Zack
via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Zack
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST: No. 2025/26-005
ACCESS DECISION
I refer to your request made under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on 26 October 2025, seeking access to:
…the Conflicts of Interest Disclosure(s) received by NHMRC in relation to
Australian Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder
Developer: Australasian ADHD Professionals Association
Date of Approval: 29/7/2022
as listed on
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhmrc.gov.au
%2Fguidelinesforguidelines%2Fnhmrc-approval%2Fnhmrc-approved-
guidelines&data=05%7C02%7Cfoi%40nhmrc.gov.au%7Cc7daa0ef01e8492c54f208de1416
85e6%7C402fca06dc9c412f9bf91a335a4671f7%7C0%7C0%7C638970284284520663%7C
Unknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiO
iJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C40000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SXifcV
x4tM0QUd0dye6TqeYfJcx%2BKuCWtVUJM39Wkdk%3D&reserved=0.
Time frame: 01/01/2018 to 30/7/2022
I am an officer authorised under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to
FOI requests. I have decided to refuse access to one document on the grounds that it falls within
exemptions under the FOI Act. The detail of my decision is provided below. In addition, I have
provided some information at the end of this letter about NHMRC approved guidelines and the
conflicts of interest disclosures in relation to the above
Australian Evidence-Based Clinical
Practice Guideline for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD Guideline) which may be
of interest to you.
Timeframe for processing your request
The FOI request was received by NHMRC via email on 26 October 2025. The statutory
timeframe for processing a request is 30 days, starting from the day after the day on which your
request was received.
During the processing of your request, NHMRC consulted with a third party affected by the
potential release of the documents. As noted in NHMRC’s email sent to you on 25 November
2025, as a result of the consultation, the timeframe for processing your request was extended by
30 days in accordance with subsection 15(6) of the FOI Act. The due date for a decision on your
request is therefore 29 December 2025.
Decision
In making my decision, I have had regard to the following:
• the terms of your request
• the content of the documents to which you have sought access
16 MARCUS CLARKE STREET, CANBERRA ACT 2601
GPO BOX 1421, CANBERRA ACT 2601
xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
NHMRC.GOV.AU
link to page 2 link to page 2
• advice from NHMRC officers with responsibility for the matters relating to the documents
to which you sought access
• the views of the third party consulted by NHMRC, where relevant, under section 27 and
27A of the FOI Act
• the relevant provisions of the FOI Act (accessed vi
a: www.legislation.gov.au) • the
FOI Guidelines—Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner under
s 93A of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Guidelines) (accessed via:
www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-guidance-for-
government-agencies/foi-guidelines).
NHMRC conducted a search of its relevant electronic files and email mailboxes in line with the
scope of your request. The key search terms used were ‘conflict’, ‘interest’, ‘disclosure’ and ‘COI’.
The timeframe used was 1 January 2018 to 30 July 2022, as specified in your request. NHMRC
identified one document as falling within the scope of your request – an Excel workbook which
contains the conflict of interest disclosures received by NHMRC in relation to the ADHD
Guideline
, as listed on the
NHMRC Approved Guidelines webpage.
I have decided to refuse access to this document on the grounds that it falls within exemptions
under sections 47E and 47F of the FOI Act. The document also includes some information which
goes beyond the conflict-of-interest disclosure material, and I have considered this information
to be irrelevant to the scope of your request (under section 22 of the FOI Act).
Public interest conditional exemptions – certain operations of agencies (s47E)
Subsection 47E(d) of the FOI Act conditionally exempts documents where disclosure would, or
could reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on agency activities, and in
particular on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of an agency.
Under the
National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992, NHMRC has a legislative
responsibility to raise the standard of individual and public health and foster the development of
consistent health standards in Australia. As one way to meet this obligation, NHMRC may
approve guidelines developed by other organisations that mee
t NHMRC Standards1 (known
as NHMRC approved guidelines).
NHMRC Standard 2.3. (under ‘Be transparent’) states that ‘to be transparent, guidelines will
make publicly available the declarations of interest of members of the guideline development
group’. The onus is on the guideline developer to publish this information. T
he ADHD Guideline2
(Appendix 4) states that: ‘The Conflict-of-Interest declarations for the GDG [guideline
development group] is available via request
: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx’. Further information on
the conflicts of interest for the ADHD Guideline is provided under the ‘NHMRC approved
guidelines and conflicts of interest’ heading below.
In terms of the information provided to NHMRC by the guideline developer as part of the
guideline approval process, this information is submitted on the understanding that the material
contained within will be treated as confidential and only used for the purposes of assessing the
guideline for approval. NHMRC does not collect this information with the intent of releasing it,
nor do we have consent to release it. To publicly release information that was submitted to
NHMRC on the understanding of mutual confidentially, has the potential to destroy or diminish
the credibility of NHMRC’s guideline approval program. The proper and efficient conduct of the
program relies on the guideline developer’s trust in the robustness and integrity of the process.
It also relies on the provision of comprehensive information so that NHMRC can effectively
undertake the approval process.
A lack of confidence in NHMRC processes could reasonably be expected to dissuade future
developers and their colleagues from providing detailed information that includes sensitive
personal information. Accordingly, such an impact would in my view, be contrary to the public
1 Refer the 2016 NHMRC Standards for Guidelines, available at the URL:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelinesforguidelines/standards 2 Refer
: https://adhdguideline.aadpa.com.au/
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interest in protecting the program by which decisions are made to approve high quality clinical
practice guidelines in Australia.
Public interest conditional exemption – Documents affecting personal privacy (s47F)
Under subsection 47F of the FOI Act, a document is conditionally exempt if the disclosure would
involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any person, and such disclosure
would be contrary to the public interest. This exemption is intended to protect the personal
privacy of individuals.
Under subsection 4(1) of the FOI Act and section 6 of the
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), personal
information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who
is reasonably identifiable. The Excel workbook contains individuals’ personal information,
including personal contact details, information about financial and professional/business affairs,
private health information and information about family members. This information may not
otherwise be publicly known and goes beyond what has been published on t
he ADHD
Guideline’s website.
In reviewing the Excel workbook, I consider that disclosing the personal information contained in
this document would be unreasonable. This information was provided to NHMRC for the sole
purpose of seeking approval of the ADHD Guideline, and under the expectation that it would not
be publicly disclosed. I also consider it unreasonable to disclose information that could adversely
affect the business/professional affairs and advantage of the individuals if the material is
accessed by others. In addition, I have taken into account the extent to which the disclosure
could cause stress to the persons to whom the information relates, particularly having regard to
the sensitive nature of the information included. I have determined that the release of this
personal information could affect the privacy of the individuals, particularly as the FOI Act does
not control or restrict any subsequent use or dissemination of information released.
I also consider that the disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. I have considered the
factors favouring disclosure of the information (in section 11B of the FOI Act, such as informing
debate on a matter of public importance or promoting the pro-disclosure principle in the objects
of the FOI Act), and the factors against disclosure (including whether it could reasonably be
expected to harm the personal and professional interests of the individuals). In my view, there is
no public interest in disclosing the sensitive personal details of these individuals.
Deleting exempt or irrelevant content from a document
Under paragraph 3.162 of the
FOI Guidelines, where an agency refuses access to a document on
the grounds that it is exempt, the agency must consider whether it would be reasonably
practicable to prepare an edited copy of the document for release with relevant deletions
(refer section 22 of the FOI Act). In addition, paragraph 3.172 of the FOI Guidelines states that
agencies should take a common-sense approach in considering whether the number of deletions
would be so many that the remaining document would be of little or no value to the applicant.
I consider that once the relevant deletions have been made to the document under sections 47E
and 47F (i.e., information that is exempt), as well as section 22 of the FOI Act (i.e., information
that is reasonably regarded as irrelevant to your request), this document would be of no value
to you (e.g., it would only contain information that is already publicly available in the
ADHD
Guideline itself3 or on the ADHD Guideline’s website, such as t
he Guideline development group
members webpage
4 and the
Administrative Report5). Accordingly, I have refused access to this
document in full.
Charges
I have decided not to impose charges for processing this FOI request.
3 Refer
: https://adhdguideline.aadpa.com.au/ 4 Refer
: https://adhdguideline.aadpa.com.au/appendices/guideline-development-group/ 5 Refer
: https://adhdguideline.aadpa.com.au/about/administrative-information/
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Your review rights
If you are dissatisfied with my decision, you may apply for internal review or Information
Commissioner review of the decision.
Internal review
Under section 54 of the FOI Act, you may apply in writing to NHMRC for an internal review of
my decision. The internal review application must be made within 30 days of the date of this
letter. Where possible, please attach reasons why you believe review of the decision is
necessary. The internal review will be carried out by another officer within 30 days. Please email
a request for internal review to NHMRC’s FOI Unit at
xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Information Commissioner review
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to
review my decision. Such an application must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of
this letter, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
• online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=ICReview&layoutcode=ICReviewWF
• email
: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx • post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW, 2001.
More information about Information Commissioner review is available on the
Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner6 website.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way your FOI request has been handled, you can make a complaint
in writing to NHMRC at: complaint
x@xxxxx.xxx.xx. Information on how NHMRC manages
complaints can be found on the
NHMRC7 website.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a complaint in writing to the Australian
Information Commissioner in one of the following ways:
• online:
https://webform.oaic.gov.au/prod?entitytype=Complaint&layoutcode=FOIComplaintWF
• email
: xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
• post: GPO Box 5288 Sydney 2001
More information about FOI complaints is available on the
Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner8 website.
NHMRC approved guidelines and conflicts of interest
NHMRC’s approval of clinical practice guidelines developed by other organisations, indicates
that the guideline meets the
Standards for Guidelines, is based on the best available evidence,
and has undergone transparent processes including public consultation (NHMRC approval is
valid for a maximum period of five years).
In addition to NHMRC Standard 2.3. (as mentioned above), Standard 4 states that ‘to identify
and manage conflicts of interest, guideline developers will require all interests of all guideline
development group members to be clarified’ (4.1.), as well as ‘establish a process for
determining if a declared interest represents a conflict of interest, and how a conflict of interest
will be managed’ (4.2.). The guideline must also follow the
Procedures and requirements for
6 URL:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-reviews/information-commissioner-review 7 URL:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/resources/nhmrc-complaints-policy
8 URL:
https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/your-freedom-of-information-rights/freedom-of-
information-complaints
Page 4 of 5
meeting the NHMRC standard for guidelines, which refer to detailed information on
identifying
and managing conflicts of interest.
The ADHD Guideline’s website provides publicly available information on the conflicts of interest
process for the Guideline Development Group members in the
ADHD Guideline itself and in the
Administrative Report (particularly Appendix 1). As mentioned above, you can also contact the
guideline developer (AADPA) to request conflict of interest declarations via
:
xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx. Questions
If you have any queries or wish to discuss my decision, please contact the NHMRC FOI Unit at
xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
signed electronically
Alan Singh
Executive Director
Research Quality and Advice
16 December 2025
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