OFFICIAL

Good afternoon,

Acknowledgement of receipt of Freedom of Information request

I refer to your request received by the Department of Health, Disability
and Ageing (the department) for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). You have requested access to:

 

I am writing to request access to documents under section 15 of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 relating to the administration of the
Medical Treatment Overseas Program (MTOP).

 

This request seeks access to factual, aggregated and de-identified
documents only and does not seek personal medical records.

 

Documents requested

 

For the period 1 January 2025 to 19 January 2026, I request access to
documents recording:

 

The number of MTOP applications where the total funding requested or
approved was AUD $1.9 million or greater, including the number approved
and rejected or not progressed.

 

Any documents describing financial thresholds, escalation or governance
arrangements applied to MTOP applications at or above this funding level.

 

Documents recording how value for money, expenditure risk, and proper use
of public resources are assessed for high-value MTOP applications,
including material prepared to support compliance with the Public
Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

 

Any aggregated or de-identified records indicating whether approved
treatments at this funding level were recorded as experimental, off-label,
or not previously used for the specific condition at the time of approval.

 

If any document contains exempt material, I request access to any
reasonably separable non-exempt material in accordance with section 22 of
the FOI Act. If documents are not held in the form requested, please
provide documents showing how such information is ordinarily recorded or
confirm that no such records exist.

 

The reference number for your request is FOI 26-2617. Please ensure that
you quote this number in future correspondence with us concerning this
request.

Timeframes

Your request was received on 19 January 2026. The statutory timeframe for
processing your request is 30 calendar days and you should expect to be
notified of a decision from the department on or before 18 February 2026.
The period of 30 days may be extended if the department needs to consult
third parties or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.

 

Request to exclude irrelevant information from your request

To assist with processing your request, can you also please advise by COB
23 January 2026, if you agree that information regarding any public
service employee names below Senior Executive Service level and direct
telephone numbers of all staff will be excluded from the scope of your
request under s22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act

Other Information

The department may impose a charge for the work involved in providing
access to the documents.  If this request attracts a charge you will be
notified in writing.

 

Unless you advise otherwise any draft and duplicate documents will be
excluded from the scope of your request.

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published online on our disclosure log
[1]www.health.gov.au/resources/foi-disclosure-log, subject to certain
exceptions. (For example, personal information will not be published where
this would be unreasonable.)

You can contact the FOI team via email at [2][email address] or by phone
on 02 6289 1666, should you have any questions.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jordan

Administration Officer – Freedom of Information Section 

Commercial and Information Law Branch

 

Legal Division | Corporate Operations Group 

Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 

T: 02 6289 1666| E: [3][email address] 

 

This email comes to you from Ngunnawal Country

Location: Level 3

PO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia 

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing acknowledges First Nations
peoples as the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia, and
their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our
respects to them and their cultures, and to all Elders both past and
present. 

 

 

 

 

OFFICIAL

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