB of the FOI Act. During this process it was explained that consultation with the relevant
business area had occurred, and that depending on interpretation, your request was both not
clear and/or too broad.
We explained that the NDIA operates multiple LEX systems, and that each of these systems
are designed for use by different teams within the NDIA. You responded to this part of the
notice stating that your request would be for any LEX system that is used for Administrative
Appeals Tribunal (AAT) or Administrative Reviews Tribunal (ART) matters. I accept that this
is the reasonable interpretation of your request and therefore have limited any future
searches to this system.
It was also explained that LEX is not a “database”, it is a matter management software that
contains numerous linked documents, records and notes in the form of emails, attachments,
file notes, references to legislative acts, staff reminders, timesheet entries, invoices, and
more. And that as such, the keywords you have supplied would likely encompass hundreds
or thousands of documents.
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Additionally, the matters within this LEX system relate to cases previously or currently with
the AAT/ART and would contain sensitive participant information that you do not have
authority to receive.
You responded to this notice on 12 August 2025, that your assumption of LEX was that it’s a
database containing forms with standard field entries, which NDIA staff can fill and submit to
produce records, and that your request was only limited to those entries. You requested that
a search be performed, and we advise you the number of hits received when running the
keywords through the relevant LEX system.
As such we returned to the ART Operations (formerly Legal Operations) Team to conduct
this search.
ART Operations advised us that it does not have a function to search for experts engaged by
the Agency, but that a search can be performed on free text fields using the search terms
provided.
The results of these searches showed:
Pincus – 0 returns
Maclean – 2 returns
Sandbank – 0 returns
McDowell – 1 return
However, it was determined that the information was Individual NDIA Participant Details,
was subject to privacy and therefore did not relate to your request.
Decision
I am the authorised officer pursuant to section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make a decision on
this FOI request.
I have decided to refuse access to the information you have requested pursuant to 24 of the
FOI Act, on the basis that the work involved in processing your request would substantially
and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its usual operations.
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As explained above, we have been advised by ART operations that it does not have a
function to search for experts engaged by the agency, and the results returned using the
limited search function the system has returned three results, all not relating to your request.
I am satisfied that it would be likely that documents that reference the names you have
provided exist, but that we do not have an efficient way to search for these documents within
the LEX system.
As such, I am satisfied that we are unable to conduct the search you have requested within
the LEX system, and the only way we could conduct the search would be by manually
searching every record within LEX. This would require hundreds of hours and involve review
of thousands of AAT/ART matters.
Rights of review
Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at
Attachment A.
Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me
by email
at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Patrick (PHO293) A/g Assistant Director – Information Access
Information Access and Privacy Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
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ATTACHMENT A
Your review rights
As this matter was a deemed refusal, internal review of this decision is not an option.
However, if you have concern with any aspect of this decision, please contact the NDIA FOI
team by emai
l xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or by post:
Freedom of Information Section
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
The FOI Act gives you the right to apply to the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) to seek a review of this decision.
If you wish to have the decision reviewed by the OAIC, you may apply for the review, in
writing, or by using the online merits review form available on the OAIC’s website at
www.oaic.gov.au, within 60 days of receipt of this letter.
Applications for review can be lodged with the OAIC in the following ways:
Onli
ne: www.oaic.gov.au Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge)
Complaints to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the
Commonwealth Ombudsman
You may complain to either the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the OAIC about actions
taken by the NDIA in relation to your request. The Ombudsman will consult with the OAIC
before investigating a complaint about the handling of an FOI request.
Your complaint to the OAIC can be directed to the contact details identified above. Your
complaint to the Ombudsman can be directed to:
Phone: 1300 362 072 (local call charge)
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx Your complaint should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered
that the actions taken in relation to the request should be investigated.
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